What's Different This Year?

In the past I've gone into much detail, over numerous posts, about my pickes for each day of the Rochester International Jazz Festival. I worked pretty hard on those posts as, earlier in the festival's history, there was very little coverage in the mainstream media and, for the artists I thought were notable or was planning to hear, I wanted to provide my readers with more information than was being provided by the festival's own site and other sources.  In addition to the fiasco of last year where in the end I had to do a "mea culpa" post in my utter failure to meet my own goals on the picks, the XRIJF and local media have really stepped up their game over the past few years (and especially this year). Moreover my traffic stats for those posts shows that they were not exactly burning up the interwebs in popularity (thus confirming my own feeling that "who'd care what Greg Bell is planning on hearing anyway").  So this is the only post on my picks this year before the fest.  I am not going to do any wrap up posts for each night of the festival either. Why?  One because over the past couple of XRIJFs I increasingly have changed focus during the festival to listening to the music and having a good time with my many friends and "jazz buddies" (the folks I only see during this nine days in June). Another factor is that while I will be taking half days from work during the festival, my workload at the day job is going to need more of my time than anticipated.

So, what can you expect during th festival? I hope there will be more shorter posts from "the field" during the festival as the above measures will free me up.  There will be a lot on the Jazz@Rochester Twitter feed as I retweet those posts by XRIJF artists and fellow festivalgoers that I think others might want to see. There will be different stuff on the Jazz@Rochester Facebook page. If my readers let me know that they've uploaded a video, I'll add it to the Jazz@Rochester YouTube channel.

Well, here's what I hope to try to hear during the festival.  Using the XRIJF's iPhone (and now Android) app to set up my "wanna sees" for each day and sending myself an email with the picks, I have listed them below. I may or may not be able to work them all in, but the ones listed should be possible (at least for a portion) and there are some that are not even jazz (oh no!). There are usually several others that I'd like to hear each day that are not on the list (but still may be later as my picks "evolve"). Please let us know what you're looking forward to in the comments. 

Finally, the Picks...

Friday, June 21

• Christian McBride's Inside Straight @ Kilbourn Hall
• Nikki Yanofsky @ Harro East Ballroom
• Trondheim Jazz Orchestra @ Lutheran Church of the Reformation
• Noah Preminger Quartet with Ben Monder @ The Rochester Club
• Patricia Barber @ Max at Eastman Place

Saturday, June 22

• Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio @ Kilbourn Hall
• Terell Stafford Quartet @ Montage
• YolanDa Brown @ Christ Church
• Delbert McClinton @ City of Rochester East/Chestnut Stage

Sunday, June 23

• Louis Armstrong Society Jazz Band @ Kilbourn Hall
• Rafael Zaldivar @ Max at Eastman Place
• BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet @ Harro East Ballroom 
• Christian Wllumrod Ensemble @ Lutheran Church of the Reformation

Monday, June 24

• Alfredo Rodriguez Trio @ Kilbourn Hall
• Kurt Rosenwinkel New Quartet @ Xerox Auditorium 
• Geoffrey Keezer @ Hatch Recital Hall
• Eric Alexander/Harold Mabern Quartet @ Montage

Tuesday, June 25

• Anat Cohen @ Xerox Auditorium
• Eero Koivistoinen Quartet  @ Lutheran Church of the Reformation
• David Byrne & St. Vincent @ Eastman Theatre (college in the early 80s... what can I say?)

Wednesday, June 26

• Gretchen Parlato @ Kilbourn Hall
• Soweto Kinch @ Christ Church
• Trio Globo with Howard Levy @ Xerox Auditorium
• Goldings-Stewart-Bernstein @ Montage

Thursday, June 27

• Ravi Coltrane Quartet @ Kilbourn Hall
• Rudresh Mahanthappa's GAMAK @ The Little Theatre
• Carmen Souza @ Max at Eastman Place
• Dirty Dozen Brass Band @ Harro East Ballroom

Friday, June 28

• Gregory Porter @ Kilbourn Hall
• Phronesis @ Christ Church
• Youn Sun Nah @ Ulf Wakenius @ Lutheran Church of the Reformation 
• Hilario Duran Trio @ Max at Eastman Place

Saturday, June 29

• Kurt Elling @ Kilbourn Hall
• Torben Waldorff  @ Lutheran Church of the Reformation
• Tim Berne Snake Oil @ Montage
• Gwilym Simcock @ Christ Church
• Monty Alexander's Harlem-Kingston Express @ City of Rochester East/Chestnut Stage

I will also be taking numerous side trips throughout the festival to hear our own local Rochester artists and groups who are playing (there will be a separate post later about that) and the great high school bands that  are playing throughout the festival (great for listening while in line at Kilbourn Hall).  

See you on Jazz Street!