Jazz@Rochester

Jazz Around Town: Wrap up post on XRIJF? Not gonna happen! We're back with listings, though....

OK, I've given up on the wrap up post for the 2010 XRIJF. Too much on the plate, so I'm going to do something better. Soon I'll put up a link to a short survey so we can hear what YOU think. I'll add my 2 cents at some point, but I think it's best I just move on. You probably don't lose much sleep not knowing what I think about the jazz festival anyway...

Until then, here are some listings for you for live jazz in and around Rochester for the next seven days. Enjoy your July 4th Holiday!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

• Mambo Kings @ Granite Mills Park, High Falls, 12:15 pm
• Jazz Dawgs @ Bistro 135, 6:30 pm
• Mike Allen, AKOS' Avatars @ Beale Street Cafe, 7:00 pm
• Matt Valerio @ The Grill at Strathallan, 7:30 pm
• Bob Sneider @ Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music, 7:30 pm
• Bop Arts presents Paul Smoker Notet @ Bop Shop Atrium, 274 N. Goodman St, Rochester, 8:00 pm
• Filthy Funk with Sophistafunk @ Dub Land Underground, 10:00 pm

Friday, July 2, 2010

• Sofrito @ Bistro 135, 6:00 pm
• Bop Shop presents 14 Fridays with the Mambo Kings @ In the courtyard of the Village Gate, 274 N Goodman, Rochester, 6:00 pm
• Bill Dobbins Quartet @ The Grill at Strathallan, 8:30 pm
• Ryan T Carey & El Rojo Jazz Band @ Thali of India, 7:00 pm
• Jim Nugent Trio @ Little Theatre Cafe, 8:30 pm
• Gap Mangione and New Blues Band @ The Lodge at Woodcliff, 8:30 pm

Saturday, July 3, 2010

• Dan White Quartet @ Bistro 135, 7:00 pm
• The Marcus Roberts Trio with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in "Red, White & Boom" @ CMAC, 7:30 pm
• Ted Nicolosi & Shared Genes @ Jasmine's Asian Fusion, 7:30 pm
• Bob Sneider Quartet @ The Grill at Strathallan, 8:30 pm
• Gap Mangione and New Blues Band @ The Lodge at Woodcliff, 8:30 pm
• East End Jazz Boys @ Havana Moes, 9:30 pm

Sunday, July 4, 2010

• Bill Slater @ The Lodge at Woodcliff, 11:30 am
• Gap Mangione Big Band @ Sodus Bay Lighthouse Museum, 7606 N. Ontario St., Sodus Point, NY, 2:00 pm
• Troup Street Jazz Jam Session @ Beale Street Cafe, 6:00 pm
• Mike Allen @ Lemoncello, 9:00 pm

Monday, July 5, 2010

• John Nyerges @ Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music, 7:30 pm
• White Hots @ Little Theatre Cafe, 7:30 pm
• Quinn Lawrence & Anna Reguero (jazz and swing dance instruction) @ Flat Iron Cafe, 9:00 pm

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

• Michael Sinicroppi @ Bistro 135, 6:00 pm
• Nostalgic Jazz Reunion @ Summer Concert Series, Ferris Hills at WestLake, Canandaigua, NY, 7:00 pm

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

• Paradigm Shift @ Pomodoro's Grill & Wine Bar, 8:00 pm

Heads Up ... Look for these Jazz Gigs in the Future

• Jazz on the Pond with Chaka Khan, Rick Braun, Graham Keir, Chris Ziemba and Trio Slaye, Mark Stephens, Dwight Sills @ Cranberry Pond, NY, July 10, 3:00 pm
• Najee, Tom Browne, Roy Ayers, and Jimmie Highsmith Jr. in “Sax in the City” @ Riverside Festival Site, Gates, July 21, 5:00 pm, Music, 7:00 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.The aim is to give you a one stop place to find all your jazz in Rochester. Only start times are listed, visit or call the venue for more details (the sites for many are in the right panel). 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!

Jazz Around Town: Still digesting, but it's Wednesday and time for some jazz listings....

I'm playing catch-up at work and here at home, so still digesting my thoughts on the 9th Rochester International Jazz Festival. Look for a series of posts on it in the near future. In the meantime, here's the listings for live jazz in and around Rochester for the next seven days.  Now that the XRIJF is over, there are some other festivals nearby starting this weekend in Syracuse, Toronto and Saratoga.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

• Ted Nicolosi & Shared Genes @ Bistro 135, 6:30 pm
• Roof of the Night @ Little Theatre Cafe, 7:30 pm
• Mike Allen @ Lemoncello, 8:30 pm
• Filthy Funk All-Star Jam @ Lovin' Cup, 9:00 pm

Friday, June 25, 2010

• The Westview Project with Nick Brust @ Big Tree Inn, 46 Main St, Geneseo, 5:00 pm
• Ted Nicolosi & Shared Genes @ TC Hooligans-Webster, 5:30 pm
• Bobby Dibaudo Trio @ Bistro 135, 6:00 pm
• Ryan T Carey & El Rojo Jazz Band @ Thali of India, 7:00 pm
• Nostalgic Reunion @ Port of Pittsford Park, 7:00 pm
• Deborah Magone @ Little Theatre Cafe, 8:30 pm
• Fred Costello & Co. with Ted Losito @ Charlotte Harbor Fest, 8:30 pm
• The Moho Collective with Gary McNulty @ Boulder Coffee Co., 8:30 pm
• Shades of Grey @ Lemoncello, 9:30 pm

Saturday, June 26, 2010

• Footnote @ Rochester Harbor and Carousel Fest, Rochester NY, 6:00 pm
• Janet Beanman @ Bistro 135, 7:00 pm
• Ted Nicolosi & Shared Genes @ Jasmine's Asian Fusion, 7:30 pm
• Annie Wells @ Little Theatre Cafe, 8:30 pm
• Four on the Floor Quartet @ McArdle's, 1355 Fairport Rd Fairport, NY, 8:30 pm
• East End Jazz Boys @ Havana Moes, 9:30 pm
• Fred Costello & Co. with Ted Losito @ Charlotte Harbor Fest, 9:30 pm

Sunday, June 27, 2010

• Troup Street Jazz Jam Session @ Beale Street Cafe, 6:00 pm
• Bill Slater @ The Lodge at Woodcliff, 11:30 am
• Moondance @ Lovin' Cup, 7:00 pm
• Fred Costello & Co. with Ted Losito @ Charlotte Harbor Fest, 4:30 pm

Monday, June 28, 2010

• The White Hots @ Little Theatre Cafe, 7:30 pm
• Dave Rivello Jazz Ensemble @ Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music, 7:30 pm

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

• Brad Batz @ Bistro 135, 6:30 pm
• Eastman Jazz Faculty Quartet @ Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music, 7:30 pm

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

• Simon Fletcher Quartet @ Bistro 135, 6:00 pm
• Andy Stobie and the Greater Finger Lakes Jazz Orchestra @ Yates County Courthouse summer concert series, Penn Yan, NY, 6:30 pm
• Gilad Atzmon & Rich Siegel @ Billsboro Winery, 4760 W Lake Rd, Geneva, NY, 7:00 pm
• AMP @ Little Theatre Cafe, 7:30 pm
• Paul Hofmann @ Kilbourn Hall, Eastman School of Music, 7:30 pm
• Paradigm Shift @ Pomodoro's Grill & Wine Bar, 8:00 pm

Heads Up ... Look for these Jazz Gigs in the Future

• Bop Arts presents Paul Smoker Notet @ Bop Shop Atrium, 274 N. Goodman St, Rochester, 8:00 pm
• The Marcus Roberts Trio with RPO in "Red, White & Boom" @ CMAC, July 3, 7:30 pm
• Najee, Tom Browne, Roy Ayers, and Jimmie Highsmith Jr. in “Sax in the City” @ Riverside Festival Site, Gates, July 21, 5:00 pm, Music, 7:00 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.The aim is to give you a one stop place to find all your jazz in Rochester. Only start times are listed, visit or call the venue for more details (the sites for many are in the right panel). 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!

I haven't forgotten, I'm just too tired and "digesting" ....

I have been meaning to write a wrap up post about the end of the 2010 XRIJF since Sunday, but just can't muster the time and strength after getting home from work. That's still the case, but wanted to let you know. I'm sure no one is hanging on my final words....

For the time being, check out what some of the mainstream media had to say/show in their coverage of the 2010 Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival:

• The Democrat & Chronicle's coverage starts with their Jazz section online. There you'll find the stories appearing in the paper. There's also the Arts Blog, where you'll find posts by Jeff Spevak and Anna Reguero during the fest (both were on Twitter as well). A highlight are the photo essays and multimedia projects done by D&C photographer Will Yurman, this year called JazzTales.
• Rochester City Newspaper has it's Jazz Blog, where you'll find the reviews of various shows seen by Ron Netsky, Frank De Blase and other City writers.
• This year WHAM Channel 13 has a "Jazz Lounge" where they'll be collecting their XRIJF coverage and has some video, including an interview of saxophone phenom Grace Kelly and other stories.
• You may also want to check out D&C music writer Jeff Spevak's June 21 wrap up, including his thoughts on the joy of Twitter on the Critical Mass blog on his personal website.
• If you'd like to see the "official" photos from the festival, check out the XRIJF's own festival photo page.  Glad my Xerox photo was not very flattering ... won't have to pay to get a copy now (I seem to remember the chipper young girl telling me it was free....).

Random notes from my floating penultimate night at XRIJF

I followed my itinerary pretty closely last night, departing only on Jane Monheit and picking up one of the performers I'd scheduled for the last night. When I arrived on "Jazz Street" at 4:15, the line for Jane Monheit at Kilbourn Hall already was snaking around to East Avenue. I knew that to see her at 10 I might need to blow the chance to see others I had on my list to get in line for Monheit. As I'd seen her before, I decided to take another trip. It was another varied night at the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival.

Started out with Little Red Suitcase. This Danish duo of Johanne Borchert on piano, accompanied by Elena Setién on keyboard, accordion (with sticky keys), violin and effects, was a quirky little treat to start the evening out. Well, neither are Danes—Borchert is German and Setién is Spanish—but that doesn't matter. Their songs were small and somewhat off-the-wall, delivered by Setién in a sing-song style that seemed to deliberately misplace some notes, with Borchert sometimes bringing in harmonies. The room seemed to big for their intimate style. Toward the end of the set they both stuck their heads in the open grand piano and began singing, trying to get the sympathetic strings to hum (the room may have defeated that as I only heard a faint sympathetic echo), and ending that with what sounded like a bird fight with two cheap flutes.

Moved from there over to Abilene for some gut-bucket blues from Bryan Lee and the Blues Power Band. Lee delivered what was advertised, which brought me back to some of the sounds from my former hometown Chicago, and I enjoyed some great Abilene beers and a pulled pork sandwich from Beale Street Cafe.

Went across the festival to Christ Church to catch Gwyneth Herbert's second set. She filled that great space with a beautiful voice and her sparse band (they had been advertised as a quartet, but came as a trio, with Herbert playing a number of instruments in addition to her voice, noting that we were "getting our money's worth" despite the mistake. Her songs were catchy, more pop singer-songwriter but, again, quirky. I really enjoyed them, especially the one that told the story of a group of Surrey women who, spying an approaching French invasion fleet during the Napoleonic Wars, went to the top of the cliffs overlooking the ocean and raised their frocks to reveal the red undergarments that women of that region of England wore at the time. The French, seeing the red, took these 50 women as a large contingent of Redcoats and turned tail. Her song was a folk song of a sort, but it sounded thoroughly modern as well.

Didn't do a 10pm, just wondered around for awhile. At 11pm, I wandered by Eastman Theater, just as Jeff Beck began his second show. Although I knew it was a long shot as the show was nearly, if not completely sold out, I went in to see if I could get in with my media pass to take a look. No go. Sounds like it was a great show from those I've read elsewhere and it was surely a great success for the festival.

Now I get ready to head out soon for the final night. I already feel like I've heard enough outstanding music that I can go and not hear anything tonight and feel like this has been great festival for me. 

Well, for one last time, see you on Jazz Street!

Tomorrow's the end of the Xerox Rochester Jazz Festival ... Really?

No time to write much today. Hit all my "itinerary" and filled my Thursday with outstanding music at every stop. A highlight was the Danish "super group" of Palle Mikkelborg with Marilyn Mazur, Helen Davies, and Mikkel Nordsoe at Reformation Church, who sewed incredibly beautiful tapestries of sound (Jeff Spevak wrote more here). Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey's second set was on fire, with the band fully instrumented (there had been a missing bass in the first set). Well, gotta go.

See you on Jazz Street!

XRIJF Day 6... not only my car battery is dead (tired), but I'm happy!

When I got back to my car at nearly midnight, since Steve Turré Quintet (well his regular quartet, plus special guest Texas tenor Billy Harper) played well past 11:30 pm, the battery was dead as a doornail. I've also been slowing down a bit as I try to maintain a schedule of going to work each day and out to the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival in the evenings. Because I spent the morning getting my car jumped and out of the East End garage, I just haven't the time to write much. Here's some random notes from my sixth night at the festival.

Mixing sax player and chanteuse with equal measure and a lot of cuteness, Grace Kelly was a big crowd pleaser (the line for the first set was all the way to Broad Street and many were turned away; same for the second). But once you get past the wow! factor of the amazing amount of talent Kelly has on her instrument, as a singer and as a composer (and how long and with whom she has grown up as a player), and at the ripe old age of 18, the wow wears off a little and the room she has to grow becomes more apparent. But who would expect her to spring from the head of Lee Konitz, et al fully formed? She's an accomplished performer and has been for quite a few years. Kelly  will definitely be a talent to watch grow, but the soul and emotion that I heard in Billy Harper's playing and elsewhere this year just wasn't there yet.

I love listening to music that takes me out of my comfort zones and Eivind Opsvik's Overseas group did just that, creating an intricate mesh of sound that was modern, yet also had elements of monster movie theater organ and other odd influences. I especially liked Opsvik's composition Nineteen to a Dozen.

Finished up the night with Steve Turré's trombone and conch shells. I saw Turré perform at Milestones a few years back and he is a master at his instruments (both marine gastropod and brass). I was so tired I almost didn't go, but thought better of it. I saw a weather change begin to throw drops around, so I got a beer and a sandwich and got under Eastman's big awning to wait for his Kilbourn Hall show.  So glad that I did. His special guess Billy Harper on tenor and his regular quartet of Xavier Davis (piano), Corcoran Holt (bass), and Dion Parsons (drums) formed a tight fit with Turré's trombone and conch playing. Turré is always trying to make sounds; he's almost OCD up there, comping by picking up one conch shell or another to get just the right sound out of it, or one of several cowbells with different ringers to get just that right amount (no, no one yelled "more cowbell!"). Unlike the first set where I read that he only played the shells a couple of times, Turré worked them in a lot in the long second set, beginning with the first on the play list, the cut A Light Within from their new CD due out in August.

Jazz Around Town: Some of the "other" jazz going on around Rochester

As the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival starts building momentum toward it's finale on Saturday has, of course, sucked most of the air out of the live jazz scene. There are quite a few of our local jazz folks playing dates at the festival and I've seen more than a few walking around and in the venues. Here is the "non-XRIJF" live jazz going on around Rochester through next Wednesday if you'd like to check it out.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

• DubbleStuff @ Granite Mills Park, High Falls, 12:15 pm
• DjanGoners @ Bernunzio Uptown Music, 6:30 pm
• Jazz Dawgs @ Bistro 135, 6:30 pm
• Mike Allen: AKOS and The Avatars @ Beale Street Cafe, 7:00 pm
• Roof of the Night @ Little Theatre Cafe, 7:30 pm
• Matt Valerio @ The Grill at Strathallan, 8:00 pm
• The Meta Accord @ Beale Street Cafe, 8:00 pm

Friday, June 18, 2010

• Maggie Mullen and Tommy Gravino @ Imagine Moore Winery, 197 N Main St, Naples, 5:00 pm
• Jim Nugent Trio @ Bistro 135, 6:00 pm
• Mike Kaupa Quartet @ The Grill at Strathallan, 7:00 pm
• Ryan T Carey & El Rojo Jazz Band @ Thali of India, 7:00 pm
• Deborah Magone @ Little Theatre Cafe, 8:30 pm
• Mike Allen AKOS Solo @ Steamboat Landing 205 Lakeshore Dr., Canandaigua, 6:00 pm
• Mark Cassara Band @ Bistro 135, 9:00 pm
• Mark Viavattine Quartet with Gabe Condon @ Tavern 58 at Gibbs, 10:00 pm

Saturday, June 19, 2010 (and the end of another XRIJF)

• Ted Perry w/Drew Gress & Ted Poor @ Bernunzio Uptown Music, 4:30 pm
• Ted Nicolosi & Shared Genes @ TC Hooligans-Webster, 5:30 pm
• Hard Logic @ Bistro 135, 7:00 pm
• Paul Hofmann Quartet @ The Grill at Strathallan, 8:30 pm
• Annie Wells @ Little Theatre Cafe, 8:30 pm

Sunday, June 20, 2010

• Bill Slater @ The Lodge at Woodcliff, 11:30 am
• Troup Street Jam Session @ Beale Street Cafe, 6:00 pm
• Mike Allen @ Lemoncello, 6:00 pm
• Moho Collective @ Lovin' Cup, 7:00 pm

Monday, June 21, 2010

• Flower City Jazz Society presents Bourbon Street Parade @ Green Lantern Inn, 1 E Church St, Fairport, 6:30 pm
• The White Hots @ Little Theatre Cafe, 7:30 pm

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

• Nancy Perry @ Bistro 135, 6:00 pm
• New Horizons Band @ Asbury First United Methodist Church, 1050 East Ave Rochester, 7:00 pm

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

• Todd East @ Bistro 135, 6:00 pm
• Mike Allen, AKOS' Avatars @ Pelican's Nest, 7:00 pm
• AMP @ Little Theatre Cafe, 7:30 pm
• Paradigm Shift @ Pomodoro's Grill & Wine Bar, 8:00 pm

Heads Up ... Look for these Jazz Gigs in the Future

• The Marcus Roberts Trio with RPO in "Red, White & Boom" @ CMAC, July 3, 7:30 pm
• Najee, Tom Browne, Roy Ayers, and Jimmie Highsmith Jr. in “Sax in the City” @ Riverside Festival Site, Gates, July 21, 5:00 pm, Music, 7:00 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.The aim is to give you a one stop place to find all your jazz in Rochester. Only start times are listed, visit or call the venue for more details (the sites for many are in the right panel). 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!

Random notes from the fifth night of XRIJF ...

Here are some random notes from my fifth night of the Rochester International Jazz Festival. Attended a media event for the 2010 Copenhagen Jazz Festival, July 2-11. Rochester has three artists from Denmark appearing at this year's festival: Palle Mikkelborg, Helen Davies, Marilyn Mazur and Mikkel Nordsoe (Mikkelborg & Mazur have not played together since playing on Miles Davis's Aura in 1985, which was written and produced by Palle as a tribute to Miles), Little Red Suitcase, and Ibrahim Electric. All of these artists are on on my pick posts, so see those for Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the left panel for more information. Artistic Director Kenneth Hansen came to town yesterday to promote the Danish festival here. Rochester's festival was one of three at which they're promoting the Copenhagen festival this year. The other two are Berlin and London (pretty good company). The Copenhagen festival includes some of the other artists you're seeing here, including the headliner last night Herbie Hancock (Mr. Hansen was scoping out the show in the balcony with the media last night). There are over 1,000 performances over 10 days in all sorts venues around the city of Copenhagen. Hansen said that if you toss a stone over your shoulder, chances are you'll hit a concert.

Guitarist Russell Malone was my first stop. Enjoyed the set and loved his ballad playing. I got a chance to hear some of my friend Jimmie Highsmith Jr.'s set on the Jazz Street Stage (and some more after leaving Herbie); looked like he was having fun and it was good to see him playing for a big, appreciative crowd in Rochester, a city to which he has given so much.

Headed into the Eastman Theater to see Herbie Hancock. In addition to the fewer seats that Eastman's recent renovation left, the ticket sales for the headliners appear to have been improving. The theater was nearly full. In past years, media could usually sit up fairly close on the wings. Not this year. Most of us were up in the nosebleeds of the upper balcony. Fine by me. Herbie Hancock and his band of stars played for 2-1/2 hours straight through without a break. This was the first stop on a world tour for his album The Imagine Project, which is due out next week. The band included Lionel Loueke on guitar, Tal Wikkenfeld on bass, Vinnie Coaluita on drums, and keyboardist Greg Phillinganes (all of whom sing, except Vinnie), and singer Kristina Train. The first part of the set included a number of Herbie's greatest hits, some of them mashed up with other music or together. The second part premiered songs from his new Imagine Project album. While I enjoyed listening to all of it, and expect as we were the first outing on the tour that some of it was a bit rough, I have to echo Ron Netsky, who wrote in his review on City's blog that "[t]he trouble for me was that Hancock's band was transformed into a very extravagant cover band with a hell of a pianist." I think the album will be wonderful with its worldwide mashups of music and musicians. I'm not sure how it translates to a concert. However, most people in the Big House loved it without reservation. I think that part of it for me is that I'm always somewhat ill-at-ease at "big time" concerts by major artists, opting usually opted for smaller, more intimate spaces and clubs in my live music consumption. That was at play last night, too.

Tonight, although, I may switch up the order, but I think we're back to the usual swing of things. See you on Jazz Street.....

So much music, so little time ...

Updated:Didn't have time to sum it up the fourth or fifth nights of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival. Check out the tweets and short posts for Day 4.  In short, I made a few detours and then got some much needed sleep.

Tonight (June 15) it is Russell Malone and Herbie Hancock's new Imagine Project coming to the Eastman. Perhaps some Sicilian Jazz Project...a bit depending on when Herbie let's out. (update: Herbie played until after 11pm, so missed the end).

Just no time to write in between working full time and going to hear music, so read the tweets and my posts. 

See you on Jazz Street!

Day 4 a wrap ... I'm spent after Trombone Shorty

The first set tonight for Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue just proved what I had already figured out from my "research"--that this amazing musician and showman would nearly tear the Big Tent at the Rochester International Jazz Festival down.

Capacity crowd; no need for tables as nearly everyone was on their feet soon after he started funking up the house. Playing both the bone and trumpet (and singing), it's going to hard to get for the 10pm show. Don't know what they're going to do tomorrow at Harro ...

I'm heading home soon to catch some z's before work and then it starts all over again. As John Nugent told me tonight, the rest of the week is sort of a tsunami, building momentum... May have something there...,

Day 4 begins in Havana, but reroutes

Although I'm taking some detours on the fourth evening of the Rochester International Jazz Festival, I'm beginning the night as planned with Hilario Duran at Max. Duran is more subdued, with a quieter brilliance than his fellow Cuban pianist who appeared last night. Roberto Occhipinti on bass in his trio is another highlight and will probably appear tomorrow with his brother Michael's Sicilian Jazz Project.

Changing plans as I have had a change in heart on hearing vocals tonight, so will sit out Tolstoy & McKelle (really, it's me... not you). Going to catch one of Trombone Shorty's shows as planned and Amy Lavere for something different in between.

XRIJF Day Three... Your "citizen critic" on the job

My posts from yesterday pretty much tell you where I was at (I actually followed my itinerary to the letter). Sunday night at the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival was one of the overall best nights of music of the festival so far. Chuchito Valdes is a monster on the piano in Cuban and any other musical genre, most of which he incorporated into the first set that I saw (and the first 1 hour line I was queued in). He went from a fiery mambo to a slow and introspective Someone To Watch Over Me. He got over that and exploded again with a version of Old Devil Moon. His trio mates were also top notch and in sync with Valdes throughout. As I left for my next stop with Valdes finishing his encore, I was wondering "now how is someone going to top that?" 

Charnett Moffett did just that, although I guess I shouldn't say "topped" as the two sets were as different as can be. Both are just incredible monsters on their instruments. Moffett spent 3/4 of his second set playing solo bass, bringing his band mates (a bit more than a trio) out at a trickle starting with sitar (someone correct me if it was not actually a sitar) and ending with piano and trumpet. That he held that audience in their seats for that amount of time with only him and his bass was a tribute to the excellence and intensity of his playing. Toward the end of the set, while he was blistering his fingers and our ears on electric bass with his band mates, the intensity may have reached critical mass and ignited a flame somewhere in Harro East as a fire alarm started to ring, repeating every few seconds. While everyone looked around to see if someone with apparent authority was telling them to head for the doors, and some sniffed for smoke, no one left their seats. Moffett kept playing, incorporated the alarm into his playing, mimicking it and pausing to catch the intervals between its peals.  Jeff Spevak described the reaction of this "citizen critic" in his recap of last night in the D&C (OK, maybe I was a bit exuberant, although by the time I saw Jeff last night it may have partly been the beer....).

Bassekou Kouyate and Ngoni Ba were a great change of pace in the SRO crowd that fit into the Big Tent. The Malian master of the ngoni (a small, banjo precursor) and a large ensemble of players cut through the chatter and noise of the Tent with their intricate patterns of notes, singing and, of course, beats. I was glad I was on my feet as I had a lot of trouble keeping them from moving.

I then opted to quiet down and see bassist Katie Thiroux's set at Max. While a great bass player with a sweet voice, Moffett was a hard bass act to follow. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed her choices of tunes to play and the fact that some were picked from odd places, including a couple transcribed from YouTube.

Headed out into the night and home feeling that good feeling I get after I've just soaked up some great music. 

A quiet ending to the third night of XRIJF

She had some hard acts to follow, but Katie Thiroux's unusual choices of music kept me in my seat. They included transcriptions from YouTube of a Jimmy Giuffre and another tune from the 50s, thus showing the influence of her age. Singing over bass will invite comparison with Esperanza Spaulding, but the two come from different places in the spectrum. Nice quiet place to end the third night of XRIJF.

Chuchito hard act to follow, but Moffett tears it up one-handed (almost)

Charnett Moffett soloed through most of his second set, showing his incredible mastery of his instument the bass. The set was influenced strongly with Mideastern and Indian flavors, although the sounds of funk and other influences also found their. Joined toward the end by his band on sitar, tabla and drums (and later by piano and trumpet), Moffett continued to tear up his instrument with riffs so fast that they seemed to just merge into one, changing sound. Incredible ...

Gettin started on 3d night of XRIJF...

I had to stand in line for Chuchito Valdes. Not an uncommon occurrence at XRIJF, but surprisingly the first for me at this festival. Chuchito is hitting the stage for his first set at Montage and bringing a bit of Havana into this very un-Havana city. Opening set with a smoking mambo! Crowded and they're lovin it.

And now to listen...

Day 2 at XRIJF: Meetup that wasn't and other notes

As I noted in my pick post for Saturday, I was going to meet with a few alumni of the University of Chicago (I am the contact/president of the regional alumni club) early and possibly escort them to one or more sets at the festival. For various reasons, the meetup didn't happen. I got a chance, while waiting for the few that might show, to hear more of the great high school jazz bands that play on the Jazz Street Stage early. The audience is very supportive (and one might expect that as many of them are related to those on stage), but everyone enjoys them. Buffalo's Academy of Visual and Performing Arts was a standout for me as their choice of music and playing was so much different from the rest.

The first set on my itinerary was the Terry Clarke Trio was wonderful, with Greg Osby on saxophone and Don Thompson on piano and bass, alternatively.  His most recent album, It's About Time (Blue Music Group), won best traditional jazz album last year in Canada's Juno Awards. The interplay between them sometimes seemed like they were one instrument, with interspersed solos of great sensitivity. Again, Xerox is a great hall for trio work.  Followed up that with some of Torben Waldorff's group at Nordic Jazz Now in the Church of the Reformation. In addition to Seamus Blake's great sax work (which I've enjoyed before when he's come with his own band and others to Exodus to Jazz), I enjoyed the Waldorff's guitar, which was full of clean lines and not focused on the wow factor and overplaying that sometimes accompanies guitar-led groups. Waldorff was stepping back and letting the others shine. Walked through the increasing rain over to Christ Church to catch Brass Jaw. Although there was a distraction sitting a bit too near, the playing by these 4 Scotsmen on saxes (alto, tenor and baritone) and trumpet were deep into the jazz tradition, but had a new take on it. They used the soaring space of Christ Church to great effect, moving in and around each other as they took solos, pointing their horns in different directions, and on some songs just getting off the stage and walking throughout the church while playing. The notes careened around the space (especially those of trumpeter Ryan Quigley) like Super Balls, bouncing into your ears from different directions and sometimes all directions. As Ron Netsky notes in City's Jazz Blog, "[t]hey took the audience on a journey from straight-ahead to avant-garde and back, and we stuck with them every step of the way." Finally, sloshed over to Abilene to check out the Blaggards. While I meant only to have a beer, listen and check out the space a bit, I met some friends and ended up staying until the set of this group, described by Jeff Spevak on Twitter (yes, Jeff is on Twitter) as "drunken irish texans, ... going supernova on beer-waving jazzbos ... Pogues, meet social distortion." Pretty apt description. The Abilene space (the bar is one of my favorites in town) is a great addition to the festival, in my opinion. They've definitely got the best beer selection in the festival (in the bar). While walking from place to place I heard locals Filthy Funk with the powerful voice of Black August's Danielle Ponder just killing it on the Jazz Street Stage. Frank DeBlase thinks she may have helped open up the heavens just after they concluded their first set.

For many other attendees, the fest was all about Catherine Russell and the second night appearance of the boys from St. Petersburg, Billy's Band, who completed two more sets in Kilbourn Hall on Saturday, bot of which held their audiences in their seats for the entire set (which is unusual in this festival as there are sometimes tight timeframes for those of us who like to squeeze too much into each night).  Will Yurman's first multimedia essay (for June 11) is about the latter.

Taking in my first Nordic Jazz Now of fest

Moved on to catch my first Nordic Jazz Now set at the Church of Reformation this year with guitarist Torben Waldorff's group. Seamus Blake already tearing it up on sax. Now to listen...

Lazy Saturday afternoon at XRIJF ...

Floating a bit. University of Chicago meetup didn't pan out, so had some time to relax and hang on Jazz Street. Buffalo School of Music & Performing Arts jazz band was outstanding.

Catching a few minutes with locals Jazz Contingent Big Band in the Big Tent before hoofing to hear first on my itineraray, the Terry Clarke Trio.

I may have strayed from my path, but no regrets on XRIJF opening night

If you follow my path across Twitter, Facebook and here, you'll see that I took some detours on the first night of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival. And yet, it all worked out. Microcosm of life. You make choices. The ones I made last night were right for me, although I wished I could have been 2 (or 3) places at once. Jeff Spevak came to a similar conclusion over at D&C's Arts blog.

Like last year, I started off tweeting and posting like a fiend. I soon discovered that I spent too much time focused on the little iPhone screen down between my legs (to avoid annoying people nearby) and too little listening and enjoying the music in front of me and the people around me. Trying to get to 4 performances in one night when you have so many good choices in front of you is just crazy and cannot be sustained. I'm going to slow down so I can hear the music, smell the barbeque, and enjoy friends' (and I hope my wife's) company.

There's lots of coverage around and I'll try to point you to them from time to time, like the video from the D&C that gives you a great montage of the wide range of offerings on hand during opening night..  See you on Jazz Street!

Jeremy Pelt @ after hours XRIJF

Waited long enough...

Sent from my mobile....

Changes, changes ...

Another detour. Finishing up tonight with Jeremy Pelt Quintet. Pull of the hard bop. They're starting out burning ... we'll see where they go.

Now to listen ...

What a difference a couple of hours makes ....

Hazmat Modine draws first night crowds ....

Sweet ...

Sent from my mobile....

Moving from one extreme to another...

A bit jarring moving from the zany schtick of Billy's Band to the smooth sophistication of Lynne Arriale's Trio work. But they share something as well--great musicians. Xerox Aud. is a good hall for trio.

Another bit of dissonance coming as I move to the next stop on tonights voyage ... Hazmat Modine.

And it begins....

Brighton H.S. Jazz Band kicks the Jazz Street Stage off....

Sent from my mobile....

The more voices the better... Other XRIJF coverage

When I started writing about the Rochester International Jazz Festival in 2005 on this blog's predecessor (it's still out there), there wasn't much coverage of the festival in the local mainstream media—a few stories and some headliner interviews, etc.

With its success and the growing crowds, the festival is being covered widely—much more locally, but also nationally and internationally. It's a testament to the success of the festival itself and why it is becoming known as one of the top jazz and music festivals in the U.S. Check out other XRIJF coverage by our mainstream media outlets at:

• The Democrat & Chronicle's coverage starts with their Jazz section online. There you'll find the stories appearing in the paper. There's also the Arts Blog, where you'll find posts by Jeff Spevak, Anna Reguero, Stuart Low and others. One highlight are the photo essays and other multimedia done by D&C photographer Will Yurman (here's last year's multimedia project).
• Rochester City Newspaper has it's annual Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival Guide. There are listings for each day with links to the bios they've prepared (many of them are the same you'll find on the artist's page on the XRIJF site, with links to artist sites). Or you can look at all the artist bios in one place. City's music writers will all be blogging from the field as well.  I think it will be on the Music Blog.
• Freetime Magazine has a bit different take for their XRIJF Guide. You can click on a venue and they've listed all of the artists who will be appearing there with times, etc.
• This year WHAM Channel 13 has a "Jazz Lounge" where they'll be collecting their XRIJF coverage.

I'll try to link out to other coverage from national as well as local blogs and other sites as I come across them (please feel free to make them known to me).

All this other coverage feels a bit liberating. I've already given you my preliminary "itinerary" for the festival.  I will likely be working at my day job throughout the festival, so I just can't do the daily sum up posts I've been doing in past years. My coverage here will focus on images, short posts and moblogs "from the field," and possibly some short video interviews. I'll be tweeting, of course and, if you're on Twitter, you can follow the tweets of various XRIJF artists who are on Twitter on the list I've created. The posts here and some tweets will end up on the Jazz@Rochester Facebook page as well.  Please feel free to join in on these conversations!

Mostly, I'm going to concentrate on having some fun, hanging with my old "jazz fest buddies," and trying to communicate the experience to you best I can.  See you on Jazz Street!

The calm before the storm ...

Sent from my mobile....

Jazz@Rochester's picks for last day of XRIJF (June 19, 2010)

A Brit, a Finn and some guys from Denmark...That's my last night. Putting the "International" into the Rochester International Jazz Festival. A musical explorer like myself revels in this stuff. As I suggested in the "Intro" post, while there were a lot of "repeats" for me and less "must sees," which on first blush might make me think that this year's festival was lacking, after picking my itinerary I'm not so sure that I won't come out the other end feeling that I've made some great discoveries. I'll let you know, of course.

A couple of recent XRIJF developments to point you to. The festival is now smartphone ready. They now have a mobile site that will be very handy (including for me...) during the festival. With help from a local company they're even going to have QR Codes around for those of you that are using QR scanners to get info about the festival. It's automatic if you access rochesterjazz.com from a smartphone, but if you want, check out the particulars. Additionally, This year's festival will feature a new courtyard entrance to the Verizon Wireless Big Tent complete with a living wall garden, and tables and benches for enjoying food and relaxing. The garden, created by Waterford Tilling, is called Sustainable with Jazz—A New Environment with Music.

So, at long last, here are my picks for the ninth and final night of the 2010 Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, Saturday, June 19th:

• Gwyneth Herbert Quartet @ Max of Eastman Place, 6:15 pm. A singer that crosses between jazz vocalist and singer-songwriter, Ms. Herbert's voice is strong and her choices of songs intriguing. I would prefer to see her in the more intimate surroundings of Max tonight than on the 18th. There's a lot to see and hear out there on her website, MySpace page, and a launch site for a new album to start. You can also check out her singing live on videos of her singing I Want You Back (a Michael Jackson tribute) last year, her first gig in Paris in 2008, and a festival gig in Poland in 2006.
• Mikko Innanen & Innkvistio @ Nordic Jazz Now @ Lutheran Church Of The Reformation, 7:30 pm. I missed Mikko with the band Delirium at last year's XRIJF, so would like to run over and try to this major player in the Finnish jazz scene. Although I know little about Innanen and his music (pretty much what I'm linking to here), he seems to be an artist who stretches himself while still firmly rooted in the jazz tradition's forms for saxophone. A couple of videos sort of show this: One from a 2007 club date in Finland and another that is more out there. More on Inannen's website and the band's MySpace page.
• Ibrahim Electric @ Montage, 10:00 pm. As with some other years, I will close this one out with a offbeat Danish group that typifies this festival. Described by one of their YouTube video uploaders as a "hammond-surf-jazz-afro trio", this group sounds like it will be a lot of fun to end to my festival this year. There is a MySpace page, a press package (PDF), but you should check out the videos of them playing to get an idea of the intensity of their live shows, such as the "highlights reel" from a recent appearance at the Copenhagen JazzHouse and one of them doing Borat, also in Copenhagen. Looks like the Montage will close XRIJF for me with a heavy groove.

If my quirky choices above don't yank your crank and you're craving some of that more straightahead sound (and this year it is in pretty short supply) you may want to catch the Scott Hamilton /Harry Allen Quintet (Kilbourn Hall, ESM, 6:00 & 10:00 pm). While this is likely to be a great show, I've heard Harry Allen recently and was just not feeling it this year. Or try one of the many other choices, including Smash Mouth or Tinted Image on the outdoor stages.

In addition to the great high school jazz groups that appear on the Jazz Street Stage starting around 3:45 pm, other Rochester-area jazz artists (most of whom have a link on my page for local artists) and Eastman School of Music event that will be occurring on Saturday include:

• Kids Jazz Jam Session & Workshop with Bob Sneider & Friends @ Eastman School of Music, Room 120, 2:00 pm. Started last year, I think, kids are encouraged to bring their instruments and jam on standards with Bob and other artists and ESM faculty. Suggested repertoire for this year is: Tenor Madness, C Jam Blue, Rhythm Changes (Oleo), St Thomas, So What, Autumn Leaves, Blue Bossa, Straight no Chaser, Mr. P.C, and others.
• Rochester Metro Jazz Orchestra @ Verizon Wireless Festival Big Tent, 6:00 pm.
• The Lawnmowers @ City of Rochester Jazz Street Stage, 6:00 pm.

Please let me know what you think in the comments and tell me about what you're going out to hear on June 19th. Join (or start) the conversation on the Jazz@Rochester Facebook page or on Twitter (check out the latest of my Twitter posts in the left panel). I've also created a Twitter list of jazz artists/groups appearing at this year's XRIJF. I'm adding them as I go along with these posts. Let me know if there are any I've missed.

Jazz Around Town: There is something else out there....

Although the Xerox Rochester Jazz Festival starts Friday and completely sucks the air out of the local jazz scene (one reason is that so many will be playing the festival itself), there is still live jazz elsewhere. It's a bit light, of course. This post and the listings post next week are usually works in progress for their useful lives as I'll often add gigs as I learn of them throughout the week. So check back often, especially fir after hours gigs going on outside of the jazz festival and the "official" after hours. One thing you won't find in these listings are XRIJF listings. Look at the panel in the right to find links to all of the posts where I put my "picks" for what they're worth to you. Here you'll find what else is going on out there ... or at least what I can learn about. If you know of anything else, please send me an email and I'll try to add it (conversely, if there's something up here that you know is off, let me know).

Thursday, June 10, 2010

• Po'Boys Brass Band @ Granite Mills Park, High Falls, 12:15 pm
• Jazz Dawgs @ Bistro 135, 6:30 pm
• Jimmie Highsmith Jr. & Funkbox @ Merchant's Grill, 7:00 pm
• Roof of the Night @ Little Theatre Cafe, 7:30 pm
• Matt Valerio @ The Grill at Strathallan, 8:00 pm
• Dave Rivello Ensemble @ Village Rock Cafe, 9:00 pm

Friday, June 11, 2010 (in addition to the start of the XRIJF)

• Jon Seiger and Bobby Dibaudo @ Bistro 135, 6:00 pm
• Jack Allen Big Band @ Port of Pittsford Park, 7:00 pm
• Ryan T Carey & El Rojo Jazz Band @ Thali of India, 7:00 pm
• Friday Nights on the Brewdeck: Music Makers Big Band @ Wagner Vineyards, 9322 State Road 414, Lodi, NY 14860, 8:00 pm
• Deborah Magone @ Little Theatre Cafe, 8:30 pm

Saturday, June 12, 2010

• Madeline Forster (Live recording) @ Bistro 135, 7:00 pm
• Steve Green Trio @ Bernunzio Uptown Music, 7:00 pm
• Nancy Kelly Quartet @ The Grill at Strathallan, 8:30 pm
• Annie Wells @ Little Theatre Cafe, 8:30 pm

Sunday, June 13, 2010

• Bill Slater @ The Lodge at Woodcliff, 11:30 am
• Andy Stobie and the Greater Finger Lakes Jazz Orchestra @ Newark Fest 2010 - Rt. 31 and 88, Newark, NY, 1:00 pm
• Open Jazz Jam Session with Troup Street @ Beale Street Cafe, 6:00 pm
• Music on the Canal:Nostalgic Reunion @ Spencerport Canal Park, Downtown Spencerport, 6:30 pm
• Rick Holland Little Big Band @ Lovin Cup, 7:00 pm

Monday, June 14, 2010

• The White Hots @ Little Theatre Cafe, 7:30 pm

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

• Ted Nicolosi & Shared Genes @ Bistro 135, 6:00 pm

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

• Dave Mancini and Friends @ Bistro 135, 6:00 pm
• Paradigm Shift @ Pomodoro's Grill & Wine Bar, 8:00 pm

Heads Up ... Look for these Jazz Gigs in the Future

• The Marcus Roberts Trio with RPO in "Red, White & Boom" @ CMAC, July 3, 7:30 pm
• Najee, Tom Browne, Roy Ayers, and Jimmie Highsmith Jr. in “Sax in the City” @ Riverside Festival Site, Gates, July 21, 5:00 pm, Music, 7:00 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.The aim is to give you a one stop place to find all your jazz in Rochester. Only start times are listed, visit or call the venue for more details (the sites for many are in the right panel). 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!

Jazz@Rochester's picks for XRIJF Day Eight (June 18, 2010)

It's the penultimate night of the festival and by this time I'm running on fumes. My choices below are both affected by that and should be taken with that in mind. This evening is complicated somewhat by scheduling and by the presence of the major free shows.

Here are my picks for the eighth night of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, Friday, June 18th:

• I may start out this evening catching some local talent first (see below) and then head on over to the Xerox Auditorium for ....
• Little Red Suitcase @ Xerox Auditorium at Xerox Plaza, 6:30 pm.. This duo mixes improvised music, cabaret and theatre live on stage. The JazzWrap blog described Little Red Suitcase in a recent post The Intersection: Little Red Suitcase, writing:

  With the abstract, quirky beauty of Robyn Hitchcock mixed with the delicate romanticism of Blossom Dearie, Jane Siberry and Kate Bush and a last dash of early Kronos Quartet, Denmark's, Little Red Suitcase is a blast of refreshing cool air in 2010. Hard to categorize, Little Red Suitcase span the spectrum of jazz, alternative and avant garde. Utilizing unfamiliar song structures and vocal dynamics, the duo layer their music with delicate touches of both improvisation and straight forward emotion--all resulting in an amazingly interesting and different listening experience.

  Although I'm sure they're quite different, I am connecting Little Red Suitcase in my mind with midaircondo, also a female duo who layered their sounds and used visual and other elements as well. Not sure whether they're here as a duo or with a band as seen in video from last year's Copenhagen Jazz Festival (there's also a video of them as a duo from the same festival). There is a website (although it appears to be a bit under construction) and the MySpace page to hear some of their music.
• Bryan Lee & The Blues Power Band @ Roots & Americana Stage at Abilene, 7:45 pm. Like other years, my last couple of nights of the XRIJF often mix up the genres and moods. Moving from Little Red Suitcase to Bryan Lee may cause some cognitive dissonance, but I look forward to hearing this bluesman from NOLA who loves that Chicago blues sound. I've probably seen him before, in Chicago, but when is lost in the mist of time. Lee and the band are also playing in the Big Tent on Saturday. You can find out more on his website and his MySpace page. I've selected a video of him playing Killing Floor in a Wisconson club and at Teddy's Juke Joint in Zachary, LA.
• Booker T & the MGs @ City of Rochester East Ave. & Chestnut St. Stage, 9:00 pm. It's Booker T & The MGs and I'll have a bit of time on my hands. I'll hang with the crowds for a bit, unless there is a major line building for ....
• Jane Monheit @ Kilbourn Hall, ESM, 10:00 pm. I'll end Friday (if I don't go to the after hours) with this singer. Like an earlier group, I saw her sing at Montage a few years ago and will enjoy catching how she's developed since that time. Some standards (or something else, perhaps?) in Kilbourn Hall will get me all relaxed before heading out into the night. Ms. Monheit, as a popular jazz singer these days, has quite a lot of material out there to help you get to know her better, including her website, MySpace and Facebook pages, and of course videos. I've selected a duet with John Pizzarelli on Legends of Jazz last year, and a longer one from 2008 with her singing I Wish You Love & Twisted. Finally, I found a podcast interview of Monheit from last year. There's much more out there, of course.

You might want to catch a show by Joyce Moreno (Max at Eastman Place, 6:15 and 10:00 pm) or the Nils Landgren Funk Unit (City of Rochester East Ave. & Chestnut St. Stage, 7:00 pm opening for Booker T) if you missed them before. Others you may want to catch include Brad Shepik (Montage, 6:00 & 10:00 pm), Gwyneth Herbert Quartet (Made In The UK Series, Christ Church, 6:45 & 8:45 pm), and perennial RIJF favorites Djabe (Verizon Wireless Big Tent, 8:30 & 10:00 pm). Unless you have tickets, by the time this publishes it is unlikely you'll be getting tickets to headliner Jeff Beck (but give it a try if you must). Rochester does love it some guitar gods....

In addition to the great high school jazz groups that appear on the Jazz Street Stage starting around 4:30 pm, other Rochester-area jazz artists (most of whom have a link on my page for local artists) and Eastman School of Music events that will be occurring on Friday include:

• Herb Smith @ Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County, Noon
• ECMS Latin Jazz & Saxology with Jose Encarnacion @ City of Rochester Jazz Street Stage, 6:00 pm
• Gap Mangione Sextet @ The Rochester Club - Viva Italia Series, 6:00 & 10:00 pm
• New Energy Big Band @ Verizon Wireless Festival Big Tent, 6:00 pm
• Po Boys Brass Band @ City of Rochester Jazz Street Stage, 7:15 & 9:15 pm

Please let me know what you think in the comments and tell me about what you're going out to hear on June 18th. Join (or start) the conversation on the Jazz@Rochester Facebook page or on Twitter (check out the latest of my Twitter posts in the left panel). I've also created a Twitter list of jazz artists/groups appearing at this year's XRIJF. I'm adding them as I go along with these posts. Let me know if there are any I've missed.

Jazz@Rochester's picks for XRIJF Day Seven (June 17, 2010)

We head into the home stretch with a wide variation of music on the sixth night of the Rochester International Jazz Festival. We range from a Cuban mix, to Brazilian bossa nova and samba, to a Danish "supergroup," and ending with an edgy and fun groove (or at least it was the last time I saw the group). There's so much on my plate that I'm not sure that I will hold out for it all, but it is a night that has a number of artists who are new to me, but who I look forward to hearing live for the first time.

Here are my picks for the seventh night of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, Thursday, June 17th:

• Pablo Menéndez & Grupo Mezcla @ Harro East Ballroom, 5:30 pm. As I stated earlier, I love Cuban music and this will give me a chance to hear some from an artist that has moved Cuban sounds in a different direction. Menéndez, son of blues and jazz singer Barbara Dane, moved to Cuba from Oakland, CA, in 1966 at the age of 14 to attend the Escuela Nacional de Arte and then stayed on there. His music with the septet Mezcla has been described as "funky Yoruba, Afro-Cuban, salsa, bebop fusion...." More on Menéndez & Mezcla at the website, a profile from the website Cubania!. A short clip from the Smithsonian on Latin Jazz includes his playing, but I found a longer "vintage" clip from 1998 of a concert in Old Havana and more recently live in San Francisco.
• Joyce Moreno @ Xerox Auditorium at Xerox Plaza, 6:30 pm. In addition to musica cubano, I also love to listen to the sounds of Brazil, especially bossa nova and samba. Verve's Getz/Gilberto album is one of my summertime (and sometimes winter) favorites. Joyce (who now goes by her full name Joyce Moreno) has left her imprint on this music and the music of her country for more than 40 years. Read more about here on her website. If you read Portuguese, then check out her blog otras bossas. This performances of the song Feminina and A Felicidade should give you a good idea of what you're in store for you if you hit her set.
• Palle Mikkelborg @ Nordic Jazz Now @ Lutheran Church Of The Reformation, 7:30 pm Presented in cooperation with the Copenhagen Jazz Festival Experience, this is not just Palle Mikkelborg, but an all-star group of Danish musicians, including Mikkelborg, Marilyn Mazur, Helen Davies and Mikkel Nordsoe. Trumpeter and composer Palle Mikkelborg has been integral to jazz in Denmark since beginning his career in 1960. Mikkelborg worked with Miles Davis (on the Grammy-winning album Aura), Gil Evans, George Russel, Jan Garbarek and many others. Marilyn Mazur gained her fame as the percussionist for the Jan Garbarek Group, but also has worked with Gil Evans, Wayne Shorter and Miles Davis. She also has a MySpace page. Harpist Helen Davies is known as a folk artist and improviser and has appeared with Mikkelborg on a number toors. Guitarist Mikkel Nordsoe has been performing in the Danish rock/jazz fusion scene for more than 30 years. Can't really show you any video of the group (although all of the sites above should have some music to hear) as the XRIJF will be the first stop on their "common musical journey" as noted in this press release from XRIJF (PDF).
• Get The Blessing @ Made in the UK Series, Christ Church, 8:45 pm. This band started in 1999 as an Ornette Coleman tribute band and are now "heavyweights on the contemporary jazz scene" in the UK. This is their first trip to the U.S., where they'll be playing Joe's Pub in NYC the night before coming up to Rochester. The only video I could find is on their website, and they're also on Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook. I hope I can catch most of their set before moving on to ....
• Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey @ Montage, 10:00 pm. Have seen these guys more than once, but not recently and would like to see how they've developed in the past few years. This is a jam band (they've opened for Phish) that is known to play Monk, Abdullah Ibrahim, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and Louis Armstrong. Their latest project is re-imagining Beethoven's Third and Sixth Symphonies with a 50-piece orchestra (recently premiering in Bartlesville, Oklahoma (they're from Tulsa), which is about pretty close, within 100 miles, from where I was moving my parents from last month. In addition to their website, they are also on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. Found a recent video of them live in Amsterdam in March, which will lead you to many more.

Others you might want to catch if my picks don't seem to fit include:

• Headliner Bernie Williams @ Kodak Hall At Eastman Theatre, 8:00 pm
• Joe Locke Group Featuring Vocalist Kenny Washington @ Kilbourn Hall, ESM. Saw them at Dizzy's at Jazz at Lincoln Center in NYC earlier this year, so I'll sit this one out, but you shouldn't miss Joe Locke's latest project with singer Kenny Washington.
• Sean Jones Quartet @ Max of Eastman Place.
• Pat LaBarbera Group @ Viva Italia Series at The Rochester Club, 6:00 & 10:00 pm. I've heard Labarbera play a lot at the Strath and elsewhere around Rochester. Well worth checking out, but couldn't get on my dance card this year.
• Nils Landgren Funk Unit @ Verizon Wireless Festival Big Tent, 8:30 & 10:00 pm

In addition to the great high school jazz groups that appear on the Jazz Street Stage starting around 4:30 pm, other Rochester-area jazz artists (most of whom have a link on my page for local artists) and Eastman School of Music event that will be occurring on Thursday include:

• Bob Sneider @ Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County, Noon (why Bob would be up by noon after a week of late nights at the after hours, I don't know...)
• ECMS Jazz Combo led by Howard Potter @ City of Rochester Jazz Street Stage, 6:00 pm

Please let me know what you think in the comments and tell me about what you're going out to hear on June 17th. Join (or start) the conversation on the Jazz@Rochester Facebook page or on Twitter (check out the latest of my Twitter posts in the left panel). I've also created a Twitter list of jazz artists/groups appearing at this year's XRIJF. I'm adding them as I go along with these posts. Let me know if there are any I've missed.