Egypt, Paul Goldberg Blog

Preparing for Travel to Egypt

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Yet another tour with OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) We have mostly been letting days pass with minimal activity. The suitcases are already packed with our travel clothes and gear from the last trip. Preparing our travel phone for Egypt is a matter of recharging the multinational SIM card in it. Mostly we are running down the inventory of perishables in the apartment and thinking of things to put on the list. 

We fly into Cairo, direct from JFK and spend some time there seeing what needs to be seen, then we fly to Luxor for the usual sights there and a home hosted dinner. We may take a balloon ride while there, uh if weather permits we WILL take a balloon ride. From there we board ASIYA DEHABEYA to sail the Nile for 5 days. It is a small sail boat for 16 passengers. We will be slow and relaxed until we reach Aswan where we head for Abu Simbel. From there we fly back to Cairo and take a road trip to Alexandria. the trip ends with return to Cairo and flight back to JFK.on the 26th.

We will gather with family in NY on the 26th and return to Rochester the next day, the 27th. 

In the mean time (or as Steven Colbert would have it “mean while”)  I have delved into Ancestry.com and tracing my family’s genealogy. This is another time sink suitable only for people with no other job, or some might say no other life. For years I have been told that the family name “Goldberg” replaced Sklaroff when my grandfather entered through Ellis Island. I have now seen documentation of at least one member of the family using that name and tracking it back to a parent in Russia. I feel like I put a chip in a brick wall with that find. I also found a 3rd cousin who is tracking similar interests in a different line of the family. I will stop with that there or I will bore everyone with the minutia. 

Watch for my next post from Cairo Egypt (not Illinois).

 

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Not a Rant

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I still have more to rant about, but will attempt to refrain as I move on to more pleasant subjects. We have been so busy that I have not taken the time to write. I’m not sure anyone really cares how many dinners lunches and brunches we have had this month. Besides, I would have to get out the calendar and would be bored trying to get that all into print.

The major event was a trip to Hamilton where we had a wonderful small cousins gathering to celebrate Aunt Dorothy’s birthday. 96 is wonderful age to reach with sharp mind, and the great beauty she has carried with her as long as I have known her. We had lunch at cousin Marilyn’s home, Al is gone, with Harvey and Leslie and Arnie and Peggy. It was a fun gathering with plenty of reminiscing and sharing of pictures.

After staying the night at Marilyn’s place , we set out for Niagara on the Lake and the Shaw Festival Theater for a performance of GBShaw’s “Man and Superman” with the 3rd act “Don Juan in Hell” included. This started at 11 AM broke for lunch after the 2nd act and resumed at 2:30 finally concluding at about 5:15. It is indeed a long day of theater. And Shaw being Shaw the number of words would have filled two plays of the same duration. The soliloquys in Act 3 were so long that Shaw even had one character comment  that the length of Don Juan’s speeches were very long, twice! It is amazing that that the actors were able to deliver these lengthy lines almost flawlessly. The program notes reference the nature of this play as a marathon or grand opera. It takes stamina on the part of the performers AND the audience. We were thrilled with the performance and delighted to have had the rare opportunity to see this production in full. It was the first of 17 scheduled performances. After a light dinner in town we had a pleasant drive home.

My major time sink this month has been Ancestry.com. Carol and I did DNA testing a couple of years ago and neither of us has taken the time to do anything about it other than to look to see that we are indeed where we thought we were from with no real surprises. I have spent endless hours building the family tree on both the maternal and paternal sides of my family and assisting Carol in starting to build her tree. From my grandparents “down” it has been pretty easy although I have found a couple of cousins I did not know about and the links to many more at the 3rd cousin level who I do not have names or lineage for. Tackling the pedigree side of the tree is more difficult as there are few people around with any memory and much memory cannot be trusted without some documentation. I will need to upgrade my database access to see documents from out of the US and have been putting that off until I have a couple of months in the US to do the work. 

My only comment on the political scene is that I am sick to my stomach with the hate speech from all sides and I fear for future generations of non-white non-European stock in this country. In all my life I have never seen such raw antisemitism expressed by public figures in public venues. If the blame for whatever failures are  fantasized, is placed today on Latinos, Asians, nonwhite immigrants, how long before the Jews join the ranks of scapegoats?

I promised not to rant. . . . . . . .  promise broken, so sorry!!!! 

opinion, Paul Goldberg Blog

A Rant

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We have been busy with seeing people and dining here and there, even going to see “Once Upon a Time . . . Hollywood” on film and watching Bathtubs Over Broadway on Netflix – do watch it. My head has been buried in politics and questions of Free Speech and “2nd Amendment” rights. I need to get some things off my chest so either close this post right now or come along for the ride.

I will not quote the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution of the United States here, it is readily available. I have never owned a handgun, rifle or shotgun and have no intention of doing so.  I do not oppose any one owning and using these weapons. I understand the pleasure of target shooting, I even get the desire to hunt. Some people need rifles or shot guns to protect themselves from wild animals or even to euthanize wild animals that are injured. All of these needs can be fulfilled with weapons that can fire at most 6 shots on a reload (I am basing that on the 6 shot revolver). I see no purpose in high capacity magazines, upwards of 200 rounds! other than engaging in a fire fight with similarly armed people or to commit mass murder. We must start  by banning the possession of  magazines greater than will fit within the body of the weapon. By that I mean anyone possessing such magazines will be first subjected to fines and then to imprisonment for subsequent offenses. Put this together with the bumpstock ban and we have a start. Background checks are nice, but don’t solve a thing nor do Red Flag laws. Bad guys with evil intent will find their way around those because there are already so many weapons in circulation. 

As an RVer who often boondocks and camps amid other RVers who I don’t know, my only safety concern is the paranoia of a fellow camper with a high powered weapon who fires it and misses leaving his missile to pass through the walls of my RV on its way to oblivion. My only weapon is a 380 horsepower diesel engine ready to start and be underway out of Dodge in minutes.

End of 2nd Amendment rant – for now.

Free Speech; I may have bitten off more than I realized, but here goes.

I am not looking into laws abridging freedom of religion or the press also significant aspects of the First amendment. “Congress shall make no law . . . or abridging the freedom of speech . . . ” This limits what Congress can do, not what private parties or states can do. Further many states (I have not researched this fully) have similar clauses in their constitutions. As I understand this there is no way under Federal law to ban or punish hate speech. Anyone can stand in the public square and proclaim whatever hateful ideology they choose so long as they to not incite violence. If they can find a publisher willing to print it, they can  have it printed and distributed by those willing to distribute it. Let’s give Facebook and YouTube and 8chan the benefit of the doubt that they are “the press” and thus are free to distribute what they choose in hate, porn, lies. They are also free to refuse to publish. We are free to refrain from supporting them by refusing to use their service. It does seem a stretch, but if several million people abstained from Facebook for a week they might take notice. 

I do not have any great hope that I will see the day when any of what I propose will actually happen. We are divided and afraid, we have been raised with hate for the “other” and when I note I am driving through El Paso I hear from friends and readers that it is dangerous because it is so close to Mexico. One not so small fact; the white folk invaded Mexico and carved out the state of Texas which had a substantial local population also New Mexico, California and Arizona. We are the invaders! 

I warned you. 

Paul Goldberg Blog

Keeping Busy

We continued our rather active lifestyle for another week. After a lovely cocktail hour with Berch and Roselyn on Monday we set out Tuesday to drive to the Berkshires to meet Toby and David, classmates from Brown, for a couple of nights in a VRBO in Washington MA. It’s a good thing we are used to backwoods/backroads isolation. This place was was back in the Berkshire Hills, the last 1/4 mile was a dirt road. The house was built by the owner who maintains a wood working shop over the garage – accessible from the second floor of the house. It is clear he is still working on improvements. All the wood was sourced from his lot. 

Although we had come to enjoy the solitude and quiet of the woods, we also were committed to sampling the cultural offerings available within a 30 minute drive. We started with a lovely dinner in Lenox , Zinc Bistro, followed by a classical guitar performance by Milos.

A selfie to give a sense of the distance to the stage, we were halfway back on the lawnWe had lawn seats at Ozawa Hall and were able to see him (just as well as the blurry picture shows) as well as hear quite clearly. Wednesday morning it appeared that rain was likely so we set out for Williamstown MA to the Clark Museum which Carol and I had not visited in many years. Oh my! What a change. We started with Ida O’Keefe, Georgia’s sister, and learned a lot about sibling rivalry. We took the trail up from there to another venue to explore the  history of the Venice Biennial. It would have meant much more had we been been following it for the years. 

As we left that venue it started to pour, but as luck would have it a shuttle bus appeared at the door to return us to the other buildings where we ate in the Cafe and viewed the Permanent collection before moving on to the Renoir Exhibit. At some point we entered a gallery featuring  a sound installation with 40 speakers ranked around the room, each cluster of 5 representing part of a choir. The 40 Part Motet was quite an experience with the ability to move from voice to voice and experience the sound from within the choir rather than as an external audience. 

Back to the house where we refreshed before heading off to Jacobs Pillow Dance where we attended the free performance which on this particular day was Ice Dance, yes you read that right Ice Dance in July at Jacobs Pillow. It was a rain day so they moved it indoors! The ice rink was a special plastic and the performers did indeed dance on the rink

We went from there to Dream Away Lodge closer to the house for dinner. This old roadhouse has a rather limited menu, but we all found good food to eat and adjourned to a side room where a casual group of guitarists were playing as much to amuse themselves as the audience which was mostly us. Carol and I did get up and dance to one of the numbers.

We retired to the house and slept soundly until morning when we started to pack and reminisce over breakfast. We had one more stop planned, Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge MA. Somehow the house kept calling us back and each of us had to return to pick up something forgotten. We arrived in time to attend a talk on the history of the Saturday Evening Post covers for which he was most famous. The museum is celebrating its 50th anniversary with an exhibit “Woodstock to the Moon 50 Years of Illustration” to do it justice view the website in the link. 

We parted at the museum Toby and David eventually headed East, back to Rhode Island, and we headed West to unpack, clean up and go out to dinner with Freddy and Marvin. We planned on a relaxing Friday to recover for our next round of activity starting Saturday morning with breakfast at the Public Market with Rohma and Josh and cocktails and dinner with more friends. I think Carol said we have another day of rest on Monday. Oh right, breakfast with Rudin counsins.

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Tour Guide

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We had a visit from our friends from Jojoba Hills, Greg and Mary Beth. They arrived late afternoon and we picked them up at their hotel to visit our apartment and go out to dinner. Somehow I immediately slipped into tour guide mode and had to take the long way around to the apartment. Since the actual route was a straight line, it was a a bit of a meander along River Road though Genesee Valley Park and Mt Hope Cemetary (or was that Tueday?) We finally decided on dinner at The Dinosaur Barbecue, rated by most sources as the #1 restaurant in Rochester. I would argue the rating, but

not that it is the very best barbecue in the state and one of my favorites. Someday I’ll have to order something besides the brisket plate. Tuesday we I picked them up while first dropping Carol off to an unavoidable appointment. We went to Lock 32, one of several  Erie Canal locks near Rochester. After watching a couple of boats lock though upstream (west bound), we picked Carol up and headed up toward Charlotte at Lake Ontario. By now I was in full flow, spouting history and stories of Rochester like one of the seasoned tour leaders we enjoy so much in our travels. I kept surprising myself as I took turns that even i had forgotten I knew, like Boxart Street off Lake Ave to get to Turning Point Park where we walked down to the board walk along the river. Carol made it down and back up just fine.

Turning Point Park on the Genesee River. Carol, Greg, Mary Beth

Lunch was at The Port of Rochester Terminal building at Bill Gray’s. We were shocked at how high the water is, overflowing in places where it seemed least likely. We have been hearing the lake shore people complaining and are certainly aware of how high the lake is, but to see it was another thing. The east pier on the river is almost completely submerged. Our path took us though Durand Eastman Park, up to Empire Boulevard and down into the neck of land where Irondequoit Bay meets Irondequoit creek that is flowing from Ellison Park. I was defeated in finding parking as the public lot was underwater. From there we returnied to the apartment with some digressions to rest up for dinner.  After an hour break we headed out to Wegman’s where they needed to do some minor shopping. While we were in the store, Carol booked a table at TRATA (The Restaurant At The Armory). We avoided expressways and took some residential roads that eventually brought us into yet another park, Cobbs Hill, which was teaming with baseball players of all sizes and abilities. After dinner, which was very nice, it was collapse time for all, but first we drove around the Cobbs Hill Reservoir which was crowded with people enjoying the pleasant evening and the view of the city skyline before dropping them back at the hotel and going  home to sleep.  

The remaining must see on the list was the George Eastman Museum. We met in the parking lot and entered in time to join a wonderful docent lead tour. I have often said I could give the mansion tour having been in and around it most of my life, but Shari brought some fresh insights and I found myself enjoying the tour. After lunch in the cafe, we went through the galleries rather quickly and said our goodbyes as Greg and Mary Beth went out the door to the parking lot.

I finally stopped talking and thinking about where to next. this guiding shtick would be a lot easier if I had a planned and timed route, but it would not have been as much fun for me. If any of you readers from out o f town want to tour the places I have described, come and visit, but you had better hurry as we will be gone early September. 

 

Paul Goldberg Blog

A Week Later

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With the sounds of flute jazz ringing in our ears and the noise of the final jam session overpowering us. We set out to rebuild our social life without the Festival. Sunday was to be a down day, but Carol set off to do two sessions for Reachout Radio, part of WXXI that narrow casts to sight impaired people with special radios. Carol reads from the local newspapers for a 30 minute segment.

We really did not do much of anything else. That was to be the last dinner home for the week until Friday night. We got together with our grandson and several friends for various dinners. Ending at Mortons on the 4th of July, just a few steps from our apartment and just as close to the  Main Street Bridge for the fireworks. The Gracis came to our apartment before dinner and we didn’t part until the end of the fireworks. 

Carol was busy with the entertainment calendar and we went to the Little on Saturday to see “Echo in the Canyon” a documentary about the California music scene in the late ’60s centered on Laurel Canyon. The reviews range from 10 to 1. I would give it a solid 8. Yes they didn’t cover everyone, even Bob Dylan was absent even though his son was the Executive Producer and lead performer from the current era. Others were missing, but there were so many present that it was really overwhelming. It was great just to hear the music from that time as we were starting our family.

Sunday we look a long ride to Bristol Valley Playhouse in Naples NY. Well for RVers an hour is barely getting started, but some would call it long. We saw “Becoming Dr Ruth” a one woman show covering much of the life of Dr Ruth as she is packing up her apartment following her husband Fred’s death. There was much laughter and many tears. Good theater in a nice venue.

I have been mostly noodling on the computer, trying to remember to do my exercises for my lower back, and doing whatever Carol wants me to do. That is not a negative. It seems we both are so in tune that if she wants to something, so do I and the other way around. We were rummaging in our storage locker and pulled out a small box of pictures. In it was a small collection of photos from my father’s service in England in World War II. He never made it past Birmingham where he was a medic in a hospital laboratory. There also was a brochure that the  United Jewish Welfare Fund (as it was known then) had published to kick off the campaign.  Dad, was the Chairman (or was it President) of the campaign and his picture, with pipe, is featured.

In all of the pictures in the collection, save one, the pipe is present. All of the leaders featured in the brochure are long gone, but hardly forgotten. I would be glad to scan and post a link to the other 11 pages if there is any interest. 

Just had a call from the Muellers from Jojoba Hills that they are are on Lake Road west of here and should be in town within the hour. 

 

 

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One Last Night and Some Thoughts

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We romped out of the apartment headed for Geva to hear Acoustic Alchemy. As we paused at Division St (you would have to be local to even know its there) a Jazz Shuttle appeared. The driver saw our Club Passes and opened the door to us, commenting that he wasn’t supposed to pick people up away from an assigned stop. This was the start of a day of everything going right. We got seats in the 4th row center for the group and they pinned us there with their great sound and joy. It was a shame it was first set and they had to limit themselves to the hour set time. If they appear in a venue we can get to ,we would go a bit out of our way to hear them in an extended performance. Read the City Music Blog here.

We cleared out of Geva and headed up Clinton toward Temple Building. This meant passing right by Parcel 5 which was hosting Cha Wa a group that we had no interest in hearing but couldn’t avoid in passing. We got into the Temple and settled in for some good times with Joey Defranceso Trio. Joey was front and center on his Hammond B3 Organ with an electric keyboard poised on top. The opening sounded like a group warming up/tuning up just noodling each in his own world until they brought it all together on a tight number. While we were there Joey played both keyboards, saxophone and trumpet! about 45 minutes in we beat feet to get some dinner and place in line to hear Kansas Smitty’s House Band in Kilborn Hall.

After the introduction the “back line” piano, bass, guitar and drums came out and played an opening number then out came the horns to add to the joyful noise.  They are listed as part of the Made in the UK series and come from London. They actually own their own club there appropriately named Kansas Smitty’s. You can read Jeff Spevak’s review in the linked blog for more information. We really enjoyed the show and stayed in our seats until it was clear they were not coming back out. 

We crossed the street to Max for Andrea Bachfeld & Insight. The crowds were dwindling and we were able to get seats almost immediately. However Carol and I had a disagreement about whether to stay or move to Montage for Sisters Euclid. I got obstinate because this was the first lead flute we were  hearing and Sisters Euclid was more sax, guitar etc we had been hearing all week. We stayed, but left about 45 minutes into the set to see what was happening at the Jam. When we got to the Jam the area was jammed and the noise level was so high I couldn’t hear the horn on stage. After a few minutes we decided to call it a Festival and go home to bed.

Today’s plan is NOTHING! Well, Carol is doing Reachout Radio at WXXI this morning. 

Review and thoughts. In past years I have kept a nightly tally of Club Pass venues attended to justify the $360 we spent on them. I didn’t think to do that this year, but I just went back and counted and It appears we went in to 32 venues. This is less than $6 per entrance to shows costing $30 ($35 at Kilbourn). Once again the Club Pass is a win for us. We were worried bout getting around given Carol’s ongoing recovery from the hip fracture. Although it was not always easy, we managed to get where we needed to be and get seating. The addition of Geva to the venues was a blessing and a curse. The curse being that it stretched the periphery of the Festival by at least a couple of blocks, the blessing was the addition of Wilson Hall with its 500 comfortable seats and great sight lines and acoustics. Also the comfortable lobby area with bar and restaurant was a great plus. For some the ability to cross the street and wait at Native Eats or sit in Washington Square Park without losing their place in line was an added benefit. 

There was another major change in moving the major free shows to Parcel 5 from Chestnut Street at East Avenue. For those of us not interested in losing our hearing to Trombone Shorty this was wonderful because it cleared out the area around the main venues and enabled us to move without fighting the thousands to get from one to the other. The disadvantage for some is that it spread the crowd out more and made it feel less jammed with tens of thousands. I am among those who missed Harro East as a venue. I would hope the managers and the Festival group could come to a happy agreement. I must admit that the Harro East management were the ugliest about refusing to let even a water bottle in so they could have the opportunity to sell more overpriced water. Some reported missing the Little Theater, unavailable because of a major renovation, but I am not so sure. It is a bit of a walk and in its former state it was little. 

Of the 32 venues plus free stages I attended or listened to in passing I would say I heard an amazing variety of music performed by wonderful professional musicians. I exempt the wonderful High School Bands heard on Jazz Street although some of the players surely will play professionally in the future. John Nugent is inclined to say “It isn’t who you know, it’s who you don’t know.” By opening ourselves up to groups we don’t know to styles we are unfamiliar with, Carol and I have enjoyed an ever growing variety of music we enjoy. From straight jazz standards to experimental performances utilizing high tech manipulation, from classical chamber and orchestral performances to the very occasional opera, we are open to all. the festival is a wonderful opportunity to expand our range. Not that we enjoy it all, but we listen for a while to learn what it is we like and don’t like. 

We plan on buying our Club Passes for next years CGI Rochester International Jazz Festival June 19  to 27 as soon as they are available. We have signed up to keep the apartment!

Jazz Fest

Day 9

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One more night on the Street. Am I  Happy or Sad? Not really sure, both of us are getting tired and are ready for a quiet evening at home, but what will we do without our Jazz Street friends and the planning and the waiting in lines ? On the  Lines; some people have said they cannot tolerate the endless lines at the Festival to get into venues to get food, just to  move through the narrow spaces created by street stages and vendor tents. We find the lines to be part of the event. We meet new people in every line, and we greet former line friends too. I guess if I were an introvert this could be stressful, for Carol and me it is joyful. It seems everyone is happy and friendly and in a similar mood to ours. These are happy lines.

last night – Day 8 – started with a change of plans, actually two changes. As we approached the Hatch Hall line we both thought that Jubilation! Celebrating Cannonball Adderly in Kilbourn Hall would be easier to leave than from Hatch. We jumped in that line as they were already handing our wrist bands and got entries for the first wave. I know it’s late but a quick explanation; for each of four popular venues coded wrist bands are placed on our wrist granting a specific entry window. These are in 3 waves or groups 5 minutes apart. With our first wave wristbands we wandered the Street and settled in some chairs we found. Carol decided she was not up to the first show so she went back to the apartment to rest. I continued on into Kilbourn settling into my favorite row while keeping in touch via text. The performers were fine, the music was solid Adderly, but Catherine Russel was set to pack The Temple Building Theater and I had to be there.

So  halfway though the set I departed and walked over, claiming a seat in the third row on left center aisle that someone had just vacated according to my new friend in the seat next to me. Carol texted that she was on her way over and she got a seat up in the balcony, she didn’t want to miss her.  I will not try to review her performance, read Jeff Spevak for an excellent review. The audience was appreciative, attentive and quiet while she sang, we didn’t want to miss a thing. It was more than worth skipping out on the Kilbourn show early.

Carol and I met on the street and walked over to Main St where we had “dinner” before heading to Christ Church for Itamar Borochov an Israeli born trumpet player. Again Spevak has written eloquently about the performance. We claimed seats way down front to avoid the worst of the reverb and really enjoyed the performance to the very last note. A couple of his introductions had me grateful for my education in Medieval Jewish Thought  courtesy of our son Yechiel. All in all it was really interesting hearing a “nice Jewish boy” playing trumpet in Christ Church, and boy could he play!

The wrap in Christ Church had me returning a favor. I found a hat left on a chair as we were leaving and I picked it up and left it with the staff should the owner come looking. We made our way to Max – this should sound familiar by now – and settled in at the very back of the room, we soon found seats just a bit forward. To our great surprise our grandson Josh appeared trailing his mother, both dressed as wait staff at Max – the restaurant. This was his second day on his new part time gig while he digs into his studies. A minute later he reappeared with a lager for me and water with lime for Carol, returning again with herbal tea for her since we were seated at a table now.  He knows his grandparents well. Sullivan Fortner Trio laid down some mighty fine Jazz, more modern, but with deep bones in the 60’s and 70’s. It was a pleasure to just let it surround us. 

We strolled out of the room headed home. The Festival is winding down and after 8 nights we really are running out of steam. BUT tonight we have a Plan for one more night; Acoustic Alchemy at Geva Wilson Hall, Joey DeFrancesco Trio at The Temple Building, Kansas Smitty’s House Band at Kilbourn and Andrea Bachfeld & Insight at Max – unless we go to Montage for Sisters Euclid. 

Watch for the final post of this series a bit later tomorrow.

Jazz Fest

Day 8!!

It appears we lived the plan last night and tonight’s plan is the same venues in the same order, but more on that later.

I went ahead of Carol to get in line for Gary Versace with Scott Robinson at Hatch. I was all alone at 3:30 and was joined by a couple of others who we had met years ago in Kilbourn Hall after a few minutes. For the most part we were alone until shortly before the doors opened at 5:15! Where was everybody? Had they had enough of Scott two nights before at Max? I have no clue but they missed a remarkable performance by two great performers from different eras finding a way to play Jazz from a common base of knowledge. Ron Netsky has a lot of good things to say about the performance in his post in City. Carol and I were glued to our seats listening to familiar tunes played as we had never heard and tunes we had never heard, actually one they said had never been performed. 

As we got our heads together we headed over to Temple Building Theater for Paul McCandless and Charged particle. this was another performance where we were awe struck by the performances. No one chose to review this performance, more’s the shame. McCandless is world class, he played soprano sax and bass clarinet. Charged Particle were wonderful, the piece they opened with just as their own trio left me wanting more. I would gladly attend a performance of the trio!

After two wonderful performances Carol and I headed back to The Street for some food. I had meat balls and rigatoni from Meat Balls truck. They were pretty good and my backpack enjoyed some of the color as well. Having taken 30 minutes for food and relaxation it was off to to Christ Church for Elda Trio. We had heard Emillia Martensson in one number with Ian Shaw and wanted to hear more. She is Swedish and her drummer is Brazilian and the accordionist was  Slovenian. All this at the Made in UK venue. I might have thought we were at Lutheran Church where far out sounds are common, but no, this was the “staid” Christ Church UK venue. Ron Netsky, see link above, has an excellent review of this performance. For those looking for straight ahead Jazz it was time to leave. We stayed and enjoyed to the full the wonderful performance that used an accordion synthesizer, unusual percussion instruments that looked to have been fashioned from or to look like gourds.  The percussion included vocalizations and mouth percussion.   Martensson’s singing was wonderful. At one point the percussionist  drew in the audience to sing along without even asking with words, he just set up the words and invited by gesture that we should join in and it sounded like much the audience did just that. Three wonderful performances and an hour to go.

Choices for the 10 PM time slot are limited so we elected to head to Max to hear John Fedchock NY Sextet. The music was very much straight ahead Jazz, most of the tunes familiar in one way or another. The performances were, reaching for superlatives I haven’t used and failing. We were chilled and our bottoms were sore from the seats but we rocked on until the last note we didn’t want to miss. We were able to get good seats as the group was being announced, with guys we had sat with earlier in the evening. The critics stayed away and the normally jammed crowds were nowhere to be seen, it was Thursday. 

It won’t be like that tonight, the weather is wonderful with temperature in the 80’s and blue skies. It looks like another great night to be out there. As I said in the intro we will repeat venues with different performers. Bill Charlap at Hatch, Catherine Russell at Temple Building (this may be tough since she is a returning performer who is very popular), Itamar Borochov Quartet at Christ Church and Sullivan Fortner Trio at Max to wrap up the evening. We skipped the Jam last night, we shall see how we feel tonight, we can decide as we walk past on our way home.

Jazz Fest

Day 7 on the Street

A review of Day 6 and a plan for Day 7. Real life schedules are usually not allowed to impinge on Jazz Fest, but the only time Carol could get for an appointment was mid afternoon. When we got back to the apartment is was late for us and Carol needed to get some things, including her head, together. I trotted off to Jazz Street and got a 3rd entry wrist band for Kilbourn to hear Lionel Louke & Raul Midn. As I settled into a seat in the 4th row I texted Carol who responded that she was in the line. Shortly after she appeared in my  row to tell me she had a seat at the other end of the row. An usher saw her with her cane and offered her a seat reserved for people with special needs. The show was enjoyable, but a disappointment. I expected from the write up, as did others, see the City write up, that they would perform as a duo. They each played solo for the most part and the two numbers they did together seemed a bit forced. 

We moved from there to the Temple Building Theater – first time there for us –  for Kandace Spring, singer and pianist. I’m struggling for words beyond the usual superlatives. She plays the piano like a classic concert pianist, drawing from the classical world and like a very accomplished Jazz pianist, Oscar Peterson flowed from her fingers like she was channeling him.  She sang with energy and perfection. The audience responded with verve. We floated out of the theater wondering how another performance would match that. As we walked, we ran into Susan Plunket (there she is again) who was coming from Christ Church where Ian Shaw was performing. I had written this show off as a vocalist in that church would seem to be overwhelmed by the space. Susan said GO and sit up front.

She knows! so we went and sat up front. I do not have the words and Frank De Blase does in the City Music Blog linked above. We listened, we participated and we urged him to return for an encore which he did.  He can string more words into a second than almost anyone I have heard and he shifts from words to scat and back so smoothly it is hardly noticeable. A word about the kindness of Jazz Fest attendees; I left my hat  behind – it is an old Jazz Fest favorite – and when I returned to the place I was sure I had left it, it was gone.  . . one of the volunteers went to check lost and found and someone had turned it in – Thank You to whoever you are.

Onward to Montage for Tamar Korn and a Kornucopia. We arrived to SRO as expected. We enjoyed her singing and she certainly is a character dancing and singing  with her excellent group. If I had paid for the show I certainly would have stayed. After 30 minutes we were tired from 6 active nights on the Street and decided to call it a night. We were in the apartment by 11 PM, an early night. And I slept through my alarm at 7 AM getting up in time to make the first appointment of the day. Speaking of which

Here is the Plan: Gary Versace with Scott Robinson in Max, then Paul McCandless & Charged Particles in Temple Building; followed by Elda Trio in Christ Church, ending at Max for John Fedchock NY Sextet. 

Seeing the World/Seeing North America