Night 5 of the CGI Rochester International Jazz Festival is shaping up to be one of those nights where I will be hearing a rich stew of music, each coming from a unique place on this globe. It's one of the things I love about this festival. Each will be a unique experience and from artists who I've (mostly) not heard before.  While you may want to try something different, here's where I'll be traveling on June 25th of the RIJF: 

• After taking a night off from starting RIJF at Kilbourn, I'm heading back for drummer Joe Dyson's Look Within. Although I'm sure I've seen him working with others before (and probably caught him on HBO's series Treme), but not as a leader and his debut CD as a leader under the same title Look Within was a great listen. As Rob Shepard notes in a PostGenre interview with Dyson after release of the CD, the New Orleans-native's music "emphasizes not just the Crescent City in a broad sense but also his family, mentors, and the subcultures there which make it such a special place." His music include influences from his upbringing in the church (there are excerpts from his father's sermons on cuts of the CD) and things he experienced traveling the world with others as a sideman. Joe Dyson's Look Within will be at Kilbourn Hall at 6:00 and 9:00 pm.
• After hearing them perform here in 2023, I'd like to get some more of the Oddgeir Berg Trio from Oslo, Norway (and it also gives me an opportunity to spell his name correctly). This year pianist Berg and his new trio are touring a new album, A Place Called Home, which is based on the sparsely-populated island of Rolla, where Berg's father was born and his family spent a lot of time exploring, exploring the "magic of nature, the spaces hidden in memory, and the bonds that family provides."  As their website's about page notes, and I confirm, the music of Oddgeir Berg Trio is "electroacoustic jazz with one leg in melancholy and the other in ecstasy." Oddgeir Berg Trio will be at the Global Jazz Now Series at Christ Church at 7:30 and 9:30 pm. 
• From a Norwegian island, I'll then travel (sonically, at least... I'll only be walking to the nearby Montage) to Africa to hear Ghana-born drummer and composer, Paa Kow, who like many great African musicians before blends jazz and African music to create his own "Afro-Fusion" sound.  While I think the music will make me want to move, that's not possible at the Montage Music Hall where Paa Kow will be heard at 6:00 and 10:00 pm (which is probably good... you don't want to see me dance). And as a drummer many, many years back, there is that "custom, hand-carved, traditionally inspired Ghanaian drum set that is the only one of its kind in the world" his website describes, which I hope he's bringing along to the gig. 

There are some artists on this night who I wish I could hear (really, I'd like to hear so much more every night, but scheduling, my arthritic knees, and sheer exhaustion argue otherwise...) plus, given my choices above, you might want some alternatives:

• I'll be seeing him later with his trio, but you might want to catch the amazing Bill Charlap, who will be playing solo in ESM's acoustically near perfect Hatch Recital Hall at 5:45 and 7:45 pm.
• Vocalist and composer Michael Mayo, a Producer Pick, Mayo's CD Bones, his background and lineage (his parents are first-call musicians) promise an eclectic blend of jazz, ne0-soul, R&B, the Beach Boy's Pet Sounds, hip hop, drum & bass, and other influences. Mayo will be at the new The Duke venue at 7:45 and 9:45 pm. 
• I love samba and the other music of Brazil. The great Verve album Getz/Gilberto is a favorite, so I regret not being able to fit in the Brazilian Jazz Quartet featuring Diego Figueiredo & Ken Peplowski. The two of them were at RIJF last year as well.  They will be playing in the Theater at Innovation Square at 6:30 and 8:30 pm. They also will be playing the night before in the Rochester Regional Health Big Tent at 8:30  and 10:00 pm, but Innovation Square may be better acoustically, which is why I have it here.

I've included links to the RIJF page for each artist where you can check out the links to their websites and to their music on Spotify. I'm currently building an RIJF 2024 Spotify playlist with a track from recent albums that I could find all my picks (and others listed). Go give it a listen.