Things are in different places (check out the buttons, for example) and I've tried to modernize the look and, hopefully, help the content to load faster. Just wanted to let you know before I "flip the switch" as there may be some issues over the next few days....
We go from the Ohio and NYC of Joe Henderson (a celebrated by Henderson's former collaborator, Canadian-born New Yorker Jon Ballantyne) to the Denmark of Nikolaj Hess, to London's Soho, and back here to the States for a reunited Jazz Passengers. Although I've been on wider flung trips around the world in a single night at prior Rochester jazz festivals, it really shows the diversity. This will be a night where I will be living the statement of XRIJF Music Director John Nugent (who is, by the way, playing on June 12th)..."it's not who you know, it's who you don't know," which is not uncommon at Rochester's festival, but such a great way to find new friends to spin when you get home.
The links below on the artists' name in bold will take you to the artist's page on the XRIJF site. Where available, I've mined a few additional sources and video of the artists from the Interwebs to help you decide whether you want to join me (figuratively, that is...) during my perambulations during the third evening of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival on June 12th:
Sunday's are traditionally a laid back day for me at the festival. I may move from one venue to another a bit more or change up on my original intended itinerary depending on what I'm hearing on the street. There's a lot of great stuff around to choose from other than the above, including Davell Crawford (he plays again at Montage if I don't end up there on the 11th in Max), bluesman Lucky Peterson, a bit of that old-timey bluegrass from the Tussey Mountain Moonshiners or the Gypsy jazz of Stephane Wrembel Trio to name a few.
Additionally, as this blog exists to highlight the great jazz talent we have here and around Rochester, I'm also going to be highlighting the local and regional artists for each day. You can find some of their links on my Rochester Jazz Artists page):
Let me know what you're going out so see on June 12th in the comments, or on the Jazz@Rochester pages on Twitter or Facebook.
It's coming and I'm, of course, no where near ready for it. Watch for changes here at the blog over the coming weekend (I hope). You should check out TV WHAM13's program at 8:00 pm on Thursday about the last 10 years of the Rochester International Jazz Festival. Please come back and check out the live jazz around town here, though. If you're on Twitter, check out the growing list of artists who will be appearing at 2011's XRIJF who "tweet". Finally, local artists who are NOT appearing at the XRIJF should make sure I know about your gigs during the festival as this Wednesday post will, as usual, continue.
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 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 to let us know how it went. I want to hear from you!
For some reason, my second night at the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival full of trios, although they will be quite diverse in their sounds. I have found in past years that some days will abound in trios as the preferred grouping at the XRIJF. But I intend to make up for it by checking out a larger ensemble (talking 3-4 times larger) and, possibly, even catching some something that clearly won't be on anyone's jazz listings to reduce my trio load.
The links below on the artists' name in bold will take you to the artist's page on the XRIJF site. Where available, I've mined a few additional sources and video of the artists from the Interwebs to help you decide whether you want to join me (figuratively, that is...) during my walkabout at the second evening of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival on June 11th:
I may, depending on my mood, lines and a host of other factors, try instead to catch Black 47 at the Abilene Roots & Americana Stage at 9:45, the NOLA jazz of Davell Crawford at Max of Eastman Place, or the specifically not gypsy jazz of Les Doigts de L'Homme @ Montage in the 10:00 pm slot.
Additionally, as this blog exists to highlight the great jazz talent we have here and around Rochester, I'm also going to be highlighting the local and regional artists for each day. You can find some of their links on my Rochester Jazz Artists page):
Of course, you be catching some fake Beatles (or should I say "faux"?) or some Jersey boys sounds on Saturday night but, if not, let me know what sounds you're planning on hearing in the comments. See you on Jazz Street....
So, with the Lilac Festival possibly a wash, why don't you head over to Artisan Works and give up some support for one of the only radio stations left that focuses on jazz, our own WGMC, Jazz 90.1 FM when the get into their Sixth Annual Art Loves Jazz benefit at Artisan Works. Look for me and say hi as I'm hoping to drop in. Why go to the next "starving artist" show at the mall when you can get some great art and help out Jazz 90.1?
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 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 to let us know how it went. I want to hear from you!
Here's the first of nine posts in which I'll outline my "itinerary" for the nine days of the Tenth Anniversary version of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival. As I noted in the kickoff post for this year's coverage, I encourage you to add your thoughts on each night's choices, as well as your own choices, in the comments on the post itself or on Twitter and Facebook (although I request some degree of civility please). Just remember that I fully subscribe to RIJF musical director John Nugent's favorite chestnut: "It's not who you know, it's who you don't know..."
The links below on the artists' name in bold will take you to the artist's page on the XRIJF site. Where available, I've mined a few additional sources and video of the artists from the Interwebs to help you decide whether you want to join me (figuratively, that is...). I'll add a set of links to these posts in the right panel under the XRIJF logo after I get a couple published.
So on June 10th, the first day of the Tenth Anniversary of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, the following gigs will be where you'll probably find me (but not necessarily...):
If I can somehow fit it in, I'll catch some of the old school of Mingo Fishtrap at the Jazz Street stage on Gibbs, perhaps only in working my way through the crowd to get from one venue to another.
Additionally, as this blog exists to highlight the great jazz talent we have here and around Rochester, I'm also going to be highlighting the local and regional artists for each day. You can find some of their links on my Rochester Jazz Artists page):
So whattayawaitinfor? Let me know what you think! If not, I hope to see you on Jazz Street....
Since less than a month lays between now and the Tenth Anniversary of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival kicks into gear, I'd better start kicking into gear on this blog's XRIJF coverage as well. As I've done in the past, I'm going to do a series of posts over the next few weeks to set up my "itinerary" for each day of the XRIJF, going into more detail on my picks for each day and why I picked them. The posts make handy-dandy guide for each day of the (for me at least...the XRIJF's guides are pretty good, too). On my picks, I try to do a little digging in the Interwebs to get more of the skinny on the artists (in addition to that prepared for the XRIJF website) so you can decide for yourself whether you'd like to join me (figuratively, that is...) or seek your music elsewhere that night. I don't suffer from illusions that my choices are somehow "better" than yours... just perhaps different? My itinerary is at best rough sketch as I ALWAYS end up changing my mind on the fly after hearing word on the street, being too ambitious in making it from one venue to another, lines, or just deciding that I'd rather spend more time with friends who are hitting a particular artist who wasn't on my "list".
Reading the posts here on the blog is not the only place to find our material about the Festival. You can also find it on Jazz@Rochester on Twitter and Facebook, where you will find additional links and other material (dare I say bonus?). Speaking of Twitter, I've started building a Twitter List of artists who will be appearing at the 2011 XRIJF, so hope you check it out and follow that (please let me know if you know of any of the other artists who will be at XRIJF who are on Twitter). Of course, I can't be sure that they'll tweet or that it's actually them doing the tweeting.... I'll also be posting links about this year's XRIJF artists and retweeting things posted elsewhere about the festival on Twitter. For those of you who are already on Twitter, I encourage you to get into the conversation about this year's festival by using the hashtag #XRIJF. Let's start a conversation about the festival and generate some buzz beforehand, eh? Those who aren't on Twitter, I hope to have a widget prepared to highlight the "tweets" about XRIJF so you can get a taste. On Facebook, we'll share some of the same links that are going to Twitter, but hope you use it to engage each other in a conversation about the festival, the artists, etc. with each other as well.
See you soon with the first post of "picks" for Day One, June 10th! I encourage you to engage me on my picks and let me know in the comments what you think and what you've decided to do with that evening's possibilities (be nice, however...).
While there is still a lot of live jazz around over the next week, as it warms up and the festivals start up (can anyone believe it's already time for the Lilac Festival?) there is a lot less live jazz and a lot more karaoke. Still there's some around, so get out to check it out. Perhaps they'll even be playing outside....?
Hey jazz artists, please let me know where you're playing in terms of the festivals!
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 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 to let us know how it went. I want to hear from you!
It's getting warm outside (finally!) and the mind of Jazz@Rochester turns to thoughts of nine days of live jazz and other music in downtown Rochester—the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, which in about one month will begin its June 10-18 run.
It's high time we start our coverage here...This post previews what's coming here over the next weeks until June 10th when the XRIJF begins. As I can't possibly cover it all (and there are others who cover it), my usual course each year prior to the festival is to lay out my own itinerary for each of the days. I will write a series of posts with my picks for each of the nights, the ones I wish I could work into the schedule, etc., and expanding on the material regarding these artists found at the Festival's own site. In addition to setting up a handy guide for myself during the festival, I hope to provide you with some opportunities to hear and find out more about the artists to guide your own choices during the festival. I will gather these posts into a set of links that will be displayed under the XRIJF logo in the panel to the right to make them easy to find. I should get going on these shortly after Wednesday's live jazz listings post.
Let's get to talking about the 2011 Jazz Fest! I encourage you to be vocal in the comments to this and the following XRIJF posts (although please be nice...). What do you think about my choices and what are you going to try to see? I hope also to start conversations about this year's lineup and artists on the Jazz@Rochester page on Facebook and on the Jazz@Rochester Twitter account (use the hashtag #xrijf to help us all to follow the conversation on the latter). I will be gathering as many of the artists coming to the festival who have Twitter accounts onto a XRIJF 2011 Twitter list (follow the list between now and the festival and please let me know if you know of any I have missed, although I'm just getting started with that). If you're going to be writing about the festival on your own blog, let me know so I can give you some link love and further expand the conversation.
So, go ahead... talk amongst yourselves... We'll see you later on these pages and on Jazz Street!
Sorry, I know it's Thursday, but my plane got in late last night and I just didn't have any steam left to write the post (so, no lunch for me!). Was in NYC for a conference yesterday on social media at the offices of my employer Thomson Reuters on Times Square. Had a wonderful night in NYC Tuesday. Got into town in time to head over to the Village to catch Omar Sosa Afri-Lectric Quintet with special guest Lionel Loueke at the Blue Note. Great blend of jazz, African and Afro-Cuban sounds.... I've heard them separately at various RIJFs, but it was a treat to see them together and the band was on fire!
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 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 to let us know how it went. I want to hear from you!