I'm putting together another eclectic stew of music for Monday, June 23rd, which is usually my aim at the Rochester International Jazz Festival. At the RIJF you are confronted with so many options—by timing, by lines, or by sheer accident after hearing raves on the street about an artist you didn't even have on your radar. But, you have to make the choice. So, you do you, but if you're interested, here are the artists/groups I am aiming to hear on the fourth night of the 2025 RIJF (I've included links so you can check their page on the RIJF site yourself, where you will find links to music, video, etc. to check out and help you make your own decisions):

• Tadley Ewing Peake “Tadd” Dameron was a composer, arranger, and pianist in the 1940s and 1950s known for his compositions and arrangements that spanned both the swing and bebop eras and combined broad and luscious arrangements of the big band with the harmonic language of bop. My first stop on Monday will be for Dameronia's Legacy All-Stars, a group formed to celebrate the music of Tadd Dameron, which was founded by Dameron's friend drummer "Philly" Joe Jones in 1980s. This octet will be burning up the Kilbourn Hall stage (figuratively, not literally....) at 6:00 and 9:00 pm

• I really enjoyed Spin Cycle when I heard them at the Bop Shop in October 2017 and looking forward to the set by this excellent group of NY players, including co-leaders drummer and composer Tom Christensen and multi-reedman Scott Neumann joined by the huge guitar chops of Pete McCann and bassist Phil Palombi. This band's music ranges all over shuffle of a NOLA second-line through to more angular "out" sounds. Just how I like it. And I'll get an opportunity to hear a smaller group in a newish venue at the RIJF, which didn't happen in its inaugural year. Spin Cycle will be playing The Duke at 7:30 and 9:45 pm.

• To get something in an international vein into my evening (it is the Rochester International Jazz Festival, after all ....) I am finishing up my evening with Cuban pianist Chuchito Valdés and Brazilian guitarist Diego Figueiredo. These two are monster artists on their respective instruments and it appears from the notes to their RIJF appearance we'll be getting them separately AND together at the end, which is intriguing (at least to me...). Chuchito Valdés comes from Cuban musical royalty, including father Chucho and grandfather Bebo, and his music draws from many styles and rhythms of that island and beyond. He was last at the RIJF in 2010. Diego Figueiredo was a child prodigy who has been a rising star in Brazilian music and jazz, although probably has graduated beyond that now. He last appeared at the RIJF with Ken Peplowski in 2023. Chuchito Valdés and Diego Figueiredo will be hitting the stage at the Temple Theater at 7:00 and 9:15 pm.

While I've made my choices, there are often artists who I wish I could hear as well but can't due to timing or other reasons, or perhaps others who might be a better fit for you. For one reason or another, you may want some alternatives, so here they are:

• Guitarist Mike Stern can play anything and across genres of jazz and rock and when he appeared last at RIJF in 2014 with a group that included Bill Evans (also at RIJF this year) and Tommy Smith, he was one of my picks. Stern has 18 recordings as a leader and played with Miles Davis, Billy Cobham, the Brecker Brothers, Jaco Pastorius, Steps Ahead, David Sanborn, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Joe Henderson and the all-star Four Generations of Miles band. The Mike Stern Group was also at the festival in 2004 and 2012 and will be playing at the Theater at Innovation Square at 6:30 and 8:30 pm.

• Another good choice would be the David Hazeltine Quartet. Pianist Hazeltine is a master on his instrument and has worked with worked with many jazz luminaries including James Moody, Eddie Harris, Jon Faddis, Joe Henderson, Pepper Adams, Jon Hendricks, and Marlena Shaw. He was last at the RIJF with the Quartet in 2023 and appeared in 2018 with his group One For All, which included saxman Eric Alexander. The David Hazeltine Quartet will be at the Montage Music Hall at 6:00 and 9:30 pm.

• And as I noted in the post for June 22nd, Claudia Acuña will be gracing the stage again at Max's at Eastman Place at 6:15 and 10:00 pm.

Sunday at the RIJF is usually a bit more laid back. There isn't a headliner or major free show to bring the bigger crowds, so things slow down a bit. Sunday, June 22nd will be like that for me. When presented with that kind of night and a smaller number of choices, I tend to "go with the flow" be more fluid with my night.

So, you do you, but if you're interested, here are the artists/groups I am aiming to hear on the third night of the 2025 RIJF (I've included links so you can check their page on the RIJF site yourself, where you will find links to music, video, etc.):

• I'm starting out the evening with the Joe Locke Group. One of the top vibe players in jazz, Joe was raised in Rochester and comes back often to play before his hometown crowd. I have heard Joe play many times at RIJF and elsewhere and he always brings something different and unique, so while going to hear Joe is like "coming home" his music is usually fresh, and I know Joe will always bring a killer band to back him up. Joe Locke Group will be hitting the stage in Kilbourn Hall at 6:00 and 9:00 pm.

• There is a tradition in jazz of bands with two "dueling" tenor saxophonists. Riffing off that tradition, but taking the pitch down a few notches will be my second stop for the Boss Baritones, with two of the top players of the bari sax in jazz, Gary Smulyan and Frank Basile. I just listened to their new Boss Baritones album and loved the romp of these two great players. Boss Baritones will be blowing in at The Inn on Broadway at 5:30 and 7:45 pm.

• My next and final stop will be to hear Chilean vocalist Claudia Acuña. Following a debut in NYC in the 90s, Acuña released five albums as a leader before slowing down to focus on life and raising her son. She returned to the jazz world in 2019, delivering a Latin Grammy-nominated album Turning Pages. Acuña last appeared at the RIJF way back in 2003. Claudia Acuña will be appearing at the Temple Theater at 7:00 and 9:15 pm. She will also be appearing at Max at Eastman Place the next night, June 23rd at 6:15 and 10:00 pm.

While I've made my choices, there are often artists who I wish I could hear as well but can't due to timing or other reasons, or others who might be a good fit for you. For one reason or another you may want some alternatives, so while there are fewer on Sunday here they are:

• You might want to check out Bill Evans and the Vansband All-Stars. Saxophonist Bill Evans in his 20s came on the jazz scene in the 1980s with Miles Davis. Evans has been at the RIJF several times, including his Soulgrass project in 2012, appearing with Mike Stern and Steve Smith in 2014, and with his own Bill Evans Band featuring Tommy Smith in 2017. Bill Evans and the Vansband All-Stars will be appearing at the Theater at Innovation Square at 6:30 and 8:30 pm.

• Pianists Bruce Barth and Eri Yamamoto will be playing a dual piano gig at the Hatch Recital Hall at 5:45 and 7:45 pm.

• For something completely different, head on over to the tent for the Western swing, with a tinge of Django, sounds of Austin band the Hot Club of Cowtown. They will be in the Rochester Regional Big Tent at 8:30 pm. If you miss them then, you can catch them when they hit the stage at The Inn on Broadway the next night, June 23rd, at 5:30 and 7:45 pm

There is also a lot of great music by local jazz groups to be had on the 22nd. I'll be detailing all the shows being offered by local artists and groups in a separate post later.

For those of us who are at the festival all nine days, it's a marathon not a race so I start out slow and steady. As the first Saturday night, the streets downtown may be crowded with folks coming down to hear country star Chris Lane at the stage over at East and Alexander. lt is also a night that includes a rare appearance of jazz in a headliner event at Kodak Hall in Eastman Theatre: The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Winton Marsalis (with a new member familiar to many of us from her days at Eastman, Alexa Tarantino). Tickets for the show sold out early, which is also quite rare for jazz in what I call the "Big House" at RIJF, and is why they are not one of my Picks below (and why I'm not going to go). Don't "@" me as I'm not dissing the lack of jazz in the headliners at Eastman (really, jazzheads like me usually are in the Club Pass venues) ... it brings people in who may come back for more and a Club Pass. Cool that the tickets did sell out this year. 

At the RIJF you are confronted with so many options. Some are imposed on you by timing, some by lines, some by sheer accident after hearing raves about an artist you didn't even have on your radar. But, you have to make the choice. So, you do you, but if you're interested, here are the artists/groups I am aiming to hear on the second night of the 2025 RIJF (I've included links so you can check their page on the RIJF site yourself, where you will find links to music, video, etc.):

• I'm going to start out getting my wrist band for the Terell Stafford Quintet. One of the "young lions" of jazz who emerged in the 1990s, trumpeter Stafford is now a versatile, seasoned player and educator, who has performed with many well-known groups including Benny Golson’s Sextet, McCoy Tyner’s Sextet, the Kenny Barron Quintet, the Frank Wess Quintet, Jimmy Heath Quintet and Big Band, Jon Faddis Jazz Orchestra, Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, and the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Alumni Band. Stafford has recorded on over 130 discs, a number as a leader, and collaborated with a diverse number of artists including Cedar Walton, Sadao Watanabe, Herbie Mann, Diana Krall with the Hamilton-Clayton Jazz Orchestra, Jimmy Heath, Matt Wilson’s Arts and Crafts, and others. He is a long-time member of the Grammy-winning Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. Terell Stafford Quintet will be hitting the stage at Kilbourn Hall at 6:00 and 9:00 pm.

• My next stop will be to hear the Sasha Berliner Quartet. Vibraphonist Berliner appeared last at the RIJF in 2019 with her 5 Rooms/Vibes group, but I wasn't able to catch her gig. Berliner has been a rising star on the jazz scene for awhile and has been named among the top 10 on the instrument in the DownBeat Reader's Poll several times. Berliner has an innovative approach that blends jazz with more avant-garde and electronic elements and I believe her Quartet sometimes includes pianist Taylor Eigisti and bassist Ben Williams, who will be familiar to RIJF audiences. Producer Pick Berliner will be gracing the stage at The Inn on Broadway at 5:45 and 7:30 pm.

• I'm looking forward to ending the night with the Sullivan Fortner Trio. New Orleans-born pianist and composer, and 2-time Grammy winner, Fortner has virtuosic technique and deeply expressive performances. I closed out the 2019 RIJF with Sullivan Fortner and his trio and want some more of that. The Sullivan Fortner Trio will be on the Max's at Eastman Place at 6:15 and 10:00 pm.

While I've made my choices, there are often artists who I wish I could hear as well but can't due to timing or other reasons, or others who might be a good fit for you. For one reason or another you may want some alternatives, so here they are:

• While I love me some B3, I'm going to have to miss the Brian Charette Organ Trio this year. Don't expect the familiar soul jazz of a typical organ trio as Charette likes to mix things up, defy genres and use odd rhythms, but he can swing as well. We (well not me, but perhaps you) will have to find out what he's bringing to RIJF. The Brian Charette Organ Trio will be playing in the Montage Music Hall at 6:00 and 9:30 pm

• Producer Pick Tatiana Eva-Marie & The Avalon Band was at the RIJF in 2022 and this year brings her "Djangology" project celebrating the music of Django Reinhardt and her French/Romanian Gypsy heritage, and her love for the Parisian art scene of the 1920s-1960s. Tatiana Eva-Marie will be warbling at the Temple Theater at 7:00 and 9:15 pm.

• Producer Pick and Michelle Obama's favorite "blue-eyed" soul (and jazz) singer/songwriter/keyboard player (and former stone mason and piano tuner) Jarrod Lawson will be doing his thing at the Theater at Innovation Square at 6:30 and 8:30 pm.

• On the international front, with Afro-Cuban roots with jazz, folk and global rhythms in songs about immigration, resistance and love, the group Okan (the name means "heart" in the Afro-Cuban religion of Santeria) is a high energy romp of sound. Okan's "high priestesses" are Cuban-born violinist and vocalist Elizabeth Rodriguez and percussionist and vocalist Magdelys Savigne, both Grammy and Latin-Grammy nominees. I started out my 2022 RIJF with Okan and these two women just owned the stage at Montage (I may sneak in for a bit before my last show).  Okan will be in the Rochester Regional Big Tent at 8:30 pm.

So how is that for some variety? Not unusual for me or for the RIJF.

Let's get this party started!  We are less than a month out from the Rochester International Jazz Festival, hitting the streets of downtown Rochester from June 20th through June 28th and JazzRochester will be there for all 9 days, baby! There are fewer "bucket lists" artists and some changes from prior years (see my kick of post [here]), but there is still a lot of music this year that I want to hear. Last year I had to take it easy as I was preparing for a total knee replacement in late July, but this year the gloves (and knee brace) are off!

At the RIJF you are often confronted with so many options, pulling you in different directions musically. Some are imposed on you by timing, some by lines, some by sheer accident after hearing raves about an artist you didn't even have on your radar. But, you have to make them. As RIJF Producer John Nugent's oft repeated adage goes . . . "It's not who you know, it's who you don't know." So, you do you, but if you're interested, here are the artists/groups I am aiming to hear on the first night of the 2025 RIJF (I've included links so you can check them out yourself):

• I often start of the RIJF at the early show at Kilbourn Hall. Waiting in line to get a wrist band gives me an opportunity to say hello to the folks I always see at the festival (and sometimes that's the only time as they filter onto Jazz Street.  This year, I'll be waiting in that early line for vocalist Ekep Nkwelle, a rising young star in the jazz scene. I am impressed by the wide range of artists she with whom she has collaborated, from swinging hard with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra (perhaps she'll be singing with them the next night in the headliner show of the LCJO in Eastman Theatre?) to singing on Dave Murray Quartet's very recent Birdly Serenade disc. She's also a Producer Pick this year.  Ekep Nkwelle will be on the stage at Kilbourn Hall at 6:00 and 9:00 pm.

• Anyone who reads these pages knows I have a soft spot for the Hammond B3 and the organ jazz trio. While I'm not sure that he'll be sporting a B3 and Leslie speaker, I'll also be catching the Dan Wilson Organ Trio. Guitarist Wilson toured extensively with the late, great B3 master Joey DeFrancesco and has a deep understanding of the musical language of the organ trio deeply-rooted in the church tradition, blending gospel, blues, and traditional jazz, playing with a modern edge. I heard him in a Max's show during the 2022 RIJF (interestingly enough on June 20th) and I'm coming back for more. Dan Wilson's Organ Trio will be hitting the stage at the Temple Theater at 7:00 and 9:15 pm.

• If you read these pages, you also know that I like to stretch my ears. My last stop of the first night will be to do that with The Fringe, a trio originally formed in 1971 by saxophonist and George Garzone, who is now complemented by bassist John Lockwood and drummer Francisco Mela. Garzone is legendary in Boston and a renowned educator, known for his inventive "Triadic Chromatic Approach," and for navigating complex harmonic landscapes with fluidity. John Lockwood is a veteran who lays down a foundation rooted in his deep experience having played with the likes of Joe Henderson and Freddie Hubbard. Inventive Cuban drummer Francisco Mela rounds out the group on drums, and plays with rhythmic ingenuity and explosive energy. The Fringe will at Montage Music Hall at 6:00 and 9:30 pm (note that the late show is a bit earlier than previous years at the Montage).

While I've made my choices, there are often artists who I wish I could hear as well. For one reason or another you may want some alternatives, so here they are:

• Sullivan Fortner, will be playing solo piano at the Eastman's School's Hatch Recital Hall at 5:45 and 7:45 pm.

• Brazilian Helio Alves' Samba Jazz Trio will be on the stage at The Inn on Broadway at 5:30 and 7:45 pm

• Vocalist Caity Georgy will be gracing Max's at Eastman Place at 6:15 and 10:00 pm

I always seem to wait until the last minute to kick off my Rochester International Jazz Festival coverage. I tell myself it's to keep the posts fresh in your mind, but let's be honest, it's probably just good old procrastination on my part. Either way, here we go!

The RIJF runs 9 days from June 20th to June 28th, with more than 285 shows (including 110 that are free to the public) at 18 venues featuring more than 1,750 artists from nine countries and the U.S. This year the RIJF has a new sponsor, Rochester Regional Health. The annual event always draws a large number of people, both locals and from all over the world, to downtown Rochester for ticketed and free headliner shows, the festival’s signature Club Pass Series, free Jazz Workshops, and the nightly Jam Sessions.

What's New This Year?

There are a few noteworthy changes for RIJF 2025:

• No International Series at Christ Church: This year, the usual international series at Christ Church won't be happening. This will doubtlessly be a disappointment to many.  While I'm curious about the reason, the festival's long planning cycle suggests it's unlikely related to the current political climate and visas for the artists. It's worth noting that the "International" aspect of RIJF is slightly less of a "thing" this year, with artists from nine countries (Canada, Brazil, Cuba, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Japan, Italy, Germany, and Chile), as compared to sixteen in 2024. 
• Although I missed this in the original post, the Wilder Room is gone as well. Most of the same types of artists who used to grace the stage at Wilder Room will be found over at the Inn on Broadway.  As anyone who frequents the East End would notice, the old Rochester Club building is currently for sale, so probably had to be. 
• Venue Timing Adjustments: While other than the Christ Church the rest of the venues remain the same, you'll want to pay attention to these Club Pass concert timing changes: The second show at the Montage moves to 9:30 p.m. (from 10:00 p.m.); the second show at the Inn on Broadway moves later to 7:45 p.m. (from 7:15 p.m.), the last show at The Little Theater will be at 9:00 p.m. (from 9:15 p.m.), and there will be a longer 90-minute set at 8:30 pm in the Rochester Regional Health Big Tent and the 10:00 pm set has been eliminated.
• New Jam Session Location ... sorta: The nightly Squeezers Jam Session (sponsored by the DiMarco Group) is moving upstairs to the Craft Kitchen & Bar at the Hyatt Regency Rochester. This year, Bob Sneider and his trio will lead the sessions Sunday through Thursday, with Ryan Johnson & his band Escape Terrain taking over on Fridays and Saturdays.

Get Ready for RIJF 2025!

To help you navigate the festival, be sure to check out the spiffy new RIJF website and this year's mobile app. You can also get a taste of the artists performing by checking out the RIJF on Spotify, where they have compiled a playlist of this year's artists.

Over the next month, leading up to the festival, I'll be sharing my personal "picks" for this year's lineup. I'll also dedicate a special post to highlight the incredible local jazz musicians and groups who will be playing at RIJF. As always, my picks will lean towards those new sounds that stretch my ears, but I'll make sure to offer some great alternatives for those looking for a different groove. 

I'm truly looking forward to exploring this year's festival with all of you. Feel free to share your own thoughts in the comments below or reach out via email. Hope to see you on Jazz Street!