What a great night! The weather was almost perfect. too warm 88 F as we left the apartment but it cooled off to a lovely mid 70’s  by early evening. We headed for Max to hear Nabate Isles. We picked up our entrance wrist bands at 4:15 and prepared to hang out on “the Street” until they opened the doors at 5:45. I was dismayed to find that there was no staff for the drink and pretzel concession so we had to wait without the solace of nosh and beer. It was worth the wait. Isles and his quartet played music that was mostly composed by himself or other members of the group even though there was bones from the long history of Jazz as the base. There was no leaving until the last note was sounded and the musicians left the stage. 

We headed out to pick up dinner. Carol got her salad at Ludwig’s and I went to the Louisiana Blackened Chicken Plate. Not great food but perfect Jazz Fest street food.  After meeting a former work colleague and chatting for a bit we tried to get into Connie Han at Hatch, but no joy, the place was at capacity. We walked over to our next planned show at Theater at Innovation Sq (they really need to find  a shorter name like Xerox) for Peter Bernstein and his group. Again we were pinned to our seats enjoying the tight relationship within the group and the fine guitar playing.

We did leave before the final note since we had no idea what the crowd would be like for Brubeck Brothers at Hyatt Ballroom. We managed to completely miss Robin Thicke at Parcel 5 by taking Clinton Ave to Main then over to the Hyatt. The brothers found the ballroom quite empty. At best I imagine half the seats in the auditorium seating are were occupied. The first set had been at capacity. The small audience did not deter them. They drew on a broad range of sources for their repertoire, much of it digging back to the Dave Brubeck era. We were thrilled. Late in the set Chris announced a piece by talking about 9/8 timing. It could only be Blue Rondo al Turk and it was. Carol and I could not sit still. It was their version but clearly based on the original. They came off of that and Chris mentioned something about 5/4 and we knew there is only one Jazz piece with that time signature – Take 5! The last time we heard Take 5 or Blue Rond for that matter in live performance was when Dave Brubeck himself was on the Eastman Main Stage for Jazz Fest 2007. 

This was a grand cap for our 58th Anniversary at CGI Rochester International Jazz Fest. We went on to the Jam Session with Bob Sneider. When we were ready to leave the door out to the corner of Main and South was locked, but the attendant opened it for us when we explained that our apartment was just up the block. One more show of courtesy from Hyatt staff.

For tonight the 6th night we will line up early for Connie Han Trio at Montage at 6:00 then Tommy Smith at Temple Theater at 7:00 then a break for food before heading off to Stephane Wrembel at Theater at Innovation Sq at 8:30 No current choice for the 10 PM, we shall see.