We have left the country! Again! We are perched in a roadside pullout, with fishing, along NS 105 looking over St Ann’s Bay. We are meters past the turn off for Gaelic College and Cabot Trail. We found this spot listed as a free stopping place in Days End Directory a resource for members of Escapees. Tomorrow we will find our way to a reserved camping spot and then go visit the Perlmans who have a lovely place across the bay from where we are parked. We will take Monday and Tuesday to prepare for a very long ferry ride – 16 hours. The coach will be locked down with no power on while we enjoy ourselves in a suite we reserved some months ago. We sill take three weeks to drive the length of the Newfoundland highway before boarding a much shorter ferry for the trip back to the mainland.

I plan to wear m “Come From away” T shirt in Gander and otherwise do and see what we can.

Getting this far has had its challenges. Coming up the Maine coast I heard or misheard and instruction to “turn right.” Against all reason I did! Wrong! It took 10 miles to find a spot that was just barely suitable to turn the rig around. We could have continued which would have brought us back to US 1 20 miles south of where we made made the turn. Oh, and our stop at Wild Blueberry Land was disappointing as they no longer carry the No sugar added Blueberry Preserve that I have for breakfast many days. I will have to wait to reorder from “Out on a Limb” when we are staying someplace for a couple of weeks. We had an interesting overnight stop at a place featured both in the aforementioned Days End as well as in Harvest Hosts. It was a decent place to stay the night but it didn’t have much more than a small shop selling blueberry products as an HH place. The location also included a hardware store and the town Tourist Information Center, one young man with a  bunch of brochures and directions to “The Water Fall” across the street from the shop.

We ended the day with out supplemental braking system (for the Jeep) giving failure signals as we drove on a narrow winding road with no good place to stop and check it out. It has failed safe so we can continue to travel. At last we arrived at Seafoam Campground in Seafoam NS and found ourselves with one of the tightest back in spots we have seen. Troy came out to help, but nothing was needed besides some moral support. With Carol at the wheel and me giving limited, but crucial guidance, we put the coach where it needed to be in one pull.  People were cheering Carol for the great driving. It was grand.

When I left off writing, we were in NYC with Corey. We left Liberty Harbor RV Park on schedule and spent a day driving around the City, across the Tappan Zee Bridge and eventually up I 95 and assorted routes to Hyannis Elks Lodge. It is nothing special but it is in Hyannis and provides access to see the town. Then we moved to Atlantic Oaks RV Park in Eastham, about 15 minutes from my sister Sandy’s place in Wellfleet. We kept Corey on the move including a 3 hour Whale Watch (looking for a picture, must be on the other computer) and walking all over Province Town, and what an education that was, for me! After 4 days on Cape Cod, we changed our venue to the Boston area, camping at Normandy Farms in Foxborough, not far from THE stadium.

Our first half day was at leisure in the park, that meant walking all over the park to see what it had to offer. The short answer is “LOTS” the longer answer is mostly for families with preteen children who can run wherever and whenever and they do. The slow speed limit is too fast as kids appear out of nowhere and stop where the are with impunity and no sense of fear – sort of like Bluefooted Boobies in the Galapagos.

For our second and last day we set out to walk the Freedom Trail. It covers a lot of Boston and we never made it to Bunker Hill or the USS Constitution. Something for another trip, not to mention Lexington and Concord or the site of the Boston Tea Party and that is just Revolutionary War era sites.

Late afternoon Priscilla Douglas, our former neighbor from the Townhouse, and very good friend, came to join us for a long wonderful conversation. When we are together it is seldom “chat” more like engaged conversation. Corey joined in and we all had a great time. dinner was some salads Carol put together and steamed clams I had ordered ahead from the Kamp Kitchen. we gathered around one of their tables and had a fine meal. the end of this part of the trip was in sight, but not yet concluded. We rose earl to get Corey to his flight to Richmond where his parents collected him. I must admit the coach really feels empty without him after 9 days. Then after vamping in town for a bit we drove to Belmont where Carol reconnected with Ann Rafael Brendt. The had been neighbors in grade school and her mother was a very active dance instructor who Carol studied with. While Ann and Carol covered territory that I was not part of (can you imagine?) her husband David and I had a lively exchange of ideas and tales in the next room.

And so we have moved on from Boston. Presently we are camping at Elks Lodge 1008 in Rockland Maine. Tomorrow?

First a comment on my choice of reviewers. It may seem biased, Jeff Spivack at the D&C is an excellent writer and I would enjoy his reviews and link to them if I could read them without wading through endless popup ads that cover the screen . I know I am not a subscriber, I am not around Rochester enough to care deeply about the local coverage they provide, but making it impossible to read a review just makes me even less interested in reading, much less linking to, the paper. Rant over. Oh there may be another reason for my bias, full disclosure here, I am a stockholder and board member of WMT Publications, the corporate name of City, and also close friends with the Towlers who created the paper some time in the dark ages of the late ’60s or was that the early ’70s, doesn’t matter.

We decided to start the last night with Jazz Banjo, Cynthia Sayer and her Hot Jazz Trio at Max.

She declared right up front that she had just met her sidemen, Sax and Clarinet player and Bassist, just before the gig. It didn’t seem to matter with just a bit more conversation than usual they got it together and the set was so great we wanted to come back for the 10 PM show. Cynthia included a history and background for Jazz Banjo in her between number patter. We would go to hear her again, oh right we stayed for the encore.

Once we had our wristbands for Max we headed over to Harro for Majestic. They were fine, but our plan to leave after after two numbers turned into leaving after one, a blessing of the Club Pass.

Following Cynthia, we headed over to Hatch where Benny Green was onstage solo after his performance with 3 other pianists on 4 by Monk by 4 the day before. We sat back expecting to leave before the end but couldn’t bring ourselves to walk before the encore. This encore seemed a bit forced as he left the stage after 45 minutes and returned to finish the set at an hour as expected. For Ron’s review follow this link.

Our plan was to go on to Little for International Orange. I was hungry and the Little is a hike. We walked up to a truck on East and I got a brisket sandwich, better than expected, and we headed over to Kilbourn for our penultimate set. John La Barbera Big Band Celebrating Buddy Rich. This was our best call of the evening. He had his brothers, one on drums and another on sax on stage. Also Bobby Militello was in the middle of the sax section. Four saxophones, four trombones and four trumpets can really stir up a storm. Needless to say we were pinned to our seats and were grateful for the encore.

The line at Max was too long for us to wait for Cynthia for another show so we headed over to the Big Tent for Bonerama. Two numbers there were enough to remind us that we really don’t care for them. The line at Max was still out the door at 10:40 so Carol had an ice cream and I had some popcorn and we took in the scene until it started to shut down at 11. We headed over to the Jam, now relocated to the first floor on the Radisson. It is a bit of an awkward space and we ended up sitting at a table with our friends the Gracis. We could hear but couldn’t see and  by 12:30 we had had it and decided to call it a Jazz Fest. Wait ’til next year!

As if we hadn’t had enough, today we went to a sold out matinee of “Million Dollar Quartet” at GEVA Theater. Wonderful performance and great ’50s music. Jerry Lee Louis, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash were definitely in the house and by the end everyone who was able was up and dancing.

Tomorrow we drive with friends to Ithaca, no live music planned, that we know of.

ONE MORE DAY!

Keyboards and vocalists was our theme last night. We actually only went to 4 shows. Got in line at 3:15 to get wristbands for 4 by Monk by 4 at Kilbourn. Got back in line at 5:00 to wait for our choice of seats at 5:30, not sure this wristband thing really saves us any line time.  Read Ron Netsky’s review in City Newspaper (and also Tessa Souter and Ariel Pocock). I have loved Monk’s music since I first heard it many years ago. This was like candy for both of us and having four fine pianists trade off at two keyboards in just about any combination you can imagine just took it over the top. I have to admit we left before the grand finale with all four on stage trading piano benches, so we could move on to Hatch Recital Hall for Ariel Pocock. As Ron noted it was most unusual to have a live microphone used in performance there. We really enjoyed her performance, again. She has a lot of subtle shading in her voice and I love her piano playing as well. We stayed for the encore.

We moved out onto the street where I hit the Blackend Chicken again. I like it and the line was short which was important as we had to wade through the growing crowd for Caravan Palace on the Chestnut Street Stage to get to Tessa Souter at Xerox Aud. We missed the intro so I don’t know if this was her 3rd or 4th appearance at Jazz Fest, I do know we have heard her a couple of times in the past. Loved her take on Chopin’s Prelude in E minor which she wrote lyrics to and shifted to G major(?). We ran before the end because we wanted to get in to Max at 10 for. . .

Ronnie Foster Organ Trio. Made it in time for the introduction. I must admit he was an unknown to us, but featuring the Hammond B-3 Organ will usually draw us in for a listen. We listened and we stayed, and we stayed. He finally wrapped at 11:20 or so and no one wanted it to be over. His call and response with the audience near the end just took the whole thing over the top. I don’t usually care for this gimmick, but in this venue with these performers it really worked for us.

We headed back to the apartment full of good music and not able to absorb another note until tonight, Day 9. Current plan is to get wristbands for Max to hear Cynthia Sayer, 4 string jazz banjo and then run over to Harro for the beginning of the Majestics performance at 5:30. Following Max we will trundle across the street to Hatch for Benny Green piano solo (what else at Hatch?). Take a breath and find something to eat before running down East Ave to the Little for International Orange. Starting to huff a bit we head all the way back up East to cross over to the Big Tent to let Bonerama carry us out of the Fest on our way to the closing Jam.

We are down to just the two of us now as Avi flew back to his folks in LA. It was pure joy for us to see this young man soak up the music for four nights, not to mention just having a grandson with us. It took us some time to figure out what we were going to do. We started at Harro with Youn Sun Nah. I am going to have link here to Ron Netsky, City Newspaper, for a superb review that I find right on. We found seats at a table with people we have sat with at many other Fest events and after some refreshments we were captivated by the voice and performance of this young lady. After staying for the inevitable encore, in this case a bit forced as she cut the set short at 45 minutes and was dragged back by a screaming audience, we headed for Christ Church.

Some how I got it in my head that Phronesis, the group name, meant there would be a saxophone, wrong. But the trio were really fine and Daniel Kushner agrees in his City Newspaper review. The acoustics in this huge old stone church leave something to be desired, but the sound people have plenty of experience in getting the sound out to audience. Other than some hiss in the system (second set) the sound was great, so was the performance. However with a tight schedule of people to hear we left before the last number and headed to Hatch where Manuel Valera, Cuban born, was solo on the piano. Have never heard an improv on a Chopin work before. Netsky also reviewed this performance and again I find his writing right on.

We stayed through the encore and headed over to Xerox for Walt Weiskopf Quartet, keep reading Ron’s review for more on this. We were really enjoying the Jazz experience, more fine saxophone, actually the only one of the evening, and superb performances by the rest. I suspect we have reached a point where “merely” excellent performance of fine Jazz no longer brings us to our feet. We expect it and want more. So off we went to Ariel Pocock Trio at Max to split the 10 PM slot into two groups. Too many excellent groups! Here is another interesting voice with fine range and unusual intonation. Her piano playing is as good as we’ve heard and we may hear her again tonight, solo at Hatch. She really needs to lose her bad jokes and childish patter between pieces, she is much too good a performer to let that stuff get in the way. As I said we had to split because we wanted to hear Dakha Brakha at the big tent. They are billed as a Ukrainian Folklore group and they certainly look the part, if a bit over the top with their costumes. We were in Ukraine and never saw anything like those outfits. The 20 minutes we were there were as energetic as anything we have attended this week.

Tonight I think we will start with 4 by Monk by 4 at Kilbourn, which means getting in line at 3:30 to get wristbands for the 6 PM show. Then around the corner to Hatch to hear Pocock again then to Xerox for Tessa Souter who we have heard in the past. Finally on to Max for Ronnie Foster Organ Trio. This is just the initial framework on which I expect we will build and improvise.

This is going way to fast. We had one last night with Avi and got to hear just a bit more saxophone. We also managed to traverse the length and breadth of the Fest Venue, mostly on foot. We tried the shuttle back from the Lyric and it was too slow and way too air conditioned. Maybe in the rain we might consider it again.

We started the day with Avi at the Youth Jazz Workshop in the Ray Wright Room with Tim Hagen, trumpet, giving the workshop. Once again I learned a lot about jazz improv and performance listening to this master trumpet player who has been on the scene for 50 years. Early on he called up Avi to “play some notes” based on a scale and just start with one note and pick the one to suit himself. He then got a trombone player up to do the same thing. Eventually he had them each do that and finish by playing at the same time, sort of an unplanned duet. Avi was surprised at how well it worked.

Back to the apartment to drop the sax and get ready for a long night of Jazz which really turned out to feel quite brief. First to Lyric where Tommy Smith was solo in a very large hall. He entered with a long walk down the center aisle wearing a suit and tie. He stopped twice along the way to savor the reverb in the hall then approached the stage where he made a point of using all points to play from. Based on what he said in the workshop the day before it seemed clear to me that he was listening to and reacting to the sound of the hall. During one number he began to tap his foot loudly reminding us of an exercise from the workshop where he had a pianist drive a tophat with her left foot while playing with just her right hand. sitting at the back of the stage was the grand piano used for piano performances, the lid was up! Late in the show he propped the piano bench leg on the loud pedal and began to play with his sax under the lid generating interesting reverberations which were enhanced by the hall. Again he had demonstrated this mode of play during the workshop.

Hoping to get to the 6:15 show at Max featuring Shauli Einav an Israeli sax player who graduated from ESM we got on the shuttle which was waiting in front of Lyric and we waited for the entire hall to empty and then we waited some more while begging the driver to reduce the air conditioning so the temperature could rise above meat locker. Eventually we rode the few short blocks to Scio and hurried to Max only to discover that there was no big line waiting for entry. We claimed our 2nd call wrist bands and sought some food while waiting. We got great seats with Mary Anna and Bill and enjoyed a clear view of the performance. Read this for Kushner’s review in City. While you are at it also read this for De Blase’s review of Tommy Smith. We stayed on for “one more number” and met the band after the show.

After Einav we headed over to Harro for Marcia Ball. Over crowded, noisy, excessive presence of security and fire marshals lead us to a quick departure, maybe five minutes. So seeking quiet we walked to Squeezers Stage at Anthology. Well it wasn’t quiet and it was crowded, but nowhere near as overcrowded as Harro. Great performance. Carol liked it a lot and I tolerated it. The level of base that had the seats bouncing took away some the joy I felt in the otherwise excellent performance.

To round out the night we made our way to Xerox for Charles Pillow, yet another link to City for an excellent review. We ducked out before the last number to get to Montage for Bobby Millitello. We entered as the introduction finished and stayed through the encore, “Take 5” Avi has to fly out in the morning so we skipped the Jam and headed home leaving him with an abbreviated Take 5 as the last sounds of his first Jazz Fest.

No plan yet for tonight, but we need to head to airport soon so watch for us. . .

Past the midpoint already. It’s blazing. Of course having Avi along has added a whole different aspect to our own take on the music. He is a discerning listener and is not shy about telling us that he has had enough of a performer or that we really ought to stay for one more number. We all went to the Youth Workshop with Tommy Smith. OMG I got a whole new outlook on the art of jazz improv. I hope Avi is able to take away some of what he learned to develop his own taste and performance.

At 4 we went on to the Lyric for  Monty Alexander solo piano. He is an old timer and he did not bring anything new to the stage. He did bring energy, humor and solid performance. I must admit I caught up on some shuteye. We rolled out of there, the most easterly venue of the Fest, headed for Harro East, the most westerly venue of the Fest, not counting the Jam Session. There we caught Bill Evans Band Featuring Tommy Smith. Two masters of improv on the sax plus three other masters covering guitar, bass and drums. The place rocked! We were glued to the stage.  We stayed for the encore. The contest for best of the best now has three leaders, Add in Miguel Zenon and Marquis Hill and it is all great.

From there we headed north to Xerox Hall, we seemed to be working the edges of the map, for Kendrick Scott, Oracle. I was having a heard time understanding the reading. There was a fascinating piece using Obama’s voice and “tapes” from a police shooting of a black man together with drum solo. It was strong and political, not sure how it fit as Jazz, but it certainly was performance. We moved on before the set was over to give a listen to Floating Point at Lutheran Church. This was esoteric, a hybrid of classical and jazz. None of us could get into it. As a standalone set it might have worked for me, but with so much else around I was lost and we three agreed to move on after two numbers.

The next move was to Christ Church for Made in the UK, David Higgins and Atlantic Bridge Quartet. For a UK group it was made up of a French Bassist, an Italian Drummer and an American pianist along with Higgins, the Londoner and leader on Sax. We got in on time for the beginning and stayed on through the “one more piece.” I felt they were a bit too up tight and tied into their charts. Only at the end did Higgins seemed to move away from the chart and let loose with some imagination.

We wanted to hear Vanessa Rubin at Max, but by the time we got there the doors were closed and there was a substantial line waiting for early departures to make room. We headed instead to the Big Tent for something really, really completely different, Hot Club of Cowtown called themselves Western Swing. There was nothing of Jazz in the trio of violin (maybe fiddle would be a better term) guitar and bass. Their energy level was up in the stratosphere and we rocked right through the entire performance. The Gypsy violin piece was incredible and so was most of what they did. and it was Carol’s first choice. We trundled over to the Jam Session to find they had moved out of the too large room into the too small adjacent bar. We were back to no room to sit and limited air to breath. Also the noise level makes it hard to hear the performers. After an hour we called it a night.

Todays plan is being formed as I write 🙂 We will go over to the Youth Workshop at 1 and then head over to Lyric where Tommy Smith will take the stage solo. Can’t wait to hear him making it up as he goes along. Then on to Max for Shauli Einav Quartet. Marcia Ball at Harro and/or Electric Kif at Squeezers and wrap with Bobby Militello at Montage. If we don’t get into Max for 6:15, we may just lineup to be sure to hear Einav at his 10 PM show at Max.