We really slept well this morning.  The Jazz last night was wonderful and we never made it to the Jam session because the last show we went to at Max went on and on and we couldn’t leave.  But back to the late afternoon: We walked over to get in line at Harro East for Nikki Yanofsky at 4:15 expecting to be almost at the front of the line – WRONG! We were further from the door than we have ever been and questioned the likelihood of getting in.  We made it! and so did the next hundred or so behind us, the place was packed and many were standing as the show began.  There was almost no turnover so standees remained standees.  We had great seats at a table down front.  Nikki sang with power and emotion.  The selections ranged from Louis Armstrong to pop music we didn’t recognize.  Her group were wonderful providing her with great backing and showing a lot of talent.  Some of her Ella F scat was enough to bring tears of joy.  We drifted out of the Ballroom on a cloud of excitement for what was to come.

A stop at Christ Church was disappointing as Cleveland Watkiss was not there, just his group playing solid jazz trio, but not what we were looking for.  The Little with Kat Edmonson was sold out with a long lone waiting to take any seat that might be vacated, we kept moving.  We had already eaten by this point so we made our war to Lutheran Church for Trondheim Jazz Orchestra.  The intro left us wondering if we had wondered into a different land.  Two “performers” who never played any music, drifted around the hall with bronze bowls making them ring in what seemed to be a cleansing of the spirits and they finished by diving their hands into a glass bowl filled with what turned out to be a white powder and coating their faces.  The musicians appeared from the back of the hall and worked their way onto the stage playing as they came forward.  The music was discordant and disconnected.  Knowing the nature of Nordic Jazz events we stuck around to see where it all was going.  As the hour progressed the weirdness never entirely stopped but the music became more coherent.  I could comment on the section where the tenor sax player put an empty aluminum soda can in the bell for a ringing effect.  Also the vocalist who vocalized without words or even recognizable scat.  We stayed for the entire show and were rewarded with an extraordinary performance.  They are performing tonight again at the Xerox Auditorium.

We got in line really early outside Max to hear Patricia Barber.  She is definitely different.  She sings and plays piano and her group included guitar, double bass and drums.  That is one huge understatement.  Her facial expressions must be mirroring what is passing through her mind as she extracts wonderment from the piano.  She speaks out as she plays, and as the group plays, at one point yelling “shit” in excitement.  Her hand gestures guide the performance.  At one point, late in the show, she got up from the piano, leaving her group to play on while she went out of the hall to get another cup of coffee.  She never seemed to notice the 11 PM closing time and kept on playing until 11:30, very few left at anytime and the hall was packed and rapt though out. It was a great first night.

For anyone attending who is reading this our preliminary plan for tonight is Lonnie Smith at Kilbourn, Yolanda Brown at Christ Church, John Mooney and the Bluesianas at Abilene and Halle Loren Trio at Rochester Club.

There are several others we would like to hear, but the evening is only 5 hours – well 6 – and four performances are a lot if they are good.  If we are disappointed, we will move on and might make a couple of others.  See you on Jazz Street!