It is Sunday morning and the sounds of the Festival are still ringing in my ears. There was the music in the venues, the music in the free events and there was the crowd noise blended with all of the above. The noisescape shifted as we moved from venue to venue and paused in the midst of it to have a meal or to converse with friends and acquaintances – mostly shouting over the noise or waiting for a break between numbers. 

Last night we only went to two performances, not counting a couple of free stage events on Jazz Street. We joined the mob in Kilbourn Hall to hear Kurt Elling “Super Blue” with Charlie Hunter. This started slowly with some wonderful scat and morphed and grew to a some fine music and interesting sounds, especially when Elling started cupping the microphone with his hand and generating feedback tones which he was able to control for pitch. He ran over a bit and no one seemed to mind.

We decided to get some food and then take our time going to the Theater at innovation Square for Drum Battle: Justin Faulkner vs Joe Farnsworth. This also included Mike Ledonne on piano, a bass player and two trumpet players. The drummers were front and center with the side men providing some great music to support the drums. The “Battle” seemed to be mostly good natured kidding and trading riffs. They built to a climax as time was running out and finished strong just as the hour was up. 

To a standing ovation the lights came up and Faulkner went back to his kit and suggested we give him 5 minutes more. Farnsworth returned to his kit and doffed his suitcoat. They got into it, trading riffs and trying to outdo each other with unique approaches to the drums. At one point Faulkner was shouting into the head of the snare drum and Farnsworth stood drum stick vertically on the drum head and got it vibrating by sliding his hand down the shaft. This duel continued for twenty minutes and the audience was on the edge of its seats through out. 

Carol and I were tired from nine nights and realized that there was no better way to end the 2022 19th Festival then on those drums. We went home.

We attended some or all of 34 performances over the nine nights. This is a low count compared to prior years, but we are older and get tired earlier. We also attended 4 or 5 free stage performances. We were on the Street from 4 to 11, about 7 hours, each night. Of the 38 performances we attended (including the free stage) I think there were 2 or 3 that we didn’t care for at all and maybe another 4 that didn’t hold our attention for the full hour.  That brings to about 30 performances that were engaging and interesting enough to hold us in our seats for most of the hour. This was a GREAT Jazz Festival. We had pined for it for two years and are delighted to have been able to attend this year.

Plans? What Plans? We have none for today other than opening a Family Zoom. There is a calendar full of stuff for the coming weeks, but none of it is Jazz for the moment.

last night was a night of fewer concerts and more straight Jazz. We were starting with Mike Ledonne Trio at Max. After we picked up our timed entry wrist bands we had just over an hour to wait before returning to the line to wait for the doors to open. The timed entry groups are large enough that if we want our preferred seating we need to get back in line before the doors open. While waiting we drifted over to the Jazz Free Stage that opens each evening with sets by local high school Jazz groups. As we found our seats the Harley School Jazz Band was on stage with a particularly precocious trumpeter/singer at the front. She is Amalia Nugent, daughter of John Nugent, producer of the Festival. Next up was Gates Chili High School Jazz Band with massive forces of saxophones, trumpets, and trombones. We couldn’t count high enough, maybe 30 musicians on the stage. They were wonderful and set us up for the evening. 

Ledonne is old school straight ahead keyboard player. He left his Hammond B-3 home and worked with his bassist who he has a long working relationship with and drummer with whom it was is first time out to provide over an hour of fine Jazz. Before the performance we found ourselves at a table with Don Ver Ploeg. Don has been an accredited photographer with the Jazz Fest from its beginning and we have known him for many years even before the Festival. He tole us he had a picture of us taken early in the festival and wanted to send it. I can’t wait. 

Ledonne ran over and rather than run to The Temple for John Locke which would have less than 30 minutes left if we ran (an unlikely happening) we walked over to  Glory House for Jonathan Kreisberg Trio Featuring Eric Harland and Rick Rosato. This trio kept us entranced with yet more straight Jazz. This time with a guitar lead. they also ran over their allotted hour and we did not complain. With no immediate plan except dinner, Carol suggested we head for the apartment to avoid yet another night of street food. We were in the apartement for about 45 minutes before we headed back out to the Hyatt for Bobby Rush. Bobby is an 88 year old Black blues player with guitar, harmonica and story telling songs. After a few minutes on stage with his guitar and a brief biography starting in the Deep South in the 30’s he picked up a harmonica and and a portable microphone and came down into the audience where he told stories mixed with harmonica and singing backed by a guitar from the stage. Much of his story telling was blue as well as blues. We were enthralled and really enjoyed this performance, which also ran over. 

We stopped by the Jam Session for a while, ,but didn’t stay around long enough for any of the performers to take the stage. They seldom appear before midnight. 

I am not posting a plan for tonight as we don’t have one yet and we are headed out to the Public Market for breakfast and shopping. Maybe I’ll amend this later when I do have a plan.

Ignore my posted Plan for last night. Carol and I revised the plan almost as soon as I hit Publish. Then we actually followed the revised plan to the end!

We started at with Itamar Borochov Quartet at the Wilder Room. We hadn’t been there yet this year. It is moderate sized room on the 2nd floor of the former Rochester Club (so former that most  people are not even aware of it). They acknowledge that their AC has only two positions, OFF and Arctic. It was a warm day so Arctic it was. We didn’t think we were too early, arriving at a bit after 5 for a 5:30 door opening only to find we were first in line! Borochov is from Jaffa, Israel and grew up with the music of the area. This carries over into his compositions, but does not dominate. We enjoyed the set immensely and were grateful to warm up on our way to the Temple where Tuck and Patti were performing. It is just the two and they have been married for 37 years and playing together for even longer. The lyrics were playful and her scat was delightful. His guitar playing is superb and I could have listened a lot longer but we needed to get some food before heading to Theater at Innovation Square for Lioness. This is an all female sextet. Three saxophones, Alto, Tenor and Baritone plus guitar, drums and bass. They were enjoyable and the music, composed by members of the group, was good. They were not quite as tight as expected, but this group has not been playing together for very long.

We decided to go to Montage for Big Lazy, BIG MISTAKE! They may have been fine but the sound levels were at 12. Carol took her hearing aids out and I muted mine. It didn’t help. I never opened the sound meter on my phone, but it must have been pushing 110 DB – normal performance in most halls runs around 80 at the high end. We left.

The logical stop was Max for John Baily Sextet where we found seats down front and several friends at adjoining tables. What a relief. Solid Jazz played at reasonable sound levels to wrap the last 30 minutes of the day. With 5 concerts for the night we headed right home without stopping at the Jam at Hyatt. It was almost midnight when we opened the door to the apartment.

Tonight’s plan is not well researched but we will start with it. We will open with Mike Ledonne Trio at Max at 6:15. Then we will move on to John Locke Group at the Temple Theater at 7:00. We show Jonathan Kreisberg  Trio at Glory House (not likely unless Ledonne is not interesting). Dinner and then Bobby Rush at Hyatt at 9:45. We are avoiding the steel drum group at Montage, combining steel drums with a sound man who likes it LOUD in that room is just too much. 

OMG only one more night after this.

It’s Thursday only three more nights, but first here is what we did last night.

As we were preparing to leave the apartment for the  6 :00 PM show at Montage where Connie Han was going to play with her trio, a massive storm moved over the city. It poured for almost 30 minutes. We had planned to be in line at 4:45 but it was still raining hard so we waited and debated how to dress for continuing rain as the temperature plummeted from 90 to 72. By 5 it had stopped and we headed out wearing raincoats and rain hats with an umbrella just to be safe. We got to Montage at 5:35 and the doors were open and there was even decent seating available. By 6 the house was at SRO! The Trio were wonderful and Connie is a fantastic pianist – she would have to be to be a Steinway Artist! 

We walked from there to The Temple where Tommy Smith was solo sax on a large stage in a large hall. It was restful, too restful. We moved on to Glory House and Joonas Haavisto Trio. This Finnish trio kept us wide awake for most of the set. We left a bit early to get some dinner near the Big Tent. I had forgotten that the Artichoke French was merely okay. Carol had her own mock tuna she brought from home. 

We moved on from there to The Theater at Innovation Sq where Stephane Wremble was assembled with 4 more musicians. his background traces to Django Reinhardt one of the great guitarist/composers who had a Gypsy background. From the moment we entered we could not sit still, even the slow numbers kept us moving. The bass player, Ari Folman-Cohen was a force to be reckoned with along with th drummer and pianist. Wremble’s commentary was interesting if hard to understand given the sound system and his accent. Even though we had another performance to get to we stayed on even when he ran overtime with a stunning finale featuring everyone. We left out of breath and hoarse from screaming to hear Emmaline at the Hyatt. 

Emmaline is 23 and I could say in this case it showed. Her voice had a harshness to it. Her sax player was really good, but does the world really need an electronic instrument that has clarinet fingering and sort of sounds like a reed instrument? This was her second instrument. The pianist looked bored even when singing backup. We left early and headed downstairs to the Jam Session with Bob Sneider. After one set we decided to call it a night and save something for tonight.

The plan – I have to make this up as I write it. Carol and I haven’t gotten together on this so it is really more of a possible outline. Start at Montage for Big Lazy at 6:00 on to Glory House for Jochen Rueckert Quartet at 7:30 then Lioness at Theater at Innovation Sq at 8:30 then Tuck and Patty at Temple at 9:15 finishing up at Max for John Bailey Sextet. I’m exhausted just writing all that. I’m sure someplace we will get word that there is something we must not miss. We also will break away at some point to eat. It would be another 5 performance night if we do all of that. 

If you are interested in the geography or more information on the groups https://rochesterjazz.com/ will get all the information you might care for. Nothing is more than a 15 minute walk from our apartment – except the Little Theater, make that 20 minutes. Most of the venues are within 10 minutes of each other. How amazing is it that central Rochester has at least 11 good Jazz venues within such a tight circle. Actually there are at least 4 more venues that were not chosen this year.

See you “on the street”

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.

Plan? what plan! We started with Michael Weis in Hatch at 5:45 with the hall at maybe 2/3 capacity. He is a very fine Jazz solo pianist, but even in the second row his speaking was hard to understand. About 25 minutes in we had had enough and finally, and a bit rudely I must admit, we got up from our aisle seats and left in the middle of a number. We crossed the street to Max which we had planned for 10 PM to hear Dan Wilson on guitar. His set was less about his guitar playing than his music with brilliant performances by piano, drummer and bass. Near the end he brought up a guest performer Nabate Isles on trumpet. We will return to hear him tonight. 

We skipped out the back door to get to Ms Lisa Fischer at the Temple. We almost got shutout. They closed the entry behind us as the hall as at capacity. It took us a while to find seats, initially two singles. Although the sound in the hall is still less than ideal, she filled it with her powerful voice, sense of humor and wonderful musicality. We left at the finale missing an encore and found dinner on the street. Carol got her salad at Ludwigs and I was back to Robs Kabob. Those sweet plantains are just too wonderful. I’ll have to avoid them tonight to try something else.

But onward to Kilbourn for Melissa Aldana Quartet. The music was very much modern and not really to our taste. Carol noted that in the opening number it was not clear that the quartet were all playing the same charts. I noted that Melissa, on saxophone, never stopped moving. She was doing deep knee bends and stretches with every change in pitch. Even when she stepped out to give the stage to the sidemen she was gyrating. We left after 35 minutes and crossed the corner to The Big Tent for Bill Warfield’s Hells Kitchen Funk.  We might have stayed for the set but the AC in the Tent was intolerable. They had it set for a full house on a hot night and the place was at 10% of capacity and it was cool out.

We went home and enjoyed a special cake Carol had made for our 58th Anniversary which is today June 21.

A special note: This day 58 years ago my college roommate and friend Jonathan Kerner married Peggy. I  miss him and cannot let our anniversary go by without acknowledging the friendship. I am so glad we are still in touch with Peggy. He was supposed to have been my Best Man until they chose the same date.

The Plan: Nabate Isles at Max at 6:15 (see above); Peter Bernstein Theater at innovation Sq at 8:30; Jeremy Pelt at Kilbourn at 9:00 and Brubeck Bros at Hyatt at 9:45. Just looking at this it isn’t going to work as there are several overlaps, but this is who I think we want to hear.