Jazz@Rochester

Jazz Fest is over ... but jazz in Rochester isn't!

I finally am starting to catch up from nine (well, 8) days of jazz festing and already it's that time—that is, time to catch up with the jazz that will be playing in and around Rochester over the next seven days.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

• Medeski, Martin & Wood @ Party In The Park, 5:00 pm
• Vince Ercolamento @ Coppergrass Bistro, 6:00 pm
• Jazz Dawgs @ Bistro 135, 7:00 pm
• Matt Valerio @ The Grill at Strathallan, 7:00 pm
• Manouche A Trois @ Little Theatre Cafe, 7:30 pm

Friday, June 26, 2009

• Ted Nicolosi & Shared Genes @ JC's Backyard BBQ,1789 Penfield Rd, 5:30 pm
• Vince Ercolamento @ Wegmans (Canandaigua), 5:30 pm
• Nancy Kelly @ Bear Bones BBQ (Auburn), 6:00 pm
• Paradigm Shift @ Abilene, 6:00 pm
• Bobby Dibaudo Trio @ Bistro 135, 6:00 pm
• Greece Jazz Band @ Schoen Place, Port of Pittsford, 7:00 pm
• Jazz on the Green @ Jack's Place, 7:00 pm
• Gap Mangione New Blues Band @ Woodcliff Hotel & Spa, 7:30 pm
• Bill Dobbins Quartet @ The Grill at Strathallan, 8:30 pm
• Tom Pesciotta Jazz Quartet @ Little Theatre Cafe, 8:30 pm
• Janet Beaman @ Bistro 135, 9:00 pm

Saturday, June 27, 2009

• Madeline Forster CD Signing @ Borders Books & Music-Victor, 7:00 pm
• Gap Mangione New Blues Band @ Woodcliff Hotel & Spa, 7:30 pm
• The Westview Project @ Pane Vino, 8:00 pm
• Ted Nicolosi & Shared Genes @ Jasmine's Asian Fusion, 8:15 pm
• Bob Sneider Quartet @ The Grill at Strathallan, 8:30 pm
• Jazz Boys @ Havana Moes, 9:30 pm

Sunday, June 28, 2009

• Ted Nicolosi & Shared Genes @ Taste of Rochester, 12:30 pm
• Nostalgic Reunion Jazz Ensemble @ Rochester Harbor and Carousel Fest, in the Jazz Tent, Ontario Beach Park, 2:30 pm
• Blue Spirit Band @ Bop Shop Atrium (Bop Arts Presents...), 8:00 pm

Monday, June 29, 2009

• The White Hots @ Little Theatre Cafe, 7:30 pm
• Dave Rivello Ensemble @ Kilbourn Hall, 7:30 pm

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

• Johnny Russo’s East Hill Classic Jazz Trio @ Geneva on the Lake, 6:30 pm
• Joe Santora & Emily Kirchoff @ PaRe Bar and Grill, 7:00 pm
• Eastman Jazz Faculty Quartet @ Kilbourn Hall, 7:30 pm

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

• Dave Mancini Trio @ Bistro 135, 6:30 pm
• Jim Nugent Trio @ Little Theatre Cafe, 7:30 pm
• Paul Hofmann @ Kilbourn Hall, 7:30 pm

We've compiled these listings from information obtained from the performing artists themselves and other sources. The aim is to give you a one stop place to find all your jazz in Rochester. Please forgive me for any discrepancies with reality and feel free to let me know what the problem is, and I'll get the corrections up on the site as soon as possible (click on the "Send an email to Jazz@Rochester" link). If you go out to hear a performance listed here, feel free to drop a comment to this post about how it went. I want to hear from you!

All good things must come to an end ... Last night at the 2009 XRIJF

The motto on the new T-shirt I bought on Thursday night is "It's not who you know; it's who you don't know". This is the festival music director John Nugent's mantra and a good descriptor for the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival. The last night for this year's XRIJF was a good case in point.

I started out with someone I know—Joe Lovano and Us Five in Kilbourn Hall at 6:00 pm and then turned to those I didn't. It was raining when I got to Jazz Street and throughout the last night of XRIJF, but luckily the line for Joe Lovano was not so far that I had to stand in it (without umbrella). Joe Lovano was one of my "must sees" for this year's festival. Us Five is a new project that features his wife Judi Silvano as a vocalist, although singing songs is not her role. Using her voice to scat or mimic instruments, Silvano adds to the quartet of James Weidman on piano, Cameron Brown on bass, and the outstanding Francisco Mela on drums to make it a quintet. Lovano's set was fantastic, starting with the title piece off his new album with the Us Five Folk Art and including other tracks off the album and standards like Mal Waldron's Soul Eyes. In addition to tenor sax, he played an aulochrome, a double soprano saxophone, tuned to different keys that created a sort of two tone (except when he concentrated on one side of the mouthpiece). His compositions were inventive and fun. He also gave the rest of his band, including his wife, wide areas to shine, which they all stepped up to regularly.

I sloshed my way through the puddles, slowly, as excessive use and tucking behind seat backs had blown out one of my two bad knees, over to the Reformation Lutheran Church for my last taste of the Nordic Jazz Now series with Delirium. This quartet of Finns and Danes were very playful and inventive, with compositions and playing mixing straight ahead with freer sounds. I especially liked the second piece, which was an almost 1920s stomp, punctuated with periods of zany dissonance. The cornet/trumpet player stood out for his versatility with the horn, constantly changing the sound of his horn with dampers and other tools to get desired effects.

I finished out the 2009 Rochester jazz festival by checking out the last of the Made in the UK Series groups, Tim Garland's Lighthouse Trio, over at the Christ Church. Reed many Garland arranged music on Chick Corea's new album The New Crystal Silence, worked with vibist Joe Locke on a project, and I'd heard great things from various folks about this group. The Lighthouse trio consists of Garland, Asaf Sirkis (who plays a custom built set of frame drums, bass Udu, Hang drum and other percussion instruments), and the young pianist Gwilym Simcock. There is no bass. With the ambient noise of the rain outside providing an added layer, these three created a tapestry of inventive music in the now great sounding space of Christ Church. Due to my knee needing some attention and the great music I'd just experienced, I decided to go on home and skip the after hours. The Lighthouse Trio was a great way to end this year's festival.

For more, I'll point you toward stories and posts in the Democrat & Chronicle, City Newspaper, and any blogs or other sources I can find:

• City Newspaper, ROCHESTER JAZZ FESTIVAL 2009 BLOG: Day 9: Joe Lovano, Aaron Park Trio, final thoughts (Ron Netsky).
• City Newspaper, ROCHESTER JAZZ FESTIVAL 2009 BLOG: Day 9: Joe Lovano, Marta Gomez, Dwayne Dopsie, Fabulous Thunderbirds, Buckwheat Zydeco (Frank DeBlase).
• City Newspaper, ROCHESTER JAZZ FESTIVAL 2009 BLOG: Day 9: John Boutte, Tim Garland, Delirium, Dwayne Dopsie (Saby Reyes-Kulkarni).
• Democrat & Chronicle, City swells with fest's finest sounds (Jeff Spevak).
• Democrat & Chronicle, Rain soaks jazz festival's final day, but enthusiasm still reigns (Anna Reguero).
• Reguero also has a few blog posts up from throughout Day 9 on the HerRochester Arts Blog including some video from the after hours party where Joe Lovano played starting here (remember to move up the blog from there to see the rest).
• Norma Winstone and Aaron Parks Trio have been added to Will Yurman's Jazz Tales.
• Over at Popwars blog, there are two more to check out, at Go to Church and their last of the festival Live Jazz Withdrawal.

OK, tie a toe tag on it. The 2009 Xerox International Jazz Festival is over, kaput, fini, long live the 2010 Xerox International Jazz Festival! Although there will be some occasional content here relating to the jazz festival, I now return you to your regularly scheduled Jazz@Rochester programming.

Hangin' with @40,000 of my closest friends ... Day 8 at the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival

Friday night at the Xerox Rochester Jazz Festival was about crowds and moving through a wide spectrum of music. According to the D&C, the folks at XRIJF believed that there was perhaps 40,000 happy music listeners milling around the East End to hear the free shows on East Avenue and the great music still going on in the Club Pass venues (and of course, Taj Mahal with Susan Tedeschi in Eastman).

The evening started out for me at 4:30, getting in line for guitarist Pat Martino's 6:00 pm appearance in Kilbourn Hall with Hammond B3 organ player Tony Monaco and young Jason Brown on drums. After brain surgery in 1980 for aneurysms, Martino lost his memory, including how to play the guitar and so much more (he almost didn't recognize his parents). He studied his own recordings and used other technology to help reverse this memory loss and relearn the guitar before starting to record again in 1987. Last night's incredible performance drove home how hard that road back must have been. He showed amazing technical skill, moving through pieces at lightning speed, but also played with a lot of emotion and would take chords and notes in different directions than I was expecting. I think that half the guitarists in Rochester were in that performance, just soaking up the sounds coming out of Martino's fingers. Monaco's seemed to be having a great time as he mouthed, ran and growled his way through solos and comping behind Martino, using those two Leslie boxes on the stage to their fullest effect. Brown held down the grooves well and had some spot on short solo runs.

After leaving Martino, I looked for my lost Downbeat hat (my favorite) over at the Eastman and jazz fest office lost and found, but it seems to have found a new head to perch itself on. I went over to meet my wife, who was coming in to see Susan Tedeschi and Taj Mahal. She never made it in as she didn't give herself enough time to get through the huge mess that the East End became around 7:00 pm as the free concerts began. She found no place to park and finally gave up. I ducked into Eastman Theater and heard a bit of Tedeschi's set. She's a great blues rocker, but I'd heard her several times before and moved on since my wife wasn't there to share it with me. Headed over to Christ Church to catch a bit of UK singer Norma Winstone. I'm afraid I just wasn't into the singers this year and only made it for a couple of songs before heading out again.

Next stop was a quick trip to the tent to catch up with some friends. When I entered, Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers were playing at full tilt with the washboard player nearly knocking himself over (he was pretty thin...) with those two spoons and Dopsie just pounding the keys of his accordion. Everyone was on their feet in front and having a big party.

Back over to Eastman where the crowd was heading back in for Taj Mahal. While I've seen gigs by some of the great blues artists (Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, Pinetop Perkins and others in the 80s and 90s in Chicago), I wish I had a seat for this show (on sold out shows my media access gets me in the door, but the seats are for paying bums...in the UK sense). Taj Mahal is the real deal and the first part of his set was fantastic. He came with just a bass player and drummer, but that's all he needed as he made that guitar sing. However, even if I had a seat, I'm not sure I would have felt like sitting it (I was kind of restless last night). So after four or five songs, I moved on....

Ended up the evening at the State Street Bar & Grill at the Rochester Plaza hotel for the after hours. Took the bus down there from Jazz Street. My friends had preceded me and secured a table in the outside patio. Much more comfortable than inside and a prime perch for watching the proceedings going on as artists and others arrived. They've set up a projection screen for the live video of the band inside and a pretty good sound system, so we could watch and hear the jam session inside (when it got crowded, you can't even hear inside, so in some ways it was better). We just sat and laughed and had a few beers as we wound down from the day. 

For more, I'll point you toward stories and posts in the Democrat & Chronicle, City Newspaper, and any blogs or other sources I can find:

• City Newspaper, ROCHESTER JAZZ FESTIVAL 2009 BLOG: Day 8: Pat Martino, Joe Romano Tribute, Susan Tedeschi, Taj Mahal (Ron Netsky).
• City Newspaper, ROCHESTER JAZZ FESTIVAL 2009 BLOG: Day 8: Ryan Shaw, Susan Tedeschi, Taj Mahal (Frank DeBlase).
• City Newspaper, ROCHESTER JAZZ FESTIVAL 2009 BLOG: Day 8: Arve Henriksen, Dwayne Dopsie, Tower of Power, Po Boys Brass Band (Saby Reyes-Kulkarni).
• Democrat & Chronicle, City swells with fest's finest sounds (Jeff Spevak).
• Democrat & Chronicle, Tedeschi's talent thrills Eastman (Jack Garner).
• Democrat & Chronicle, Final night at Rochester International Jazz Festival (Jeff Spevak).
• Anna Reguero has a few blog posts up from throughout Day 8 on the HerRochester Arts Blog including some from the after hours party here (remember to move up the blog from there to see the rest).
• Nils Petter Molvaer Group has been added to Will Yurman's Jazz Tales.
• Showstopper on PopWars.
• It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing. Doo wah, doo wah, doo wah, in Mr. Nightime.

MIA on Day 7 of the jazz festival in Rochester, but still there in spirit...

Don't recall this ever happening before, but last night I opted to sit out a night of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival.  I decided to go home to my loving, but "jazz widow" spouse instead of hitting the Club Pass circuit and Kilbourn Hall. Due to work obligations she has been unable to join me at the festival this year. Looking at my Twitter feed and reading the reviews, it sounds like I missed some great music. Rested (well, relatively) and ready for the final two days! This time I'll just point you toward what others said about last night out there in the Democrat & Chronicle, City Newspaper, and any bloggers or other sources I can find, although none were found when this posted (I may add some later):

• City Newspaper, ROCHESTER JAZZ FESTIVAL 2009: Day 7: Monty Alexander, Tony Kofi, Michael McDonald, Ryan Shaw (Ron Netsky)
• City Newspaper, ROCHESTER JAZZ FESTIVAL 2009: Day 7: Brockport Community Big Band, Ryan Shaw, Michael McDonald, KJ Denhert (Saby Reyes-Kulkarni).
• City Newspaper, ROCHESTER JAZZ FESTIVAL 2009 BLOG: Day 7: Joe Baione Quartet (Dale Evans)
• Democrat & Chronicle, McDonald brings the past rocking to life (Jeff Spevak)
• Democrat & Chronicle, Friday's best bets at jazz fest (Jeff Spevak)
• Democrat & Chronicle, Upcoming jazz festival performers will have tough acts to follow (Jack Garner)
• Democrat & Chronicle, Taj Mahal performs tonight at Rochester International Jazz Festival (Jeff Spevak)
• D&C staff music writer Anna Reguero wrote quite a few posts on the D&C's HerRochester Arts blog last night starting here with RIJF Day 7 (when I posted, this post was actually on the second page of the blog, so after you read it you should click on the Arts Blog title to be taken back to the front page, where her posts end at 2:46 a.m. with a video of KJ Denhert at the after hours). In these posts there is also some video of Toni Kofi playing at the after hours and a nice post about Monty Alexander, among others.

Check out 6x6x2009 at RoCo ... One block down from Jazz Street

Add more art to your Jazz Festival experience by dropping in to see the Visual Art Event of the Summer at the Rochester Contemporary Art Center! Over 3.050 artworks submitted from 17 countries, 36 states, and 4 species! All these pieces (which are all 6"X6") are available for only $20! And you will be supporting the programs at Rochester Contemporary Art Center The exhibition runs from June 6th to July 12th at Rochester Contemporary Art Center 137 East Avenue, 1 block east of Jazz Street. There are special Jazz Festival hours:

• Friday June 19th 1-10pm
• Saturday June 20th 1-10pm

You can also view and buy works of art online on RoCo's website.

A day off, some floating and sloshing around ... we take day 6 at the XRIJF in stride

Wednesday night at the Xerox Rochester Jazz Festival felt a bit free-floating, but was satisfying nonetheless. Woke up Wednesday with a sour stomach (too much street meat and beer) and having not slept for most of the morning since getting in after midnight. Although I planned to work at the day job throughout the festival week, by yesterday I had hit the wall and, there being no meetings or deadlines, I decided to stay home, sleep a bit more and do some housework.

I headed down to "Jazz Street" about 4:00 pm and met up with friends. They were going to see Bonerama. While I'd seen them twice before, their 'Nawlins party music was a good wakeup for Day 6. They started out with Jimi Hendrix's Manic Depression, those bones just ripping up the floor boards.

After Bonerama, I caught the last of the set by local composer Dave Rivello's set with his larger ensemble. While I've not paid much attention to larger ensemble jazz, Rivello's writing and his excellent group, and my recent opportunity to see the Maria Schneider Orchestra (as well as some more recent discoveries), have increased my curiosity and interest in this area. Rivello's music is complex and accessible and he gathers great musicians around him to play it. I'm glad I took a detour and took in some of his set.

After Rivello's set ended, I sloshed myself across the street to the Reformation Lutheran Church for the set by NYNDK Collective. Sitting upstairs (not sure I've ever done that before...), it was one of those sets that while I needed to go to the next thing, I didn't want to leave. This group of Danish, Norwegian and U.S. musicians were something different and compelling. ANY group that plays THREE pieces arranged from the music of composer Charles Ives is different and compelling in my book. I have enjoyed the Ives'  music since hearing The Unanswered Question and other pieces years ago in college. To have a group of Nordic and U.S. musicians arrange songs for piano and voice into multi-layered jazz pieces, as well as play the music of Norwegian favorite son Edvard Grieg, reminded me that the "mashups" of genres that I enjoy work in both directions ... and work well.

I broke my streak of not going to hear Dave Brubeck in his three previous appearances here and slipped into the Eastman Theatre to hear a bit of his 4th appearance here at Rochester's festival. I was there a couple of tunes before the intermission and heard the song, Sermon on the Mount, with Brubeck's son Matthew playing beautifully on cello. Brubeck was never a firebrand on the piano, but at 88 still plays beautifully with a lot of touch and sophistication.

My final stop was the 10:00 pm set of Michael Occhipinti and the Sicilian Jazz Project at Max at Eastman Place. This project by Toronto guitarist Occhipinti has taken work songs and other traditional music of Sicily and arranging it into jazz pieces. The band members filed into the venue chanting a tuna fishing song, which was used to introduce (in Sicilian) each of them. These songs that arose from the hard work of that land were compelling in their sparse opening moments when sung in a more traditional way and then opened up with the whole assembly playing, including bassist and older brother Roberto Occhipinti. Another one of the great moments of Rochester jazz festivals where you are exposed to music brought in from the outside of the jazz orbit and then made part of that orbit, played by excellent musicians.

• Democrat & Chronicle, Austin group offers a Texas-sound to jazz (Jeff Spevak).
• Democrat & Chronicle, Brubeck still has that beautiful beat at 88 (Anna Reguero).
• Democrat & Chronicle, Michael McDonald headlines Day Seven (Jeff Spevak).
• Anna Reguero has a few blog posts up from throughout Day 6 on the HerRochester Arts Blog including the after hours party, which apparently featured Baye Kouyate here (remember to move up the blog from there to see the rest).
• Hot Club of Cowtown has been added to Will Yurman's excellent Jazz Tales.
• The D&C has a media feature called Panorama, which includes an interactive 360 degree image from the festival with voiceover from festival-goers and artist.
• City Newspaper, ROCHESTER JAZZ FESTIVAL 2009 BLOG: Day 6: Tessa Souter, Michael Occhipinti & Sicilian Jazz Project (Ron Netsky).
• City Newspaper, ROCHESTER JAZZ FESTIVAL 2009: Dave Brubeck, Hot Club of Cowtown, Dave Rivello Ensemble (Frank DeBlase).
• City Newspaper, ROCHESTER JAZZ FESTIVAL 2009 BLOG: Day 6: Dave Rivello Jazz Ensemble, NYNDK (Saby Reyes-Kulkarni).
• City Newspaper, ROCHESTER JAZZ FESTIVAL 2009 BLOG: Day 6: Kate McGarry's "Less is More" Trio (Dale Evans)
• Fairy Tale Phase, PopWars.

Free Jazz Jam Session for Kids during the XRIJF

Students, ages 14-19, have been invited to come play with the pros on the last day of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, Saturday, June 20th from 2-4 p.m. in Room 120 at the Eastman School of Music, 26 Gibbs Street (i.e., "Jazz Street"). Sign up (first-come, first-served at 1:30 p.m.) for this unique learning opportunity for your children.  You can send any questions via email to Bob Sneider.

Eastman School of Music and Eastman Community Music School faculty including Bob Sneider, Paul Hofmann, Jeff Campbell and Rich Thompson, will play with students and provide helpful feedback. You never know who else might pop by! It is during the jazz festival, don't you know....

While the XRIJF is in town, the jazz goes on elsewhere in and around Rochester

The Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival is still on and many local jazz musicians may be found wandering around "Jazz Street" or in the XRIJF venues, both playing and listening—but not all. There are some local folks playing jazz elsewhere in and around Rochester. Here are the jazz listings for the next seven days (Note, jazz fest gigs are NOT here):

Thursday, June 18

• Ted Nicolosi & Shared Genes @ Rosey's Italian Cafe 350 Main St, East Rochester, 5:30 pm
• Squeaky Chair Band (Summer Serenade Series) @ Welcome Center by Canal, Brockport, NY, 6:30 pm
• Jazz Dawgs @ Bistro 135, 7:00 pm
• Matt Valerio @ The Grill at Strathallan, 7:00 pm
• Manouche A Trois @ Little Theatre Cafe, 7:30 pm
• Russell Fielder Quintet @ Merchants Grillm 8:00 pm
• East End Boys @ Havana Moes (East Ave. near XRIJF site), 11:30 pm
• JazzWeek Summit 2009 @ Radisson Riverside Hotel, Rochester

Friday, June 19th

• Bobby Dibaudo Trio @ Bistro 135, 6:00 pm
• Ted Nicolosi and Shared Genes @ Cafe Vas, 546 Merchants Rd, Rochester, 7:00 pm
• Tom Passamonte & Special Blend @ Woodcliff Hotel & Spa, 7:30 pm
• Brad Batz Trio @ Pane Vino, 8:00 pm
• Jazz Dawgs @ Starry Nites Cafe, 8:00 pm
• Bill Dobbins Quartet @ The Grill at Strathallan, 8:30 pm
• Tom Pesciotta Jazz Quartet @ Little Theatre Cafe, 8:30 pm
• Mark Cassara Band @ Bistro 135, 9:00 pm
• JazzWeek Summit @ Radisson Riverside Hotel, Rocheter

Saturday, June 20th

• Tom Passamonte & Special Blend @ Woodcliff Hotel & Spa, 7:30 pm
• Ted Nicolosi & Shared Genes @ Jasmine's Asian Fusion, 8:15 pm
• Paul Hofmann Quartet @ The Grill at Strathallan, 8:30 pm
• JazzWeek Summit @ Radisson Riverside Hotel, Rocheter

Sunday, June 21st

• Bill Slater @ The Lodge at Woodcliff, 11:30 am
• Jim Nugent Trio @ Esperanza Mansion, 3456 Route 54A, Bluff Point, NY, 4:00 pm
• Nostalgic Jazz Reunion Band @ Music on the Canal, Clyde Carter Memorial Gazebo, Spencerport, NY, 6:30 pm
• Madeline Forster @ Lovin' Cup, 7:00 pm

Monday, June 22nd

• The White Hots @ Little Theatre Cafe, 7:30 pm
• The Western Front @ Boulder Coffee Co (Alexander St.), 8:00 pm

Tuesday, June 23rd

• Jim Nugent Trio @ Bistro 135, 6:00 pm
• Joe Santora & Emily Kirchoff @ PaRe Bar and Grill, 7:00 pm

Wednesday, June 24th

• Todd East @ Bistro 135, 6:30 pm
• Margaret Explosion @ Little Theatre Cafe, 7:30 pm
• Jazz Jam Session w/Mike Allen & Troup Street @ Clarissa's, 8:30 pm

We've compiled these listings from information obtained from the performing artists themselves and other sources. The aim is to give you a one stop place to find all your jazz in Rochester. Please forgive me for any discrepancies with reality and feel free to let me know what the problem is, and I'll get the corrections up on the site as soon as possible (click on the "Send an email to Jazz@Rochester" link). If you go out to hear a performance listed here, feel free to drop a comment to this post about how it went. I want to hear from you!

Notes from June 16th at the Rochester jazz festival: Dafnis Prieto, Lionel Loueke and everything in between

My sixth evening of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival started out in line for the Dafnis Prieto Sextet in Kilbourn Hall. While I heard that others thought it was too loud (and if you were sitting further back in Kilbourn while he was soloing the echoes would have made it more like a cacophony), there was a lot going on from where I was sitting. His drumming is both agressive and intricate, using multiple surfaces to set up complex rhythms. He showed a lot of versatility, moving from Cuban and other Latin rhythms to standard be-bop drumming with ease. His band was all stellar, with three horns up front of Peter Apfelbaum, Felipe Lamoglia on sax and Mike Rodriguez on trumpet (who blew some wicked solos), backed by Manuel Valera on piano, Charles Flores on bass and, of course, Prieto. I sort of wandered around as I expected a line at Max for guitarist Lionel Loueke and his trio, listening to a bit of Soul Stew and a bit of Sidsel Stromnes' singing over at the Nordic Jazz Now series before sitting down and talking with friends and meeting new ones in Max waiting for Loueke. While I was expecting something else from Lionel Loueke Trio (which Loueke ended up delivering at the end of his set), that doesn't mean I wasn't enjoying it. Loueke at times was processing his nylon-stringed guitar through something that made it sound almost like an organ. When he turned to a songs from his album Karibu, he vocalized through the guitar al a Peter Frampton. I was expecting to hear more of a mashup of the West African and other roots from I had heard on his album—the clicking, the vocalizations. What he played sounded more like standard trio fare. That's what happens sometimes; Loueke wanted to try something different out with his trio of bassist Massimo Biolcati & drummer Ferenc Nemeth. Sometimes magic happens that way...

My body finally said "STOP!!!" and I went home and have taken a day off from work to get a bit of rest. I get back to it tonight with an ambitious schedule (although something may have to fall out...).

To read what others are saying out there, here are some links about the festival from the local media Democrat & Chronicle, City Newspaper, and other bloggers and sources when I find them (keep checking back on their sites as well for continued coverage):

• Democrat & Chronicle, Cole, Made in UK Series draw raves (Jeff Spevak)
• Democrat & Chronicle, Shimabukuro, Wonderland dazzle despite differing styles (Jack Garner)
• Democrat & Chronicle, Today's [i.e., Wednesday] highlights (Jeff Spevak)
• Democrat & Chronicle, Brain condition left jazz guitarist [Monty Alexander] without a sense of himself or his virtuosity (Jeff Spevak)
• D&C writer Anna Reguero was a denizen of the after hours, writing her last post on the HerRochester Arts Blog at nearly 3:00 a.m. If you missed Jake Shimabukuro, she has videos of him playing the after hours, as well as Carolyn Wonderland and Sidsel Stromnes, starting here (remember to move up the blog from there to see the rest).
• Andrei Razin and Second Approach and Lionel Loueke Trio have been added to Will Yurman's excellent Jazz Tales.
• The D&C has a media feature called Panorama, which includes an interactive 360 degree image from the festival with voiceover from festival-goers and artist.
• City Newspaper, ROCHESTER JAZZ FESTIVAL 2009 BLOG: Day 5: Andrey Razin & Second Approach, Lionel Louke Trio (Ron Netsky)
• City Newspaper, ROCHESTER JAZZ FESTIVAL 2009 BLOG: Day 5: Holly Cole, Jake Shimabukuro, Carolyn Wonderland (Frank DeBlase)
• City Newspaper, ROCHESTER JAZZ FESTIVAL 2009 BLOG: Day 5: Sean Jefferson Quintet (Saby Reyes-Kulkarni).
• City Newspaper, ROCHESTER JAZZ FESTIVAL 2009 BLOG: Day 5: Soul Stew (Dale Evans)
• You Can Almost Hear Her, PopWars
• Rochester International Jazz Fest - Night Five, Kitsch Dork
• Producer & Executive Director of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Fest Marc Iacona joined Katrina Irwin on TalkItUp Rochester to talk about XRIJF and its impact.
• If you wanted Bonearama's set lists for last night, you can get them here.

From legends to lunacy . . . June 15th at the XRIJF

My evening started out in Kilbourn Hall with jazz legend and octogenarian Chico Hamilton with his group Euphoria. Chico has slowed down some in the walking department, as his shuffle out to his drum set showed, but his skills with the sticks and skins, his compositions, and his attitude show he is nowhere near calling it quits (nor should he!). He has gathered around him a band that were all incredible musicians, including Cary DeNegris on guitar, Paul Ramsey on bass, Evan Schwam on reeds, and Jeremy Carlstedt on hand drums. Like a lot of the jazz legends, Chico Hamilton was full of stories and one-liners, but when he was playing he was all business (well, most of the time...). There were no crazy drum solos (the guy's 87, so I didn't expect him to be slapping the skins too hard), but the music was a pleasure to listen to and that's what counts.

Meeting up with some friends, I spent the "middle period" between the 6:00 and 10:00 pm shows talking and listening to the Greater Rochester Jazz Orchestra (with local chanteuse Madeline Forster doing a few numbers) and caught a bit of Stephane Wrembel in the Big Tent before heading over around 9:00 pm to get in line at Montage for the Russian group Andrei Razin and Second Approach Trio. When I got over there ... no line. A tweet I wrote during the set sums my reaction: "Absolute artistry combined with sheer lunacy." Razin on piano, Igor Ivanushkin on bass, and the voice of Tatyana Komova. Razin's compositions are wild, inventive "universes" that involve the whole of each of the artists instruments. Razin and Ivanushkin use all of their instruments (at times, I thought Razin was going to climb into the piano and Ivanushkin was banging on his bass so much that he knocked his pickup clean off and tore a number of guts on his bow). Komova's contribution to this is a rich, beautiful voice that she uses, without words, to mimic a trumpet or other instrument, scat, or create voice soundscapes. Both Razin and Ivanushkin also vocalized. At times the interplay of vocalizations with Razin's and Ivanushkin's playing seemed like a conversation, but again without words. Most importantly, their music, although incredibly serious and highly sophisticated, was full of wild, slapstick humor.  It made for a wonderful musical experience and is a prime example of the festival's catch phrase: "It's not who you know, it's who you don't know."

Due to my day job and a general wish to have fun and perhaps even have an opportunity to relax this year, I am not writing as much during the festival and only "tweeting" during the festival itself. To read what others are saying out there, here are some links about the festival from local media and other bloggers that I've located (keep checking back on their sites as well for continued coverage):

• Democrat & Chronicle, Jazz festival: Russian act fuses music, humor (Jeff Spevak)
• Democrat & Chronicle, Pianist [Monty Alexander] remembers playing in Rochester for appreciative audiences (Anna Reguero)
• Democrat & Chronicle, Carolyn Wonderland and Jake Shimabukuro earn promotion to the big stage (Anna Reguero)
• Democrat & Chronicle, Jonas Kullhammar brings quartet back to the Rochester Jazz Fest (Jeff Spevak)
• Check out the videos of Jonas Kullhammer's saxophone duel with festival honcho John Nugent at last night and this morning's after hours on D&C's herRochester Arts Blog, along with the other posts and pictures from Anna Reguero from around the festival. Here's the first video, you can find the rest from there.
• The D&C has a new media feature called Panorama, which includes an interactive 360 degree image from the festival with voiceover from festival-goers and artist and Bob Sneider has been added to Will Yurman's Jazz Tales.
• City Newspaper, ROCHESTER JAZZ FESTIVAL 2009 BLOG: Day 4: Stephane Wrembel, Chico Hamilton (Ron Netsky)
• City Newspaper, ROCHESTER JAZZ FESTIVAL 2009: Day 4: Cedar Walton, Mike Melito, Jongo Trio, Stephane Wrembel (Frank DeBlase)
• City Newspaper, ROCHESTER JAZZ FESTIVAL 2009 BLOG: Day 4: Bill Tiberio, Maria Farinha, Huw Warren (Saby Reyes-Kulkarni)
• Kitch Dork: Live Music Chronicles blog has written posts about Nights One and Two. I'm glad to see others writing about the festival and look forward to more posts (and thanks for the link, too...).
• Over at PopWars, Paul writes about seeing Hamilton, Jonas Kulhammer and Second Approach in Uncharted WTF Territory, including a wonderful description: "These three stock Russians came off like siblings putting on a performance for their family. Lucky us, we were invited." There's some more about Day 3 in Duke Ellington Coins For Jonas Kullhammar.