Survey says . . . a few of my readers' thoughts on the 2008 Rochester International Jazz Festival (Part One)

For the past month, I've been collecting the thoughts some of you had about the 2008 Rochester International Jazz Festival through an online survey.  I asked my readers 5 questions, including:

• Who was your favorite artist or group at this year's jazz festival?
• What artist of group would you like to hear at next year's RIJF?
• What level of RIJF fanatic were you? (giving you a few choices, including "All 9 days, baby...")
• If you would change one thing about the RIJF, what would it be?
• What kind of coverage would you like to see more of in Jazz@Rochester during the festival?

I'm finally getting around to setting out the results of this informal and very unscientific poll of about 25 of my readers. Eight who responded had been to all 9 days of the festival.  All but three of the rest had been "onsite" 5 or more days. In this first post, I'll cover the first three questions. In one published tomorrow, we'll look at some of the suggested changes to the RIJF and to my coverage of it in Jazz@Rochester. My survey did not record any information about who thought these other than their responses, but in almost all cases their responses seemed genuine.

Who was your favorite artist or group at this year's jazz festival?

The responses here were across the wide spectrum of music that was found at this year's RIJF.  Some who received more than one vote included:

• Billy's Band (3)
• Bad Plus (2)
• Beady Belle (2)
• Blake Tartar (2)
• Dr. Lonnie Smith with Mel Henderson and Ulysses Owens (2)
• Timo Lassi Band (2)
• Wilbirds & Peacedrums (2)

Others who received a vote included (in alphabetical order):

• Richard Bona
• Djabe
• Al Foster
• Gillespiana
• Dave Liebman
• Joe Locke
• Carmen Lundy (at the Jazz at the Philharmonic)
• Ola Kvernberg Trio
• Stephanie McKay
• Rochester Jazz at the Philharmonic
• Boz Scaggs
• John Scofield
• Jacky Terrason
• Sachal Vasandani
• The Buddhahood
• Kristian Blak & Yggdrasil

What artist of group would you like to hear at next year's RIJF?

This question brought a wide assortment of artists and groups in response as well, including some we've seen before at the RIJF and some who haven't been in Rochester for quite some time. Here they are in alphabetical order (there were no repeats):

• Karrin Allyson
• Jane Ira Bloom
• Renato Braz
• Capital Bones
• James Carter
• Ravi Coltrane
• Chick Corea and Return to Forever
• Dena DeRose
• Allan Holdsworth
• Keith Jarrett
• Diana Krall
• John Legend
• Carmen Lundy
• Pink Martini
• Pat Martino
• Sergio Mendes
• Marion McPartland
• Diane Reeves
• Jake Shimabikuru
• Aaron Staebell (local)
• Scott Whitfield (West Coast trombonist)
• Sex Mob
• John Zorn & Masada

If you missed adding your voice to the poll itself, feel free to add your two cents in the comments below on this post and tomorrow's (I'd ask that you add it to the one that includes the questions you want to comment on).

Comments

[Tom Marcello]

Greg,

Personally, I's like to see Carmen Lundy have a night at Kilbourn all to herself.

She KILLED at the Eastman!

Thanks for everything you do here, by the way.

Best,

Tom Marcello

[Derrick Lucas]

Here's my two cents I'll divide this into 2 sections, jazz and non-jazz

jazz:
mulatu astatke (ethiopia)
anat cohen (israel)
ornette coleman
herbie hancock
roy hargrove
roy haynes
ahmad jamal
heith jarrett
pat metheny
chris potter
josh redman
paul shapiro
helen sung
nostalgia 77 (uk)
san francisco jazz collective
soil & pimp sessions(japan)

non-jazz:
beck
david bowie
leonard cohen
sharon jones & the dap kings
bette midler
tom waits
amy winehouse