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THE 2014 XEROX ROCHESTER INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
FRIDAY, JUNE 20 – SATURDAY, JUNE 28
FREE VENUES
Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County
TICKETS & VENUES KODAK HALL AT EASTMAN THEATRE SERIES Headliner shows are held in the Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre (60 Gibbs Street). These are ticketed shows; a club pass doesn’t work here. Tickets, which range from $40 to $105 (plus service charges), are available through the Jazz Festival website (rochesterjazz.com) or by calling 585-4542060. Note that some headliner shows are already sold out, including Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers featuring Edie Brickell, and Earth, Wind and Fire. Kodak
Hall also hosts the free Gerry Niewood Jazz Scholarships Performance on Monday, June 23.
CLUB PASS SERIES
A Club Pass is your ticket to the Club Series: you can go to as many concerts as you’d like at 13 smaller clubs and venues (listed below). Club Passes cost $194, plus service charges, and almost always sell out in advance of the festival. If you don’t have one, you can still buy tickets ($20-$25) to the individual Club Pass concerts at the door, if space is available. Be advised that Club Pass shows tend to sell out on a first-come, first-served basis; even if you have a Pass, you should get there early.
CLUB PASS VENUES
Abilene Bar and Lounge 153 Liberty Pole Way
(Roots & Americana Stage) Christ Church 141 East Avenue (Made in the UK Series) Harro East Ballroom 155 N. Chestnut Street Hatch Recital Hall at Eastman School of Music, 433 E. Main Street Kilbourn Hall at Eastman School of Music, 26 Gibbs Street Little Theatre 240 East Avenue Lutheran Church of the Reformation
111 N. Chestnut Street (Nordic Jazz Now Series) Max of Eastman Place 25 Gibbs Street Montage Music Hall 50 Chestnut Plaza The Rochester Club 120 East Avenue (Groove Nights Series) Squeezers at The Inn on Broadway 26 Broadway Unity Health System Big Tent
Corner of Main and Gibbs streets Xerox Auditorium at Xerox Plaza 100 S. Clinton Avenue, entrance on Broad Street
2 CITY
JAZZ FESTIVAL PREVIEW 2014
(115 South Avenue) Free shows June 23-27 City of Rochester Jazz Street Stage
(Gibbs Street at East Avenue) Free music daily City of Rochester East Avenue & Chestnut Street Stage
Free shows June 20-21, 27-28 City of Rochester East Avenue & Alexander Street Stage
Free shows June 28
RG&E-LiDestri Spirit Stage (corner of East Ave. & Chestnut St.) Free shows June 22-26 State Street Bar & Grill (Rochester Plaza Hotel, 70 State St.) Free jazz jams starting nightly at 10:30 p.m.
PARKING
Parking for all East End venues can be found in the East End parking garage at the corner of Scio Street and East Avenue. Additional parking can be found in the Washington Square Garage (111 Woodbury Boulevard) and the NYSUT & Isaac Heating lots (30 N. Union Street). Daily parking at each of these locations costs $7 per car. Also be on the lookout for street parking or spots in surface lots throughout the neighborhood. Parking for jam sessions at the Rochester Plaza Hotel can be found at the Sister Cities Garage (28 N. Fitzhugh Street, $2 per hour up to $10 max, weekends free). For further details and specific street closings, visit XRIJF’s website (rochesterjazz.com)
ADDITIONAL INFO.
The Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival’s official website is rochesterjazz.com. You can also visit the Jazz Ticket Shop & Info Center on the corner of East Avenue and Gibbs Street, open through June 19, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., and daily during the festival, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. The XRIFJ also has a mobile-phone app for both Apple and Android phones. It includes a full schedule, venue and artist lists, maps, and an option to buy tickets online. Find the download button on the Jazz Fest website’s homepage. For additional Jazz Fest info, check out rochestercitynewspaper.com to get the online version of this guide, plus our daily Jazz Blog. City’s critics will offer up their reviews of the previous night’s concerts, and you can post your own thoughts in the comments section. We’ll also be posting photos, videos, and more. New blogs will be up by 7 a.m. each morning of the festival. We’ll also post updates on our Facebook page (facebook.com/ CityNewspaper) and on Twitter (@roccitynews).
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INSIDE: FRIDAY, JUNE 20 ����������������4 FEATURE: BIG BAD VOODOO DADDY
SATURDAY, JUNE 21 ���������8 SUNDAY, JUNE 22 �������������10 FEATURE: CÉCILE MCLORIN SALVANT
MONDAY, JUNE 23 ������������14 FEATURE: VIJAY IYER
TUESDAY, JUNE 24 ����������20 FEATURE: LOUIS HAYES
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25 ����������������������������������24 FEATURE: DIANE SCHUUR
THURSDAY, JUNE 26 �������28 FRIDAY, JUNE 27 ��������������30 SATURDAY, JUNE 28 �������32 FEATURE: GEORGE THOROGOOD
CLUB PASS SHOW SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE ��������������������������� 18 Read this publication online at: ROCHESTERCITYNEWSPAPER.COM or download a PDF of it to your tablet or mobile device at: ISSUU.COM/ROCCITYNEWS
On the cover: Melissa Aldana plays the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival Monday, June 23, at 6:15 and 10:00 p.m. at Max of Eastman Place | Design by Matt DeTurck Publishers: William and Mary Anna Towler Asst. to the publishers: Matt Walsh EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT themail@rochester-citynews.com Editor: Jake Clapp Contributing writers: Frank De Blase, Ron Netsky ART DEPARTMENT artdept@rochester-citynews.com Art director/production manager: Matt DeTurck Designers: Aubrey Berardini, Mark Chamberlin ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT ads@rochester-citynews.com Sales operations: Matt Walsh New sales development: Betsy Matthews Sales Representatives: Nancy Burkhardt, Tom Decker, Christine Kubarycz, Bill Towler OPERATIONS/CIRCULATION kstathis@rochester-citynews.com Circulation manager: Katherine Stathis Distribution: Andy DiCiaccio, David Riccioni, Northstar Delivery, Wolfe News Published by WMT Publications, Inc. Copyright by WMT Publications Inc., 2014 - all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, photocopying, recording or by any information storage retrieval system without permission of the copyright owner.
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CITY 3
FRIDAY JUNE
20
I called up Big Bad Voodoo Daddy’s trumpeter Glen “The Kid” Marhevka to discuss his band, its brand of swing, its longevity in the swing scene, its hepcat haberdashery, and its impact on swing. That’s right — swing, swing, and more swing. I was excited. I had my coffee and my questions ready. Then Marhevka answered the phone and dropped the bomb. “We’re not really a swing band,” he said flatly. Perfect. I ripped up my questions. We were going to have to freestyle this one. Marhevka clarified: “We’re an American band. We play jazz music, we play lounge music, we play music from the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s. We’re carrying on the American music tradition. It’s just good music.” Yes, it’s good music, but don’t sell Big Bad Voodoo Daddy cheap; the music doesn’t play itself, after all. This is an
incredibly tight, spine-bending, wigtightening, hip-shaking, toe-tapping, jitterbugging dance band. And that’s a fact. Born in late-1980’s Ventura, California, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy burst on the scene at the cusp of the swing craze that would also produce bands like Royal Crown Revue, Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, The Atomic Fireballs, The Useless Playboys, and the Brian Setzer Orchestra. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy set itself apart and gained national attention with its appearance in the 1996 cult film “Swingers.” The swing thing got played out;
commercialized and saturated. It was used to sell khakis for Chrissakes. A lot of the bands dried up or moved on in a smaller capacity. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy endured. Marhevka credits the tight-knit lineup. “I think it’s just we’ve assembled a group of guys who are all great friends and who
respect each other a lot,” he says. “We all joined this band because we love the music that we do; jazz music, swing music, American music. We’ve worked hard and got lucky that we assembled the right guys.” Despite the swing downturn, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy has consistently cranked out a plethora of platters (nine studio albums, to be exact) including the stellar “How Big Can You get?: The Music Of Cab Calloway,” and its latest, “It Feels Like Christmas Time,” a soon-to-be classic. And the band still circles the globe playing to adoring fans anywhere and everywhere. “I think if you put this band in front of any group of people, they all like it a lot,” Marhevka says. “It’s very versatile. We can play a jazz festival, we can play a rock festival, we can play with symphony orchestras. It’s a super-fun, high energy show. People walk away feeling happy.”
BIG BAD
VOODOO DADDY [ PROFILE ] BY FRANK DE BLASE
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy performs Friday, June 20, 9 p.m., at the City of Rochester East Avenue & Chestnut Street Stage. This show is free. Bbvd.com
4 CITY
JAZZ FESTIVAL PREVIEW 2014
A tight-knit group, Southern California’s Big Bad Voodoo Daddy has seen consistent success during its more than 20-year career. PHOTO COURTESY XEROX ROCHESTER INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
SCHEDULE 4:30 p.m.: Hilton High School Jazz Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 5:15 p.m.: Canandaigua High School Jazz Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 5:30 p.m.: Roy Hargrove Harro East Ballroom ($20 or Club Pass) 5:45 p.m.: Don Thompson Hatch Recital Hall ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: ECMS Mike Kaupa Combo and Paul Hofmann Combo Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 6:00 p.m.: Joel Miller Quartet The Rochester Club ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Roberta Gambarini Kilbourn Hall ($25 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Akiko Tsuruga Quartet Montage ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Prime Time Brass Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 6:15 p.m.: Holophonor Max of Eastman Place ($20 or Club Pass) 6:30 p.m.: Lorraine Klaasen Group Xerox Auditorium ($20 or Club Pass) 6:45 p.m.: Partisans Christ Church ($20 or Club Pass) 7:00 p.m.: Two Siberians Little Theatre ($20 or Club Pass)
BIOS
Donaldson Quartet played the XRIJF a few years ago, the audience couldn’t help but notice a second star on the stage. Behind the B-3 organ playing one great solo after another was Osaka, Japan, native Akiko Tsuruga. While in Japan she honed her skills with Roy Hargrove, Grady Tate, and others. After moving to the U.S., she studied with Dr. Lonnie Smith and quickly became a fixture on the New York jazz scene. (RN) akikotsuruga.com/en
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
See feature on page 4. bbvd.com Don Thompson Toronto’s Don Thompson
is a virtuoso piano player. That is, when he’s not playing the vibraphone. Did I mention that Thompson played bass for several years with Jim Hall and for five years with George Shearing in the 1970’s and 1980’s? No matter what instrument he decides to play, Thompson swings with the best. (RN)
canadajazz.net/2013/01/21/don-thompson
7:15 p.m.: Rob Mostert Hammond Group Jazz Street Stage (FREE)
Gap Mangione For more than 50 years,
8:00 p.m.: Gap Mangione Squeezers Stage at The Inn on Broadway ($20 or Club Pass)
Gap Mangione has been a staple of the Rochester scene. With Gap on piano and his brother, Chuck, on trumpet, The Jazz Brothers recorded their first album in 1960, kicking off fulfilling, robust careers for both. Whether as a soloist or with his big band, Gap continues to pour love into his craft any chance he can. (JC) gapmangione.com
8:00 p.m.: Janelle Monae Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre ($55-$95)
Gem City Dayton, Ohio, rock band Gem
7:30 p.m.: Sun Trio Lutheran Church of the Reformation ($20 or Club Pass) 7:45 p.m.: Nikki Hill Abilene ($20 or Club Pass) 7:45 p.m.: Don Thompson Hatch Recital Hall ($20 or Club Pass)
8:30 p.m.: Mingo Fishtrap Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 8:45 p.m.: Partisans Christ Church ($20 or Club Pass) 9:00 p.m.: Lorraine Klaasen Group Xerox Auditorium ($20 or Club Pass) 9:00 p.m.: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy East Ave. & Chestnut St. Stage (FREE)
10:00 p.m.: Gap Mangione Squeezers Stage at The Inn on Broadway ($20 or Club Pass)
Janelle Monae Thought-provoking concept
9:30 p.m.: Sun Trio Lutheran Church of the Reformation ($20 or Club Pass) 9:45 p.m.: Nikki Hill Abilene ($20 or Club Pass)
10:00 p.m.: Joel Miller Quartet The Rochester Club ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Roberta Gambarini Kilbourn Hall ($25 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Akiko Tsuruga Quartet Montage ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Mingo Fishtrap Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 10:30 p.m.: XRIJF Nightly Jazz Session with The Bob Sneider Trio State St. Bar & Grill at the Rochester Plaza Hotel (FREE)
Thursday, June 26th @7:00pm. 3450 WINTON PLACE ROCHESTER, NY 14623 585-292-1240
View a dance demonstration and attend Beginner Dance lesson! WWW.FADSROCHESTER.COM
Art Alive!
June 19th-28th Opening Reception Thurs. 6/19, 5-7pm Watch the nursery come alive! Join us for a FREE 10-day art exhibition featuring local artisans and their original works inspired by breathtaking botanicals. . Live Entertainment 5 -7pm . Handcrafted Wines & Gourmet Canapes . 20% OFF One Garden Art Selection (reg price) . Special Promotions thru Store 1801 Fairport Nine Mile Pt Rd (585) 377-1982 · www.grossmans.com “Bringing the joy of gardening home to you!”
Holophonor The seven members —
10:00 p.m.: Holophonor Max of Eastman Place ($20 or Club Pass)
9:15 p.m.: Rob Mostert Hammond Group Jazz Street Stage (FREE)
OPEN HOUSE!
City overflows with charisma. The eightpiece rock band’s high-energy mix of funk, jazz, and brass has already landed the group opening gigs for The Werks, Joe Pug, and Lupe Fiasco. (JC) gemcityhorns.com
including Rochester-born trumpeter Mike Cottone — of Holophonor came together in 2012 at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance at UCLA. The group is the perfect blend of improvisational freedom and accessibility. Jazz fans don’t sweat it, Holophonor still gets up and out there. (FD) holophonormusic.com
9:15 p.m.: Two Siberians Little Theatre ($20 or Club Pass)
Join us for our
Akiko Tsuruga Quartet When the Lou
7:00 p.m.: Gem City East Ave. & Chestnut St. Stage (FREE)
7:15 p.m.: Roy Hargrove Harro East Ballroom ($20 or Club Pass)
THINKING ABOUT TAKING DANCE LESSONS?
musician
art is the driving force behind pop-soul singer Janelle Monae’s career. It’s seen not just in her music — her albums and EP’s fit into a larger seven-part series called “Metropolis” — but also in Monae’s clothing style, innovative staging, and public image. Behind those swinging electric, retromeets-future R&B tunes is an artist in full control of her vision. (JC) jmonae.com con't, page 6 rochestercitynewspaper.com
CITY 5
Open Every Day During the Jazz Festival! Call for hours!
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Wed & Thu: 5pm-9:30pm Fri & Sat: 5pm-10pm Bar is open later
SIGNATURE COCKTAILS Happy Hour from 5-7pm
BEAUTIFUL BRUNCH
Saturday & Sunday's from 11am-3pm
No valet parking during the festival.
FRAICHE-BISTRO.COM 130 East Avenue 319-4313
musician
BIOS
con't from page 5
Joel Miller Quartet There’s no doubt that
Montreal-based saxophonist Joel Miller is a muscular, hard-bop tenor player of the highest order. But it may be his inventive and infectious compositions that set his music apart. Miller’s quartet features the equally formidable Geoffrey Keezer on piano; Fraser Hollins, bass; and Greg Richie, drums. (RN)
joelmillermusic.com Lorraine Klaasen Group Emerging from Soweto and following in the footsteps of her mother, South African legend Thandie Klaasen, and the great Miriam Makeba, Lorraine Klaasen has taken her infectious brand of African township music to festivals around the world. In 2013 she won Canada’s Juno award for World Music Album of the Year. (RN) lorraineklaasen.com Mingo Fishtrap Folks can get touchy when it comes to their soul and R&B. If you stray too far from it, you lose them. If you adhere to tradition too hard, they’re gone. However, if you get funky and do it right, they’ll flock to you. Join the flock as this Texas band gets up and gets down. (FD) mingofishtrap.com Nikki Hill Hyperbole aside, St. Louisbased soul shouter Nikki Hill is one of the best roots-rock singers I have ever seen. At 28 years old, Hill is stiletto sharp and bouffant cool — flamier than Little Richard (or perhaps more appropriately, Esquerita), raunchier than Sharon Jones, more straight-ahead than Rachel Nagy of The Detroit Cobras. I rate her up there with Wanda Jackson, Barbara Pittman, Etta James, and Ruth Brown. Have mercy. (FD)
nikkihillmusic.com Partisans If the name Partisans suggests
In the Strath allan in the heart of the Neighborhood of the Arts
resistance, guitarist Phil Robson, saxophonist and bass clarinetist Julian Siegel, drummer Gene Calderazzo and bassist Thaddeus Kelly are clearly taking a stand against complacent
jazz. With the double-barrel attack of Robson and Siegel and the driving force of Kelly and Calderazzo, Partisans’ sound is a ferocious departure from the traditional side of the music. (RN) partisans.org.uk Prime Time Brass Since it formed in 2005, Prime Time Brass has been everywhere from New Orleans to New York. The collection of drum and bugle corps all-stars boosts its repertoire with some of the staples of big band, jazz, and pop, like “Mack the Knife,” “New York New York,” and the “Mardi Gras Mambo.” (JC) primetimebrass.com Rob Mostert Hammond Group Considered
one of the best Hammond B3 musicians in The Netherlands, Rob Mostert leads his nine-piece band through tantalizing soul and jazz with a little bit of funk thrown in to kick it up. (JC) robmosterthammondgroup.com
Roberta Gambarini Singer Roberta
Gambarini’s parents met at a jazz concert, so it isn’t much of a stretch that she would get her start singing around jazz clubs in Northern Italy. Gambarini released her first album, the Grammy-nominated “Easy to Love,” in 2006 and quick followed it with “You are There,” a collaboration with legendary pianist Hank Jones. (JC)
myspace.com/robertagambarini Roy Hargrove Discovered by Wynton Marsalis while in high school, Roy Hargrove was invited to sit in with Marsalis’ band. After working as a sideman with greats like Sonny Rollins and Jackie McLean, Hargrove has made a name for himself both in straightahead jazz and, with his R-H Factor, in more of a hip-hop mode. (RN)
vervemusicgroup.com/royhargrove Sun Trio The Sun Trio takes its name from
the most powerful force in our solar system, so it’s no surprise that these three musicians
OUR PATIO IS OPEN CELEBRATE ROCHESTER’S Jazz Festival with dinner, dessert or your favorite cocktail on our outdoor patio. Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner Private Parties | Sunday Brunch 11-3 550 EAST AVE | ROCHESTER
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JAZZ FESTIVAL PREVIEW 2014
Roy Hargrove will perform at Harro East Ballroom, Friday, June 20, at 5:30 and 7:15 p.m. PHOTO COURTESY XEROX ROCHESTER INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
155 STATE STREET
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK
Tel: 585-987-6900 585-503-4056 www.tasteofethiopiarochester.com www.facebook.com/tasteofethioroc
CLOSE TO JAZZ VENUES! Join us for Lunch and Dinner
They deserve the LOVE. The waitresses are sweethearts. The service is great. The place has great character. The food never disappoints. Nikki Hill will perform at Abilene on Friday, June 20, 7:45 and 9:45 p.m. PHOTO COURTESY XEROX ROCHESTER INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
radiate energy. Consisting of Jorma Kalevi Louhivuori on trumpet, vocals, and electronics; Antti Lötjönen on bass: and Olavi Louhivuori on drums, the Sun Trio has shined on stages far beyond the band’s home in Finland. (RN) suntrio.fi Two Siberians Founded in 1995, Two
Siberians is two Siberians who play electric guitar and electric violin. The duo composed a ballet and music for Russian television and wound up in the US after they mistook an American producer’s compliment as an invitation. Two Siberians — called White Fort in mother Russia — plays elegantly with an effects-laden curiosity. The approach is earthy, and the sound is beautifully yonder. (FD) twosiberians.com XRIJF Nightly Jazz Session with The Bob Sneider Trio After all the shows are
finished, the out-of-town musicians head back to the Rochester Plaza Hotel. But they don’t go to their rooms. Lured by the sound of a world-class combo, many head for the State Street Bar & Grill where the Bob Sneider Trio holds down the afterhours jam session. Sneider is a monster guitarist who has superb support from Mike Melito (drums) and Phil Flanigan (bass). And while the evening might start with student players joining them on stage, the kids step aside for the heavyweights as the session progresses. Wynton Marsalis, George Benson, Chris Potter, Eric Alexander, and too many more jazz stars to mention have sat in with the band. (RN) myspace.com/bobsneidermusic
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CITY 7
musician
SATURDAY JUNE
21
BIOS
78 RPM Big Band Starting out as Oktoberfest band The Happy Wanderers, back in 1973, the 16-piece 78 RPM Big Band is based in classic big band, but often branches out into unique versions of contemporary cuts. (JC) 78rpmband.com Bill Dobbins Plays the Music of Dave Brubeck Eastman Jazz Ensemble Director
Bill Dobbins is a superb pianist who has enhanced the music of Clark Terry, Phil Woods, and Peter Erskine. In a solo concert, he’ll take on the innovative and playful mix of jazz and modern classical music found in the compositions of the great Dave Brubeck. (RN) esm.rochester.edu/faculty/dobbins_bill
Diana Panton Juno nominee Diana Panton is a rising star on the Canadian jazz scene and beyond. Her tone is blissfully youthful, offset by her precious phrasing and trill. She is as heartbreakingly beautiful as her voice. Stick around to hear her take on “Moon River.” You’ll be sorry if you don’t. (FD)
dianapanton.com Flat Earth Society Flat Earth Society is
one of those gloriously deranged bands whose sound picks up where Frank Zappa, Thelonious Monk, Sun Ra, and John Cage left off. All 15 of the band’s musicians are superb players; together they create textures, voicings, and melodic flights that transport the listener to parts unknown. (RN) fes.be
Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet He is a member of the first family of jazz, the son of Ellis Marsalis, and brother of Wynton, Branford, and Delfeayo. So it’s no surprise that Jason Marsalis is a master of the vibraphone. Whether he’s playing with the traditional two mallets or using the complex four-mallet technique, Marsalis traverses the bars with equal measures of skill and melodic eloquence. (RN) jasonmarsalis.com John Escreet With six albums in as many years, pianist and composer John Escreet has gained recognition for his devotion to improvisation. His creativity and daring has made his work with bassist John Hebert and drummer Tyshawn Sorey stand out to critics around the world. (JC) johnescreet.com Lou Gramm Band With a pile of hits with Foreigner, Rochester homeboy Lou Gramm is truly a jukebox hero. Gramm split from the group in 1990, leaving Foreigner a mere shadow of its former self. Gramm has had moderate success as a solo artist and even
took a stab at Christian rock. He’s back now rockin’ an rollin’ and wailin’ all hot blooded. (FD) lou-gramm.com Mingo Fishtrap See listing for Friday, June 20. Myles Mancuso The term “prodigy” has been
thrown around a lot over the last few years to describe guitarist Myles Mancuso, and when you hear the 18-year-old front his band through a mix of funk, rock, and blues, you’ll see why. (JC) mylesmancuso.com
Rob Mostert Hammond Group See listing for
Friday, June 20.
Ryan Dilmore There’s a peaceful tenderness to the tunes singer-songwriter Ryan Dilmore creates. The Rochester-native — now living in L.A. — carries a common theme of community through his music, so if you’re a fan of musicians like Jason Mraz, James Blunt, and James Taylor, pay close attention. (JC) ryandilmore.com Shai Maestro Trio Born in Israel, Shai Maestro began studying piano at the age of 5. At 8 he was listening to Oscar Peterson’s “Gershwin Songbook” and, as a teenager, won a full scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston. Known for his work with bassist Avishai Cohen, Maestro is now garnering praise with his own trio, which includes Jorge Roeder on bass and Ziv Ravitz, drums. (RN) shaimaestro.com Snarky Puppy The tagline Snarky Puppy uses is, “Music to move the brain and booty.” It’s pretty spot-on for the up-beat, creative tunes the instrumental fusion band is putting out. The group is seen more of a rotating collective of nearly 30 musicians, many of whom perform regularly with artists like Erykah Badu, Snoop Dogg, Justin Timberlake, and Roy Hargrove. The band just won a Grammy for Best R&B Performance for its version
(Left) Myles Mancuso plays the Squeezers Stage at The Inn on Broadway, Saturday, June 21, at 8 and 10pm. PHOTO COURTESY XEROX ROCHESTER INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL 8 CITY
JAZZ FESTIVAL PREVIEW 2014
SCHEDULE
THE MUSIC OF GRILLING... THE SIZZLE OF THE STEAK Big Green Egg
®
(Above) Shai Maestro Trio plays The Rochester Club at 6 and 10 p.m. PHOTO COURTESY XEROX ROCHESTER INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
of Brenda Russell’s “It’s Something.” (JC) snarkypuppy.com Spectra This local band blends blues,
rock, blue-eyed soul, country, jazz fusion, and Latin into a fresh sound. The four members — all well-seasoned musical veterans — bring their own diverse influences to put a spin on familiar songs. (JC) spectrarochester.com Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers Featuring Edie Brickell Steve
Martin is more than just a wild guy, and The Steep Canyon Rangers are more than just a bluegrass band. The group exhibits breathtaking dexterity, beautiful harmony, and a slick sense of humor — just dig the group’s “Atheists Don’t Have No Songs.” For his latest album, “Love Has Come For You,” Martin collaborated with roots singer Edie Brickell. Note: both performances are sold out. (FD) steepcanyon.com Sunna Gunnlaugs Trio She may be from Iceland but the contemplative sound of pianist Sunna Gunnlaugs is clearly influenced by American jazz greats like Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett. What makes her music truly unique is the manner in which she infuses her jazz with evocative strains of Icelandic folk music. (RN)
sunnagunnlaugs.com Two Siberians See listing for Friday, June 20. Woody Pines With a rambling soul and a twang, Woody Pines writes songs firmly planted with American roots and pleasing for any lover of folk. (JC) woodypines.com XRIJF Nightly Jazz Session with The Bob Sneider Trio See listing for Friday, June 20.
3:45 p.m.: Brighton High School Jazz Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 4:00 p.m.: Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers Featuring Edie Brickell Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre (SOLD OUT) 4:30 p.m.: Brockport High School Jazz Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 5:15 p.m.: Pittsford Sutherland High School Jazz Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 5:30 p.m.: Snarky Puppy Harro East Ballroom ($20 or Club Pass) 5:45 p.m.: Bill Dobbins Hatch Recital Hall ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Bob Sneider Jazz Combo and Mike Kaupa RCSD Combo Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 6:00 p.m.: Shai Maestro Trio The Rochester Club ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: 78 RPM Big Band Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet Kilbourn Hall ($25 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Two Siberians Montage ($20 or Club Pass) 6:15 p.m.: Diana Panton Max of Eastman Place ($20 or Club Pass) 6:30 p.m.: Flat Earth Society Xerox Auditorium ($20 or Club Pass) 6:45 p.m.: John Escreet Christ Church ($20 or Club Pass) 7:00 p.m.: Spectra East Ave. & Chestnut St. Stage (FREE) 7:00 p.m.: Ryan Dilmore Little Theatre ($20 or Club Pass) 7:15 p.m.: Mingo Fishtrap Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 7:15 p.m.: Snarky Puppy Harro East Ballroom ($20 or Club Pass) 7:30 p.m.: Sunna Gunnlaugs Trio Lutheran Church of the Reformation ($20 or Club Pass) 7:45 p.m.: Bill Dobbins Hatch Recital Hall ($20 or Club Pass) 7:45 p.m.: Woody Pines Abilene ($20 or Club Pass) 8:00 p.m.: Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers Featuring Edie Brickell Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre (SOLD OUT) 8:00 p.m.: Myles Mancuso Squeezers Stage at The Inn on Broadway ($20 or Club Pass) 8:30 p.m.: Rob Mostert Hammond Group Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 8:45 p.m.: John Escreet Christ Church ($20 or Club Pass) 9:00 p.m.: Flat Earth Society Xerox Auditorium ($20 or Club Pass) 9:00 p.m.: Lou Gramm Band East Ave. & Chestnut St. Stage (FREE) 9:15 p.m.: Ryan Dilmore Little Theatre ($20 or Club Pass) 9:15 p.m.: Mingo Fishtrap Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 9:30 p.m.: Sunna Gunnlaugs Trio Lutheran Church of the Reformation ($20 or Club Pass) 9:45 p.m.: Woody Pines Abilene ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Myles Mancuso Squeezers Stage at The Inn on Broadway ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet Kilbourn Hall ($25 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Two Siberians Montage ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Shai Maestro Trio The Rochester Club ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Diana Panton Max of Eastman Place ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Rob Mostert Hammond Group Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 10:30 p.m.: XRIJF Nightly Jazz Sessions with The Bob Sneider Trio State St. Bar & Grill at the Rochester Plaza Hotel (FREE)
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CITY 9
SUNDAY JUNE
22
CÉCILE MCLORIN SALVANT [ PROFILE ] BY RON NETSKY
If you go to hear Cécile McLorin Salvant at Kilbourn Hall, you might find yourself squirming in your seat. McLorin Salvant has no qualms about singing songs like “You Bring Out The Savage In Me,” a tune few have dared to touch since Valaida Snow sang it in the 1930’s. “I’ve had time to delve into the history of early 20thcentury American music, vaudeville, minstrel shows, coon songs, and some jungle music,” McLorin Salvant says. “I discovered this fascinating repertoire.” Ironically, she might not have heard these relics of American culture if she had not gone to study law and classical voice in France. At Darius Milhaud Conservatory in Aix-en-Provence she met saxophonist/clarinetist Jean-François Bonnel, who recognized her potential and lent her recordings of great jazz singers. She devoured them. Born in Florida to a French
mother and Haitian father, McLorin Salvant grew
Cécile McLorin Salvant performs Sunday, June 22, 6 and 10 p.m. at Kilbourn Hall at Eastman School of Music, 26 Gibbs Street. Tickets are $25, or you can use your Club Pass. Cecilemclorinsalvant.com 10 CITY JAZZ FESTIVAL PREVIEW 2014
up listening to the music her family played. She heard jazz, Portuguese, Senegalese, and Haitian music along with 1990’s R&B, hip-hop, and pop. With friends she listened to the Spice Girls, boy bands, grunge, and, she adds, “classical music of course.” But her own style is informed by past generations: “Louis Armstrong — especially his early stuff,” McLorin Salvant says, “Bessie Smith, Abbey Lincoln, Shirley Horn, Betty Carter, Carmen McRae, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Ethel Waters, Blanche Calloway, Lil Hardin Armstrong, Babs Gonzales, Fats Waller, Nat King Cole, and Peggy Lee. And Blossom Dearie really influenced me a lot.” McLorin Salvant’s repertoire is unlike any other in jazz today. It’s as if she’s confronting America’s troubled legacy in a way that still reverberates. “I don’t know why I have such a fascination with coon songs, these extremely racist songs,
written and sung by people who played in string bands,” McLorin Salvant says. “If I were to hear those live in some random bar, I would probably be scared but there’s something about them … I can’t get enough. I’m going to try to find more and more. On my computer I’ve been collecting the covers of sheet music of various coon songs. Just the way they draw black women; it’s incredible, it’s crazy. “I’m curious about that part of history and the entertainment industry, people wearing blackface for their shows and how crazy it is that you would be stereotyped for a white audience to laugh at. And then they love you, but you’re also black — the complete irony of that situation. And, at the same time, how strong you have to be; in a sense you’re transcending your whole condition doing that, but in a sense you’re perpetuating it. “It’s very weird to me and it raises a lot of questions. Obviously black face is taboo today but there are con't, page 13
Along with renditions of the classics and her own originals, singer Cécile McLorin Salvant uses music to explore America’s troubled past. PHOTO COURTESY XEROX ROCHESTER INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
GRAB A SIRLOIN
SCHEDULE 3:45 p.m.: West Irondequoit High School Jazz Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 4:30 p.m.: Newark High School Jazz Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 5:15 p.m.: Spencerport High School Jazz Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 5:30 p.m.: Brubeck Brothers Harro East Ballroom ($20 or Club Pass) 5:45 p.m.: Gerald Clayton Hatch Recital Hall ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Penfield Rotary Big Band Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Cécile McLorin Salvant Kilbourn Hall ($25 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Jimmy Robbins Jazz Sextet Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 6:00 p.m.: Les Doigts de l’Homme Montage ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Dave Glasser & Friends The Rochester Club ($20 or Club Pass) 6:15 p.m.: Benedikt Jahnel Trio Max of Eastman Place ($20 or Club Pass) 6:30 p.m.: Jon Ballantyne Trio Xerox Auditorium ($20 or Club Pass) 6:45 p.m.: Euan Burton Quartet Christ Church ($20 or Club Pass) 7:00 p.m.: Bill Tiberio Band RG&E-LiDestri Spirit Stage (FREE) 7:00 p.m.: Harris Eisenstadt Golden State Little Theatre ($20 or Club Pass) 7:15 p.m.: JAZZ.FM91 Youth Big Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 7:15 p.m.: Brubeck Brothers Harro East Ballroom ($20 or Club Pass) 7:30 p.m.: Flat Earth Society Lutheran Church of the Reformation ($20 or Club Pass) 7:45 p.m.: Gerald Clayton Hatch Recital Hall ($20 or Club Pass) 7:45 p.m.: Rachel Brooke Band Abilene ($20 or Club Pass) 8:00 p.m.: Group Calle Uno Squeezers Stage at The Inn on Broadway ($20 or Club Pass) 8:30 p.m.: Hot Club of Detroit Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 8:45 p.m.: Euan Burton Quartet Christ Church ($20 or Club Pass) 9:00 p.m.: Bill Tiberio Band RG&E-LiDestri Spirit Stage (FREE) 9:00 p.m.: Jon Ballantyne Trio Xerox Auditorium ($20 or Club Pass) 9:15 p.m.: JAZZ.FM91 Youth Big Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 9:15 p.m.: Harris Eisenstadt Golden State Little Theatre ($20 or Club Pass) 9:30 p.m.: Flat Earth Society Lutheran Church of the Reformation ($20 or Club Pass) 9:45 p.m.: Rachel Brooke Band Abilene ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Benedikt Jahnel Trio Max of Eastman Place ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Les Doigts de l’Homme Montage ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Dave Glasser & Friends The Rochester Club ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Cécile McLorin Salvant Kilbourn Hall ($25 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Group Calle Uno Squeezers Stage at The Inn on Broadway ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Hot Club of Detroit Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 10:30 p.m.: XRIJF Nightly Jazz Session with The Bob Sneider Trio State St. Bar & Grill at the Rochester Plaza Hotel (FREE)
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“Equilibrium” and “Modular Concepts,” you might think the Benedikt Jahnel Trio is too cerebral to enjoy the wonder of jazz. On the contrary, the German-born pianist is a joyous player, with a shimmering, melodic sound and a dynamic touch. His trio — with Owen Howard on drums and Antonio Miguel, bass — builds a large enough sound to match the grandeur of Jahnel’s playing. (RN) benejahnel.
de/en/index.html Bill Tiberio Band A top local music educator
at Fairport High School, Bill Tiberio is also a masterful saxophone player with a funky, honking sound recalling the style of Maceo Parker. Over the years, Tiberio has lent his talents to artists ranging from Fred Wesley to Lou Gramm and The Four Tops. (RN)
won the Jazz Course Prize at Birmingham Conservatoire. After honing his skills under teachers like bassist Dave Holland and trumpeter Dave Douglas, Burton became a top player capable of crossing over from folk to rock and jazz. (RN) euanburton.com Flat Earth Society See listing for Saturday,
June 21.
Gerald Clayton Gerald Clayton was literally
born into the jazz family. His father is bandleader John Clayton; his uncle, saxophonist Jeff Clayton. A formidable pianist, at the age of 22, he placed second in the prestigious Thelonious Monk Jazz Piano Competition, where he impressed judges like Herbie Hancock, Billy Taylor, and Randy Weston. (RN) geraldclayton.com
billtiberioband.com Brubeck Brothers Featuring two cats
(drummer Dan and bassist-trombonist Chris) from one of jazz’s royal families, The Brubeck Brothers Quartet is rooted in straight-ahead jazz but isn’t afraid to take on time signatures less traveled, just like their namesake. Elegant, effortless, and even a bit romantic. (FD) brubeckbrothers.com Cécile McLorin Salvant See feature on page 10. cecilemclorinsalvant.com Dave Glasser & Friends Alto saxophonist
Grupo Calle Uno If you’ve ever found
yourself ferociously shaking a tail feather to salsa or merengue in Rochester, chances are Latin powerhouse Calle Uno was on the bandstand. The music is pure polyrhythmic bliss, with each beat and subsequent counter rhythm targeting specific body parts — some you forgot you had or haven’t moved in years. (FD) grupocalleuno.com
Harris Eisenstadt Golden State Originally from Toronto, progressive percussionist Harris Eisenstadt has performed with Yusef Lateef, Butch Morris, Sam Rivers, and many others. His new group, Golden State, plays a highly contemporary form of chamber jazz with co-conspirators Nicole Mitchell on flute, Sara Schoenbeck, bassoon, and Mark Dresser, bass. Eisenstadt not only plays drums, but he also writes all of the compositions. (RN) harriseisenstadt.
Dave Glasser has performed with some of the greatest players in jazz, including Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, Barry Harris, and Clark Terry. As a leader, Glasser keeps the hard bop tradition alive with a sound that recalls the melodic shaping of Paul Desmond and the tone of Sonny Stitt. (RN) daveglasser.com
com/bands/goldenstate
Euan Burton Quartet Born in Scotland, Euan Burton started playing the bass at the age of 10. Once he discovered jazz in his teens, he
Hot Club of Detroit This red-hot quartet sets a Django-centric groove with images of cocktails, cafes, and Cuban-heeled nylons.
Flat Earth Society perform Saturday, June 21, 6:30 and 9 p.m., at Xerox Auditorium, and Sunday, June 22 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. at Lutheran Church of the Reformation. PHOTO COURTESY XEROX ROCHESTER INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
12 CITY JAZZ FESTIVAL PREVIEW 2014
CÉCILE
con't from page 10
several instances even now in music and movies and where certain people are portrayed in a very stereotypical way and they’re doing it knowingly.”
The Jon Ballantyne Trio will perform Sunday, June 22, 6:30 and 9 p.m. at Xerox Auditorium, and Monday, June 23, 5:45 and 7:45 p.m. at Hatch Recital Hall. PHOTO COURTESY XEROX ROCHESTER INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
Maybe it’s the triple-guitar shuck ’n’ jive, or the prestidigious accordion that’ll grab you. Looking for love? This is its soundtrack. (FD) hotclubofdetroit.com Jon Ballantyne Trio After winning the grand prize of the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal in 1986, Canadian pianist Jon Ballantyne moved to New York City to study with Barry Harris and Kenny Barron. After tours with the Woody Herman Big Band, Clark Terry, and Joe Henderson, Ballantyne won a Juno award for his 2007 album, “Avenue Standard.” (RN) jonballantyne.com Les Doigts de l’Homme Les Doigts de L’Homme simply means “fingers of man” in French. In this case, the fingers belong to guitarist Olivier Kikteff. With Gypsy jazz as a platform, Les Doigts de l’Homme travel beyond the genre with Kikteff’s incorporation of oud and banjo as well as the guitar. (FD) soundcloud.com/les-doigts-
de-lhomme Rachel Brooke Band Yeah, yeah, I know;
they’re all femme fatales, but not since Neko Case have I heard the noir in a country singer’s soul like I do in Rachel Brooke’s killer voice. Her music, though rooted in country, has so much more, like lounge, exotica, and a casual Southern gothic gallows swing. Look out. (FD)
rachelbrookemusic.com XRIJF Nightly Jazz Session with The Bob Sneider Trio See listing for Friday, June 20.
Of course, not all of McLorin Salvant’s repertoire is controversial; she also mines the great American songbook. While the title tune of her latest album, “WomanChild,” is an original, it’s the only song she wrote on the record. “I try to write my own songs but I have really high standards,” McLorin Salvant says. “The covers I choose to sing are written by some of the most amazing songwriters who really honed their craft, people like Cole Porter and Richard Rogers. “I think there’s something odd about being in your own thing all the time, performing your own music. There’s something great about that when you can really share something personal and authentic and genuine but there’s also something nauseating to me about being in my own self with my own ideas all the time.” In 2009, McLorin Salvant released her debut album in France. But it got nowhere in the U.S. The following year she won the prestigious Thelonious Monk Vocal Competition. “I was really shocked and scared. I didn’t expect anything like that to happen. I thought suddenly everything was going to change. I was going to have more responsibilities, I wasn’t ready and I didn’t know anything about music. A month went by and things were moving forward in a gradual way, so I relaxed.” Things did change, but in a positive way. She was able to embark on an American musical career. “It opened a lot of doors that were closed to me. I met my manager at the competition and musicians who have invited me to perform with them.” But having resurrected centuryold songs from obscurity, McLorin Salvant is well aware of how fleeting a performance can be. “You’re working with time and things are passing by you. You can never really hold it for long because the music just keeps going with time. So it’s this very elusive thing and I absolutely love it.”
JAZZ BLOGS CITY’s
CONCERT REVIEWS & PHOTOS EVERY DAY OF THE JAZZ FESTIVAL ONLINE AT ROCHESTERCITYNEWSPAPER.COM rochestercitynewspaper.com CITY 13
23
When Iyer references projects, he’s not just talking about
a trio and a quartet. He’s got eight projects ranging from straight-ahead jazz to explorations of the Asian Indian music of his heritage.
[ PROFILE ] BY RON NETSKY
MONDAY JUNE
If you visit the website of pianist-composer Vijay Iyer, you will be greeted with a blurred portrait of a man, vaguely recognizable as Iyer, dashing through an urban landscape. It’s a fitting visual metaphor for the frenetic musical journey Iyer has taken over the past two decades. “Transformation is the way of this music,” says Iyer, whose perpetual motion has paid off. Over the past two years, he’s won a MacArthur “genius” fellowship and a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award. In 2012, he garnered five top awards in DownBeat’s International Critics Poll, including Jazz Artist of the Year and top pianist. Iyer is often portrayed as one of the most cerebral pianists in jazz, but he’s also one of the funkiest and most swinging. He’s come a long way since his early years in Fairport, where he took his first music lessons on violin. “It’s built up little by little,” Iyer says. “It’s a privilege to have the opportunities I’ve had. A lot of it is luck, a lot of it is working hard all the time, and a lot of it is the generosity of elders, mentors, and my collaborators who have supported these projects of mine.”
“For me it’s really all come from collaborative relationships, and they’ve all been very genuine,” Iyer says. “It’s building things with people and the unpredictable nature of that process. “If you look at my last four albums,” he says, “they’re all pretty different, but that’s a pattern itself. So it’s not that there’s a center and tangents, it’s more like that transformative process is the identity itself. Look at the history of the music — Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, or John Coltrane — they all had that ethos of change. That was part of who they were. In Herbie’s case, it still is.” Iyer has spent a lot of time with Hancock lately at Harvard University, where Iyer teaches a course and Hancock has been a sort of artist-in-residence, delivering the school’s “Norton Lectures.” After attending Yale University, Iyer earned a Ph.D. in the cognitive science of music from the University of California at Berkeley. As a result, he’s been pigeonholed. “Everything I do gets called intellectual and cerebral,” says Iyer. “It really has nothing to do with what the music sounds like. It’s people responding to all of these other tags.” This has been especially true in reviews of his latest album, “Mutations,” featuring Iyer and a string quartet. As the title con't, page 17
VIJAY IYER
The Vijay Iyer Trio performs Monday, June 23, 6 and 10 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall at Eastman School of Music, 26 Gibbs Street. Iyer performs solo Tuesday, June 24, at 5:45 and 7:45 p.m. in Hatch Recital Hall at Eastman School of Music, 433 E. Main Street. Tickets are $25 for the Kilbourn Hall performances, and $20 for the Hatch Recital Hall performances. Or you can use your Club Pass at all performances. Vijay-iyer.com 14 CITY JAZZ FESTIVAL PREVIEW 2014
Often labeled “cerebral,” former Fairport resident Vijay Iyer (center) is also one of jazz piano’s funkiest and most swinging musicians. PHOTO COURTESY XEROX ROCHESTER INATERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
SCHEDULE 12:00 p.m.: John Nyerges Quartet Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County (FREE) 1:00 p.m.: John Sneider Student Workshop Eastman School of Music (Room 120) (FREE) 4:30 p.m.: Greece Arcadia High School Jazz Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 5:15 p.m.: Bloomfield High School Jazz Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 5:30 p.m.: Catherine Russell Harro East Ballroom ($20 or Club Pass) 5:45 p.m.: Jon Ballantyne Hatch Recital Hall ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Jack Allen Big Band Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Vijay Iyer Trio Kilbourn Hall ($25 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Bonerama Montage ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Mike Kaupa & Friends The Rochester Club ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Wendy Eisenberg’s Earth Science Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 6:15 p.m.: Melissa Aldana & Crash Trio Max of Eastman Place ($20 or Club Pass) 6:30 p.m.: Les Doigts de l’Homme Xerox Auditorium ($20 or Club Pass) 6:45 p.m.: Paul Towndrow Trio Christ Church ($20 or Club Pass) 7:00 p.m.: MVT RG&E-LiDestri Spirit Stage (FREE) 7:00 p.m.: Nels Cline & Julian Lage Little Theatre ($20 or Club Pass) 7:15 p.m.: Hot Club of Detroit Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 7:15 p.m.: Catherine Russell Harro East Ballroom ($20 or Club Pass) 7:30 p.m.: Kari Ikonen Trio Lutheran Church of the Reformation ($20 or Club Pass) 7:45 p.m.: Jon Ballantyne Hatch Recital Hall ($20 or Club Pass) 7:45 p.m.: Jeanne Jolly Band Abilene ($20 or Club Pass) 8:00 p.m.: Don Mancuso & DDrive Squeezers Stage at The Inn on Broadway ($20 or Club Pass) 8:00 p.m.: ESM-XRIJF Gerry Niewood Jazz Scholarships Performance Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre (FREE) 8:30 p.m.: Matt Andersen Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 8:45 p.m.: Paul Towndrow Trio Christ Church ($20 or Club Pass) 9:00 p.m.: MVT RG&E-LiDestri Spirit Stage (FREE) 9:00 p.m.: Les Doigts de l’Homme Xerox Auditorium ($20 or Club Pass) 9:15 p.m.: Hot Club of Detroit Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 9:15 p.m.: Nels Cline & Julian Lage Little Theatre ($20 or Club Pass) 9:30 p.m.: Kari Ikonen Trio Lutheran Church of the Reformation ($20 or Club Pass) 9:45 p.m.: Jeanne Jolly Band Abilene ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Vijay Iyer Trio Kilbourn Hall ($25 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Bonerama Montage ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Mike Kaupa & Friends The Rochester Club ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Melissa Aldana & Crash Trio Max of Eastman Place ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Don Mancuso & DDrive Squeezers Stage at The Inn on Broadway ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Matt Andersen Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 10:30 p.m.: XRIJF Nightly Jazz Session with The Bob Sneider Trio State St. Bar & Grill at the Rochester Plaza Hotel (FREE)
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Bonerama No, it’s not a Vanessa Del Rio flick, it’s a four-trombone-powered outfit from New Orleans that makes Phil Spector’s “wall of sound” seem like a cardboard fence. This ‘bone barrage is the brass band equivalent of a muscle car with a horny teenager at the wheel. (FD) boneramamusic.com Catherine Russell Catherine Russell is one of those powerful singers who acts out her songs through facial expressions, body language, and emotional vocal inflection. As a first-call background singer, she toured with David Bowie, Paul Simon, Steely Dan, Jackson Browne, and many others. But now that she’s found the spotlight, she won’t be going back into the shadows any time soon. (RN)
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Don Mancuso Don Mancuso has been on the scene forever, and still bounds around the stage like a 58-year-old kid on Benzedrine and too much chocolate. Making the early 70’s Rochester scene with Black Sheep, to playing guitar in The Lou Gramm Band and his own DDrive, Mancuso’s effortless guitar style embodies true rock ’n’ roll. (FD)
donmancuso.com Hot Club of Detroit See listing for Sunday,
June 22.
Jack Allen Big Band Tenacious trumpeter and big-band leader Jack Allen has been blowing his horn since the age of 5, playing gigs since 12, and touring the United States with assorted combos since he was out of high school. He took over the Chick Edmond band in 1993 and continues to swing with the kind of dreamy elegance only a big band can bring. (FD)
The folksy singer first gained recognition as a featured vocalist for jazz trumpeter Chris Botti. Though she’s sung with symphonies and performed at massive venues like Carnegie Hall, Jolly’s intimate Americana is where she truly packs a punch. (JC) Jeannejolly.com Jon Ballantyne See listing for Sunday,
June 22.
John Nyerges Quartet A superb, indemand keyboard player, John Nyerges just completed his 20th year as pianist at the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra Pops concerts. He also plays in the Dave Rivello Ensemble, the Rick Holland/Evan Dobbins Little Big Band, the Madeline Forster Band, and other groups. (RN) johnnyerges.com John Sneider Trumpeter extraordinaire
John Sneider has shared the stage with legends like Max Roach and Clark Terry, and contemporary artists like Brad Mehldau and Larry Goldings. At XRIJF he’ll play alongside the jazz stars of the future in the Eastman School of Music’s Gerry Niewood Scholarship program, honoring the great, multi-reed Eastman alum. (RN)
Kari Ikonen Trio Keyboard wizard Kari Ikonen won the 2013 Yrjö award — Finnish Jazz Musician of the Year — for his brilliant triple-threat work on piano, Fender Rhodes, and Moog synthesizer. His progressive trio features two more outstanding Finnish jazz artists: Ara Yaralyan on bass and Markku Ounaskari on drums. (RN) kariikonen.com Les Doigts de l’homme See listing for
Sunday, June 22.
thejackallenbigband.com Jeanne Jolly Band You’ll probably get goose
bumps from singer-songwriter Jeanne Jolly’s heart-tugging lyrics and powerful voice.
Matt Andersen Matt Andersen writes music for the working man. The singer-songwriter’s soulful folk and blues and virile voice points to hard times — and sometimes those rare joyous
facebook.com/melissa.aldana.3958 Mike Kaupa & Friends With his gorgeous trumpet tone and his breathtaking melodic runs, Mike Kaupa has been among the most valuable players on the Rochester jazz scene for decades. A long-time performer in the Dave Rivello Ensemble, Kaupa has also played with Ray Charles, Mel Torme, Steve Gadd, Gary Bartz, and Luciana Souza. (RN) MVT (Michael Vadala Trio) The first thing
you need to know about the Michael Vadala Trio is that there are five members. Keyboardist Vadala is joined by Jamie Greene (drums), Ben Crossgrove (bass), Eli Flynn (guitar), and Matthew Billings (keys and sampling). The expanded concept of trio extends to the band’s musical vision, a contemporary fusion of hip-hop, electronic, and rhythm & blues music. (RN) michaelvadalatrio.bandcamp.com
Nels Cline & Julian Lage Jazz Times has called Nels Cline “The World’s Most Dangerous Guitarist.” Fans of Wilco, the band Cline played with for nine years, will certainly agree. Guitarist Julian Lage was selected to tour with vibraphonist Gary Burton when he was just 15 years old. Since then he’s played with David Grisman, Nnenna Freelon, and many others. Together, they inspire each other to one dazzling solo after another. (RN)
Paul Towndrow Trio Scotland’s Paul
Towndrow has been described by The Guardian as “A turbo-charged amalgam of all your saxophone heroes.” Since making a name for himself in Europe, holding down the alto saxophone chair with the iconoclastic Brass Jaw, Towndrow has played with The Bad Plus, John Scofield, Gary Burton, and many others. (RN) paultowndrow.bandcamp.com
Cigar Lounge 40 SCOTCHES & BOURBONS 20 TEQUILAS SMOKERS/ NON-SMOKERS WELCOME
16 CITY JAZZ FESTIVAL PREVIEW 2014
Melissa Aldana & Crash Trio At the age of 24, Melissa Aldana won first prize in the 2013 Thelonious Monk Saxophone Competition. One listen to her masterful tone and phrasing will leave no doubt about her prowess on the instrument. Aldana was raised in Chile but came to the United States to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston in 2006. (RN)
julianlage.com; nelscline.com
HAVANA MOE’S
125 EAST AVE 325•1030
moments — growing up in blue-collar towns. The Canadian musician has won three Maple Blues Awards and was nominated for a British Blues Award. (JC) stubbyfingers.ca
Vijay Iyer Trio See feature on page 14.
vijay-iyer.com Catherine Russell performs 5:30 and 7:15 p..m. at Harro East Ballroom on June 23. PHOTO COURTESY XEROX ROCHESTER INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
XRIFJ Nightly Jazz Session with The Bob Sneider Trio See listing for Friday, June 20.
IYER
JAZZ UP YOUR DINNER PARTY WITH O UR D ESSERTS!
con't from page 14
suggests, the music morphs from track to track. Along the way are lyrical passages, sections reminiscent of serial music and some recalling Beethoven’s late string quartets. But one of his best-known previous album cuts is his take on the Michael Jackson hit “Human Nature.” It’s all part of Iyer’s wideangle view of music that goes beyond genres. “On all my albums there’s a range of stuff,” Iyer says. “People will say that hip-hop is not music or that drumming is not music. I find that this thing we call music is actually broader than we think, that we’re conditioned by culture to create a boundary between something called music and something that’s not music, but that boundary is not very clear.”
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When it comes to a musical hero,
Iyer turns to Thelonious Monk, who he discusses in the present tense. “He’s a real communicator in performance,” Iyer says. “He really reaches you. No matter who you are or where you are in the room, what he’s doing gets inside of you in a really powerful way. That’s what first drew me to him as a teenager. “But then I got more into the language of his music, the building blocks he was working with, the spontaneity, the rigor compositionally, and the playfulness. There was a unity there; the language of his compositions is also the language of his improvisation. Then you hear that he had a real exploratory way with sound and harmony and sonorities: very specific, very unusual, and still underexplored voicings.” Widely viewed as one of the most progressive voices in jazz, Iyer is not sure where the music is going, but, like the figure on his website, he knows it can’t stand still. “For decades now,” he says, jazz “has been dominated by people who played with Miles Davis or people whose name is Marsalis. Now I think we’re at some sort of turning point — a soft turning point, because many of those people are still around. But there is a sense that people of my generation and younger have to create something new.” rochestercitynewspaper.com CITY 17
s SHOW SCHEDULE VENUES: s a P ClubFRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY 6/20
6/21
6/22
6/23
HEB - Harro East Ballr HRH - Hatch Recital H
TUESDAY 6/
5:30
Roy Hargrove HEB
Snarky Puppy HEB
Brubeck Brothers HEB
Catherine Russell HEB
5:45 6:00
Don Thompson HRH
Bill Dobbins HRH
Gerald Clayton HRH
Jon Ballantyne HRH
Roberta Gambarini KH Akiko Tsuruga M Joel Miller Quartet RC Prime Time Brass BT
Jason Marsalis KH Two Siberians M Shai Maestro Trio RC 78 RPM Big Band BT
6:15
Holophonor MEP
Diana Panton MEP
Benedikt Jahnel MEP
Melissa Aldana MEP
6:30 6:45 7:00 7:15 7:30 7:45
Lorraine Klaasen XA
Flat Earth Society XA
Jon Ballantyne Trio XA
Les Doigts de l’Homme XA
Partisans CC
John Escreet CC
Euan Burton CC
Paul Towndrow CC
Two Siberians LT
Ryan Dilmore LT
Harris Eisenstadt LT
Julian Lage & Nels Cline LT
Blind Boy Paxto
Roy Hargrove HEB
Snarky Puppy HEB
Brubeck Brothers HEB
Catherine Russell HEB
Lucky Peterson
Sun Trio LC
Sunna Gunnlaugs LC
Flat Earth Society LC
Kari Ikonen Trio LC
Jacob Young L
Nikki Hill Ab Don Thompson HRH
Woody Pines Ab Bill Dobbins HRH
Rachel Brooke Ab Gerald Clayton HRH
Jeanna Jolly Ab Jon Ballantyne HRH
The Lustre King Vijay Iyer HR
8:00
Gap Mangione IOB
Myles Mancuso IOB
Grupo Calle Uno IOB
Mancuso & DDrive IOB
Moho Collective
8:30
Mingo Fishtrap BT
8:45 9:00 9:15
Partisans CC
John Escreet CC
Lorraine Klaasen XA
9:30 9:45 10:00 18 CITY
Lucky Peterson
Vijay Iyer HR
Cécile McLorin Salvant KH Vijay Iyer Trio KH Louis Hayes K Les Doigts de l’Homme M Bonerama M Tessa Souter Glasser, et. al. RC Mike Kaupa Trio RC Bernstein & Frien Penfield Rotary Band BT Jack Allen Big Band BT New Energy Big Ba
Rob Mostert Hammond BT Hot Club of Detroit BT
Etienne Charles
Laila Biali XA
Bancroft & Lyne D
Matt Andersen BT
Bonerama BT
Euan Burton CC
Paul Towndrow CC
Bancroft & Lyne D
Flat Earth Society XA
Jon Ballantyne Trio XA
Les Doigts de l’Homme XA
Two Siberians LT
Ryan Dilmore LT
Harris Eisenstadt LT
Julian Lage & Nels Cline LT
Sun Trio LC
Sunna Gunnlaugs LC
Flat Earth Society LC
Kari Ikonen Trio LC
Nikki Hill Ab
Woody Pines Ab
Rachel Brooke Ab
Jeanna Jolly Ab
Roberta Gambarini KH Jason Marsalis KH Cécile McLorin Salvant KH Vijay Iyer Trio KH Holophonor MEP Diana Panton MEP Benedikt Jahnel MEP Melissa Aldana MEP Akiko Tsuruga M Two Siberians M Les Doigts de l’Homme M Bonerama M Joel Miller Quartet RC Shai Maestro Trio RC Glasser, et. al. RC Mike Kaupa Trio RC Mingo Fishtrap BT Rob Mostert Hammond BT Hot Club of Detroit BT Matt Andersen BT Gap Mangione IOB Myles Mancuso IOB Grupo Calle Uno IOB Mancuso & DDrive IOB
Laila Biali XA
Blind Boy Paxto
Jacob Young L
The Lustre King
Louis Hayes K Etienne Charles Tessa Souter Bernstein & Frien Bonerama BT Moho Collective
room Hall
KH - Kilbourn Hall M - Montage
RH
KH M
THURSDAY 6/26
5:30
Stern/Evans Band HEB
Honey Island HEB
5:45 6:00
Kellock & Smith HRH
Manuel Valera HRH
nds RC and BT MEP
A
Duo CC
on LT HEB
LC
gs Ab
RH
e IOB
T
Duo CC
A
on LT
LC
gs Ab
KH MEP M nds RC T e IOB
MEP - Max of Eastman Place XA - Xerox Auditorium
WEDNESDAY 6/25
/24
HEB
RC - Rochester Club BT - Big Tent
CC - Christ Church LT - Little Theatre
LC - Lutheran Church Ab - Abilene
FRIDAY 6/27
IOB - Inn on Broadway
SATURDAY 6/28 5:30
Harold Danko HRH
Stephanie Trick HRH
Diane Schuur KH Joey DeFrancesco KH Bill Frisell...Space Age KH Newport Jazz KH The Brian Cloud M Ivan Jansen Aruba M Ibrahim Electric M The Deciders M Jamey Haddad Group RC Kellock & Smith RC Pat Labarbera RC The Wee Trio RC Brockport Comm. Band BT Greater Roc. Jazz Orch. BT Greece Jazz Band BT Roc. Metro Jazz Orch. BT
5:45 6:00
6:15
Warren Wolf MEP
The Brain Cloud MEP
Phaedra Kwant MEP
Cyrille Aimee MEP
6:15
6:30 6:45 7:00 7:15 7:30 7:45
Ivan Jansen Aruba XA
Phaedra Kwant XA
Rufus Reid Trio XA
Norma Winstone XA
Jonathan Gee Trio CC
Ian Shaw CC
Mark Lockheart Trio CC
Gwilym Simcock CC
Bertoncini/Jenkins/Sturm LT
Hey Mavis LT
The Wee Trio LT
Scott Feiner LT
Stern/Evans Band HEB
Honey Island HEB
David’s Angels LC
Anders Hagberg LC
The Deciders LC
Susanna LC
Ohlman & Montez Ab Kellock & Smith HRH
Selwyn Birchwood Ab Manuel Valera HRH
J.D. Wilkes...Daubers Ab Harold Danko HRH
Chuck Mead Ab Stephanie Trick HRH
6:30 6:45 7:00 7:15 7:30 7:45
8:00
5Head IOB
Cyndi Cain IOB
John “Papa” Gros IOB
Joe Beard Blues IOB
8:00
8:30
Lucky Peterson BT
Hypnotic Brass Ens. BT
Honey Island BT
Ester Rada BT
8:30
8:45 9:00 9:15
Jonathan Gee Trio CC
Ian Shaw CC
Mark Lockheart Trio CC
Gwilym Simcock CC
Ivan Jansen Aruba XA
Phaedra Kwant XA
Rufus Reid Trio XA
Norma Winstone XA
Bertoncini/Jenkins/Sturm LT
Hey Mavis LT
The Wee Trio LT
Scott Feiner LT
8:45 9:00 9:15
David’s Angels LC
Anders Hagberg LC
The Deciders LC
Susanna LC
Ohlman & Montez Ab
Selwyn Birchwood Ab
J.D. Wilkes...Daubers Ab
Chuck Mead Ab
9:30 9:45 10:00
Diane Schuur KH Joey DeFrancesco KH Bill Frisell...Space Age KH Warren Wolf MEP The Brain Cloud MEP Phaedra Kwant MEP The Brian Cloud M Ivan Jansen Aruba M Ibrahim Electric M Jamey Haddad Group RC Kellock & Smith RC Pat Labarbera RC Lucky Peterson BT Hypnotic Brass Ens. BT Honey Island BT 5Head IOB Cyndi Cain IOB John “Papa” Gros IOB
Newport Jazz KH Cyrille Aimee MEP The Deciders M The Wee Trio RC Ester Rada BT Joe Beard Blues IOB
9:30 9:45 10:00 CITY 19
LOUISHAYES
24
[ PROFILE ] BY RON NETSKY
TUESDAY JUNE
Louis Hayes and The Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band perform Tuesday, June 24, 6 and 10 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall at Eastman School of Music, 26 Gibbs Street. Tickets are $25, or you can use your Club Pass. Louishayes.net
20 CITY JAZZ FESTIVAL PREVIEW 2014
Louis Hayes was just 19 and living on Detroit’s west side when his reputation caught up with him. Pianist Horace Silver, fresh out of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, had heard about the young drummer. Silver called up Hayes and asked him to move to New York and join his new band. Hayes packed his drums and caught a train east. It was 1956, and jazz was on fire. “I was able to come to New York while all of those different generations were performing,” says Hayes, “people like Coleman Hawkins, [Papa] Jo Jones, Cozy Cole, Roy Eldridge, and Lester Young. Then there was the younger generation — Miles [Davis], Philly Joe [Jones], Max Roach, Stan Getz, and J.J. Johnson — and I had the chance to make records, make history, with that generation.” Growing up, Hayes was surrounded by drummers. His father played and so did his cousin, 10 years his senior. On the radio he heard the big bands and, at 13, a friend introduced him to the music of Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, and his soon-to-be hero, Charlie Parker. “I grew up hearing all kinds of music, but what was in my brain was this art form they called be-bop jazz,” says Hayes. “That was the way I wanted to go. I was never the kind of person who couldn’t make up his mind on what he wanted to do.” Silver met Hayes at the station
and took him to the Alvin Hotel on 52nd Street, directly across from jazz heaven. “I could look out my window and see who was going in and out of Birdland,” he says. He played with Silver until 1959, when he was asked to join the Cannonball Adderley
Quintet. When he plays at Kilbourn Hall, Hayes will be leading The Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band, honoring the saxophonist whom he played with through 1965. “It was a great, great experience,” says Hayes, “one of the best of my life. We were a team, and we were great friends — the whole organization, Cannon, Nat [Adderley, trumpet] and Sam [Jones, bass]. The piano chair was never complete until Joe Zawinul arrived.” In his early 20’s, Hayes was at the epicenter of the jazz world, but he was still green and needed role models. He found some great ones. “My mentor was Papa Jo Jones,” says Hayes, “and it wasn’t about playing drums. He would say things about living life, being a man, living in this music world. You would see the older gentlemen, Coleman Hawkins and Roy Eldridge, and see the way they carried themselves. Jo liked me, so he would take me to places and introduce me to things, things that you need to help you carry on.” By now, Hayes had moved to
New York’s upper west side, and it was not just any neighborhood. “I lived on 101st Street; John Coltrane lived on 103rd Street,” says Hayes. “I used to go to his apartment and listen to him practice. We all looked at Coltrane in a certain way, because he worked harder than most people would work at anything. He put more time in, and he was not kidding around. He was constantly working at anything his magnificent brain was telling him to work at.” Hayes was the drummer on several classic Coltrane con't, page 22
Drummer Louis Hayes will be joined by some of the top younger players in jazz when he visits Rochester this month. PHOTO COURTESY XEROX INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
SCHEDULE 12:00 p.m.: Gabe Condon Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County (FREE) 1:00 p.m.: Sophie Bancroft & Tom Lyne Duo Student Workshop Eastman School of Music (Room 120) (FREE) 4:30 p.m.: Greece Athena High School Jazz Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 5:15 p.m.: Fairport High School Jazz Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 5:30 p.m.: Lucky Peterson Featuring Tamara Peterson Harro East Ballroom ($20 or Club Pass) 5:45 p.m.: Vijay Iyer Hatch Recital Hall ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: New Energy Jazz Orchestra Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Peter Bernstein & Friends The Rochester Club ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Louis Hayes & The Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band Kilbourn Hall ($25 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: New Horizons Big Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 6:00 p.m.: Tessa Souter Montage ($20 or Club Pass) 6:15 p.m.: Etienne Charles Quintet Max of Eastman Place ($20 or Club Pass) 6:30 p.m.: Laila Biali Xerox Auditorium ($20 or Club Pass) 6:45 p.m.: Sophie Bancroft & Tom Lyne Duo Christ Church ($20 or Club Pass) 7:00 p.m.: Significant Other RG&E-LiDestri Spirit Stage (FREE) 7:00 p.m.: Blind Boy Paxton Little Theatre ($20 or Club Pass) 7:15 p.m.: Fred Costello Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 7:15 p.m.: Lucky Peterson Featuring Tamara Peterson Harro East Ballroom ($20 or Club Pass) 7:30 p.m.: Jacob Young’s “Forever Young” Lutheran Church of the Reformation ($20 or Club Pass) 7:45 p.m.: Vijay Iyer Hatch Recital Hall ($20 or Club Pass) 7:45 p.m.: The Lustre Kings Abilene ($20 or Club Pass) 8:00 p.m.: Fourplay Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre ($40-70) 8:00 p.m.: The Moho Collective Squeezers Stage at The Inn on Broadway ($20 or Club Pass) 8:30 p.m. Bonerama Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 8:45 p.m.: Sophie Bancroft & Tom Lyne Duo Christ Church ($20 or Club Pass) 9:00 p.m.: Laila Biali Xerox Auditorium ($20 or Club Pass) 9:00 p.m.: Significant Other RG&E-LiDestri Spirit Stage (FREE) 9:15 p.m.: Blind Boy Paxton Little Theatre ($20 or Club Pass) 9:15 p.m.: Fred Costello Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 9:30 p.m.: Jacob Young’s “Forever Young” Lutheran Church of the Reformation ($20 or Club Pass) 9:45 p.m.: The Lustre Kings Abilene ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Etienne Charles Max of Eastman Place ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: The Moho Collective Squeezers Stage at The Inn on Broadway ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Tessa Souter Montage ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Louis Hayes & The Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band Kilbourn Hall ($25 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Bonerama Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Peter Bernstein & Friends The Rochester Club ($20 or Club Pass) 10:30 p.m.: XRIJF Nightly Jazz Session with The Bob Sneider Trio State St. Bar & Grill at the Rochester Plaza Hotel (FREE)
musician
BIOS
Blind Boy Paxton Despite his abbreviated
age, Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton is a master of pre-war, acoustic blues. We’re talking the storied sounds of Lonnie Johnson, Robert Johnson, and Bessie Smith — to name a few — wrought by a multi-instrumentalist in his mid-20’s. The man rocks it right. (FD)
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S I N C E
Bonerama See listing for Monday, June 23. Etienne Charles Quintet Growing up in Trinidad, Etienne Charles was immersed in folkloric traditions passed down from African slaves. Now a virtuoso trumpet player, he is bringing those traditions, in the form of irresistible music, to audiences around the world. Earlier in his career he shared the stage with Roberta Flack, Wynton Marsalis, Johnny Mandel, and many others. (RN) etiennecharles.com Fourplay Twelve studio albums and 23 years on, Fourplay is still going strong. The contemporary jazz quartet — keyboardist Bob James; Nathan East, bass; Harvey Mason, drums; and Chuck Loeb, guitar — found that key mix of R&B, pop, and jazz that attracts a massive audience and hasn’t let slip since. (JC) fourplayjazz.com Fred Costello Fred Costello works the B3 as if he had four hands. He’s is a top-notch talent who has gigged everywhere, including extended stands in Vegas. His organ has accompanied Rochester Red Wings’ balls, strikes, and home runs since 1977, and you can get the skinny in his autobiography, “Fred Costello: a Lifetime of Nightclubs & Ballparks.” (FD) fredcostello.com
1 9 8 1
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ASBURY FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
Gabe Condon Twenty-three-year-old Gabe
Condon asked for a guitar when he was 4 years old. In 2010, Condon was selected as an “Outstanding Jazz Soloist” in Downbeat Magazine. The Eastman School of Music student is now working on his first album. An up-and-comer, Condon should certainly be watched for on the Rochester scene. (JC) gabecondon.com
Jacob Young & Trygve Seim Guitarist Jacob
Young and saxophonist Trygve Seim are two of Norway’s finest contemporary jazz musicians. Young boasts a clear, ringing tone reminiscent of the style of his teachers, Jim Hall and John Abercrombie. Trygve’s sax sound can be mournful or ecstatic, but it’s always expansive and beautiful. (RN)
jacobyoung.no/index_english.htm; trygveseim.com Laila Biali Sting gives this Canadian singer-
pianist two thumbs up. Need more? Biali has toured the globe, bringing with her a con't, page 22
ADD A POP OF COLOR TO YOUR EVENING Show any JAZZ FEST TICKET for: $7 Signature cocktails & $11 Sushi rolls 1 capron st tucked behind geva theatre 454.2908 restaurantnikko.com
10 minute walk from Chestnut St and East Ave rochestercitynewspaper.com CITY 21
musician
BIOS
con't from page 21
pop accessibility to a decidedly deliberate jazz twist. Biali’s music has a lot of complex textures going on but manages to expertly avoid a wreck. A perfect blend of simple beauty and heady sophistication. (FD) lailabiali.com
backgrounds to shape its blues-rock. With an electric violin and saxophone, the band is able to really push traditional thoughts on the blues. (JC)
Louis Hayes & The Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band Drummer Louis Hayes has held
duo, vocalist-guitarist Sophie Bancroft and bassists Tom Lyne’s stripped-down jazz has a relaxed, at-home feel that’s warm and inviting. Bancroft’s voice is gorgeous over Lyne’s swaying bass, and makes for purely pleasant listening. (JC) sophiebancroft.co.uk
down the beat on pivotal albums by John Coltrane, Oscar Peterson, Wes Montgomery, and many other giants of jazz. At the XRIJF, Hayes will celebrate the music of another legend he played with, the great saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, with a band boasting top players like trumpeter Jeremy Pelt and saxophonist Vincent Herring. (RN)
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Lucky Peterson Lucky Peterson was discovered
by Willie Dixon at the age of 3 and released his first album at 5. (I know; right?) A multiinstrumentalist, Peterson’s keyboard education came from legends Bill Doggett and Jimmy Smith. Born in Buffalo and now living in Dallas, Peterson’s blues is as wide-reaching and diverse as the man himself. (FD) lucky-peterson.com
New Energy Jazz Orchestra Organized by
saxophonist Carl Atkins and trumpeter Jonathan Kruger in 2006, the New Energy Jazz Orchestra features 17 of the top players in the region exploring adventurous compositions and arrangements by Atkins, Kruger, David Gibson, and others. (RN) geneseo.edu/music/nejo Peter Bernstein & Friends In the early 1990’s,
Featuring a Complete Selection of Jazz Festival Artists, Past & Present!
legendary guitarist Jim Hall called Peter Bernstein “the most impressive young guitarist I’ve heard.” Hall went on to say that Bernstein “plays the best of them all for swing, logic, feel and taste.” Since then Bernstein has led all-star groups with Brad Mehldau, Christian McBride, Larry Goldings, Jimmy Cobb, and Eric Alexander. (RN) peterbernsteinmusic.com
Significant Other The six-member Rochester
band Significant Other brings in a variety of
Sophie Bancroft & Tom Lyne Duo As a
Tessa Souter Anyone who has heard her
ethereal voice at a previous XRIJF will not be surprised that Tessa Souter has been invited back for a fourth time. Souter’s most recent album, “Beyond The Blue,” is a bold excursion featuring her lyrics set to great classical works by Beethoven, Ravel, and others played jazz-style. She pulls it off beautifully. An added bonus: Souter will be bringing the great trumpeter Lew Soloff with her. (RN) tessasouter.com
The Lustre Kings One of the hardest
working bands on the road today is Albany’s Lustre Kings. The band preaches rockabilly zig-zagging from coast to coast. (FD) lustrekings.com
The Moho Collective This band’s tension-
release dynamic and chordal structures (some I believe they invented) are rooted somewhere no other band I know has gone. It’s a band with its own rudiments; you’ve got sharp, you’ve got flat, and now you’ve got Moho. The band’s music is cinematically picturesque, with the aggressively angular compositions serving as a vague template. The listener brings the rest. (FD) themohocollective.com
Vijay Iyer See listing for Monday, June 23. XRIJF Nightly Jazz Session with The Bob Sneider Trio See listing for Friday, June 20.
HAYES
con't from page 20
albums. He also recorded with Oscar Peterson, Wes Montgomery, Wayne Shorter, Grant Green, Dexter Gordon, and Freddie Hubbard. Was he aware that they were creating classics? “It was just another recording date,” says Hayes. “It never entered anyone’s mind thinking like that. We were all just coming up, living our lives. The music was going in a certain direction and people were just growing and trying to play at the highest level of their ability. I don’t think anyone was thinking: Years from now this is going to be great.” After six decades of playing on concert stages all over the world with some of the greatest bands in the history of jazz, one venue still stands out for Hayes. “One place that I always remember was The World Stage in Detroit,” says Hayes. “It made me more nervous, just being in that environment right there in my hometown, because Detroit was a very competitive place. People were very knowledgeable, and I was very young.” Joining him on the Kilbourn stage will be some of the top younger players in jazz: Vincent Herring (alto sax), Jeremy Pelt (trumpet), Rick Germanson (piano), and Dezron Douglas (bass). “They ask me a lot of questions,” says Hayes. “I can see how life changes and how I looked at some of the older musicians when I was their age. And all of a sudden — seems like time goes so fast — now they’re looking at me like that.”
Show your JAZZ FEST CLUB PASS and get 10% OFF anything in the store BOP ARTS CONCERT SERIES Tuesday, September 9 | 8pm
ERNESTO CERVINI / MYRIAD 3 CONCERT AT BOP SHOP
Sunday, September 14 | 8pm
SOPHIE DUNER / DOMINIC DUVAL DUO CONCERT AT BOP SHOP
Thursday, October 2 | 8:30pm CHARLIE PARR
CONCERT AT BOP SHOP
Saturday, October 11 | 8pm
EXPANSIONS - THE DAVE LIEBMAN GROUP CONCERT AT LOVIN’CUP
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Bop Shop • 1460 MONROE AVENUE • 14618 585.271.3354 • www.bopshop.com 22 CITY JAZZ FESTIVAL PREVIEW 2014
(Left) Laila Biali performs 6:30 and 9 p.m. Tuesday, June 24, at Xerox Auditorium. (Right) Bonerama performs Monday, June 23, 6 and 10 p.m. at Montage, and Tuesday, June 24, 8:30 p.m. at Unity Health System Big Tent. PHOTOS COURTESY XEROX ROCHESTER INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
rochestercitynewspaper.com CITY 23
WEDNESDAY JUNE
25
n D a i e Schuur [ PROFILE ] BY FRANK DE BLASE
Through the snap, crackle, and pop of a long distance phone call, and suffering from jet lag, Diane Schuur’s voice is still absolutely beautiful. She has just returned from an engagement in Osaka, Japan. Before that, it was dates in Italy with the big band. Tomorrow, it’s off to engagements in North Carolina and Florida. The lady is burning it at both ends and the middle. Still, that voice; she had me at “Hello.” Even if some audiences don’t understand Schuur’s words, they understand how she sings them. “Music is a universal language anyway,” says Schuur. “And even if English is a second language, it doesn’t really matter that much. Music is music. It’s a real good facilitator and communicator to circumvent any kind of barrier.”
Blind since birth, Schuur offers exquisite insight and honesty. She tells her own story through the stories in the songs. Her loves, losses, heartaches, and joy are all couched in her musical adaptations and interpretations. “Through the music,” she says, “I want to let the audience know, there’s a back story, a love story involved in my own life. And I thought through this music, this would be the best way to facilitate that without going into a lot of personal detail.”
Early on, Schuur showed promise. Growing up in Auburn, Washington, she was surrounded by music. Her dad played the piano and her mother collected records that included Duke Ellington and Dinah Washington. Schuur had perfect pitch and taught herself the piano. By the time she was 10 years old, she had played her first gig. Schuur released her first record, “Deedles,” in 1984. She’s gone on to release close to 25 albums including her latest send-up to a couple of her heroes,
“I Remember You (With Love to Stan and Frank).” Both Stan Getz and Frank Sinatra were personal friends as well as a heavy influence on Schuur. She cherishes the fundamentals they taught. “I’ve been listening to Frank Sinatra since I was a toddler,” says Schuur. “His musicality and individuality as far as being able to deliver a lyric: to be able to deliver a melody with pathos — I love that word — and emotion really impacted me. And as a little girl, I remember hearing ‘Girl from
Diane Schuur will perform Wednesday, June 25, 6 and 10 p.m. in Kilbourn Hall at Eastman School of Music, 26 Gibbs Street. Tickets are $25, or you can use your Club Pass. Dianeschuur.com
24 CITY JAZZ FESTIVAL PREVIEW 2014
Ipanema.’ Of course, it was Stan Getz on the solo. And he taught me early on that less is more. In other words, sometimes it’s best to understate something, to really be able to build on a song instead of giving it away in the first couple of notes.” It’s these influences, morphed into her own style, that make Schuur such a timeless jazz icon as well, whether on stage before thousands or on the phone with an awkward, love-struck music critic. She had me again at “Goodbye.”
Dian Schuur was heavily influenced by Stan Getz and Frank Sinatra and dedicated her latest album, “I Remember You (With Love to Stan and Frank),” to them. PHOTO COURTESY XEROX ROCHESTER INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
SCHEDULE 12:00 p.m.: Mel Henderson and Paradigm Shift Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County (FREE) 1:00 p.m.: Jonathan Gee Eastman School of Music (Room 120) 4:30 p.m.: Eastridge High School Jazz Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 5:15 p.m.: Greece Olympia High School Jazz Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 5:30 p.m.: Mike Stern/Bill Evans Band Featuring Steve Smith and Tom Kennedy Harro East Ballroom ($20 or Club Pass) 5:45 p.m.: Brian Kellock & Tommy Smith Hatch Recital Hall ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: The Brain Cloud Montage ($20 or Club Pass) ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Brockport Community Big Band Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Jamey Haddad The Rochester Club ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Diane Schuur Kilbourn Hall ($25 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: ESM-XRIJF Jazz Scholarships Alumni Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 6:15 p.m.: Warren Wolf & The Wolfpack Max of Eastman Place ($20 or Club Pass) 6:30 p.m.: Ivan Jansen Aruba Jazz Project Xerox Auditorium ($20 or Club Pass) 6:45 p.m.: Jonathan Gee Christ Church ($20 or Club Pass) 7:00 p.m.: Cyndi Cain RG&E-LiDestri Spirit Stage (FREE) 7:00 p.m.: Bertoncini/Jenkins/Sturm Little Theatre ($20 or Club Pass) 7:15 p.m.: Eastman Youth Jazz Orchestra, New
Horizons Vintage Jazz Band, & Music Educators Big Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 7:15 p.m.: Mike Stern/Bill Evans Band Featuring Steve Smith and Tom Kennedy Harro East
Ballroom ($20 or Club Pass) 7:30 p.m.: David’s Angels Lutheran Church of the Reformation ($20 or Club Pass) 7:45 p.m.: Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez Abilene ($20 or Club Pass) 7:45 p.m.: Brian Kellock & Tommy Smith Hatch Recital Hall ($20 or Club Pass) 8:00 p.m.: 5Head Squeezers Stage at The Inn on Broadway ($20 or Club Pass) 8:00 p.m.: Michael McDonald Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre ($65-$105) 8:30 p.m.: Lucky Peterson featuring Tamara Peterson Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 8:45 p.m.: Jonathan Gee Christ Church ($20 or Club Pass) 9:00 p.m.: Cyndi Cain RG&E-LiDestri Spirit Stage (FREE) 9:00 p.m.: Ivan Jansen Aruba Jazz Project Xerox Auditorium ($20 or Club Pass) 9:15 p.m.: Eastman Youth Jazz Orchestra, New
Horizons Vintage Jazz Band, & Music Educators Big Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 9:15 p.m.: Bertoncini/Jenkins/Sturm Little
Theatre ($20 or Club Pass) 9:30 p.m.: David’s Angels Lutheran Church of the Reformation ($20 or Club Pass) 9:45 p.m.: Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez Abilene ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Diane Schuur Kilbourn Hall ($25 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Jamey Haddad The Rochester Club ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: The Brain Cloud Montage ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Warren Wolf & The Wolfpack Max of Eastman Place ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: 5Head Squeezers Stage at The Inn on Broadway ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Lucky Peterson Featuring Tamara Peterson Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 10:30 p.m.: XRIJF Nightly Jazz Session with The Bob Sneider Trio State St. Bar & Grill at the Rochester Plaza Hotel (FREE)
NEW EVERY MORNING.
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5Head Rochester madcap ska
skanksters 5Head are full of pantsoptional hi-jinx and contagious back beat that starts at your feet and ends with you attempting dance moves that would have put Fred Astaire in traction. This band features lighthearted fun played by some of the best musicians this town has. (FD) facebook.com/5HEADMUSIC
HIT ALL THE RIGHT NOTES
Bertoncini/Jenkins/Sturm From the
orchestras of The Merv Griffin Show and the Metropolitan Opera House to the bands of Paul Desmond, Wayne Shorter, Bette Midler, and Tony Bennett, guitar virtuoso Gene Bertoncini has done it all. He’s formed a powerful trio with trumpeter Clay Jenkins — who’s played with Buddy Rich and the Clayton/Hamilton Jazz Orchestra — and bassist Ike Sturm, who has lent his talents to Bobby McFerrin and Maria Schneider. (RN) genebertoncini.
com; clayjenkins.net; ikesturm.com Brian Kellock & Tommy Smith At the
age of 16, saxophonist Tommy Smith already had his first album under his belt. By the time he was 18, he was touring with vibraphonist Gary Burton. Since then he’s worked with Joe Locke, John Scofield, Joe Lovano, and others. One of the finest pianists in the United Kingdom, Brian Kellock has collaborated with Stanley Turrentine, Scott Hamilton, and Art Farmer, among others. (RN) tommy-
JAZZ BLOGS CITY’s
CONCERT REVIEWS & PHOTOS EVERY DAY OF THE JAZZ FESTIVAL ONLINE AT ROCHESTERCITYNEWSPAPER.COM
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smith.co.uk Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez
Jazz Fest 2010, and the crowd was packed in for Ohlman’s first set in the steamy Abilene tent. Dressed entirely in leopard print (swoon) and high heels (swoon, swoon), with a sky-high beehive — if this lady’s hair was a clock, it was high noon — Ohlman wowed the screaming crowd not by ripping it up or serving up a good ol’ trademark throwdown in 4/4 time for her opening number. No, she opened with Otis Redding’s “That’s How Strong My Love Is.” She sang smoky and cool, and dished out some of the best barroom rock ’n’ roll we’d ever heard. She’s gonna do it again. (FD) christineohlman.net Cyndi Cain It doesn’t matter on what stage you catch Halifax’s honeybee of soul singer Cyndi Cain. con't, page 26 rochestercitynewspaper.com CITY 25
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Wherever she’s performing, it’s her stage, her audience, her night. Cain owns it, and she’s been owning it since she was 3. Hers is a mix of neo soul, classic and contemporary R&B, and a dash of hip hop. (FD) cyndicain.com David’s Angels Fantastic Swedish foursome David’s Angels is dragging its new album “What It Seems” along for the ride. David’s Angels describes its strain as dark sounds and pure melodies — some have called it death jazz. Honestly, it’s not as ominous as you might think. It’s sonically dark but somehow uplifting with a syncopated get up and go. Stark and beautiful. (FD)
facebook.com/davidsangels.se Diane Schurr See feature on page 24.
dianeschuur.com
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Ivan Jansen Aruba Jazz Project Guitarist
is what you might call a world music innovator. By blending contemporary harmonic jazz concepts with traditional Aruban and Antillean rhythms like tumba, danza, and mazurka, Jansen forges through uncharted yet smooth territory. (FD) ivanjansen.com
Jamey Haddad Group To call Jamey Haddad a drummer would be like calling a computer a typewriter. In his Oberlin, Ohio, home he’s got a collection of over 1,000 percussion instruments from around the world. He uses them to teach in his classes at Oberlin Conservatory and takes some of them on the road when he plays with artists like Paul Simon. Haddad has also lent his vast knowledge and technique to Herbie Hancock, Joe Lovano, Paul Winter, and many others. (RN)
Jonathan Gee Trio In 1991, pianist Jonathan Gee won the Guardian/Wire British Jazz Award for “Most Promising Newcomer” and never looked back. Aside from playing his own challenging compositions, he founded the Monk Liberation Front in England, dedicated to the study and interpretation of the work of Thelonious Monk. Gee’s New York trio boasts Joseph Lepore on bass and Rob Garcia, drums. (RN) jonathangeetrio.co.uk Lucky Peterson See listing for Tuesday,
June 24.
Mel Henderson and Paradigm Shift
Mel Henderson and his creative partner Gerry Youngman grew up when jazz had grit, danger, and edge to it — the kind of music played in dark, smoky bars. The two veterans co-founded Paradigm Shift in the early 90’s wanting to pump the heat back into jazz. Paradigm Shift is Henderson on organ, Youngman on guitar, and drummer Sean Jefferson. (JC) psjazz.com Michael McDonald Michael McDonald
joined The Doobie Brothers as a pianist in 1975, but it wasn’t long before his gravelly vocals become the group’s trademark sound. McDonald also came up with a syncopated style of songwriting that spawned hits like “What a Fool Believes” and “Minute by Minute.” The hits kept coming in his post-Doobies career, along with interpretations of the Motown songbook. (RN) michaelmcdonald.com
Mike Stern/Bill Evans Band featuring Steve Smith and Tom Kennedy Guitarist
Mike Stern and saxophonist Bill Evans were both recruited by the great Miles
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Christine Oh lman & Rebel Montez will perform at Abilene on Wednesday, June 25, 7:45 and 9:45 p.m. PHOTO COURTESY XEROX ROCHESTER INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
Davis. A languid guitarist, Stern has also played with Blood, Sweat & Tears, Billy Cobham, and Jaco Pastorius. Evans did a stint in John McLaughlin’s experimental Mahavishnu Orchestra. Drummer Steve Smith has propelled artists ranging from George Garzone to the rock group Montrose, and bassist Tom Kennedy has played with Sonny Stitt, Freddie Hubbard, and others. (RN) mikestern.org; billevanssax.
com/wordpress; vitalinformation.com; tomkennedymusic.com The Brain Cloud This NYC ensemble plays some of the sweetest Western swing you’ll ever hear. By definition, this beautiful Americana is comprised of many sub-genres. The Brain Cloud expertly blends jazz, country, Tin Pan Alley, bluegrass, swing, etc., and with
vocalist Tamar Korn singing like she’s inside an old Gramophone, you’d swear the band was from another time. (FD) braincloudwesternswing.com Warren Wolf & The Wolfpack If you heard
Warren Wolf when he toured as a pianist with the Rachael Price Group, you may have been surprised to see him behind a drum set with Tia Fuller. If you think
that’s impressive, when he visits the XRIJF, he’ll be playing perhaps his foremost instrument: vibraphone. Barely 30 years old, Wolf earned his reputation playing with Wynton Marsalis, Nicholas Payton, Jeremy Pelt, and many others. (RN) warrenwolfmusic.com XRIJF Nightly Jazz Session with The Bob Sneider Trio See listing for Friday, June 20.
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June 29, 11 AM
The Rev. Dr. Pat Youngdahl “Playing Life’s Changes – Where’s the Bridge?” •
Featuring Bill Tibero, Sax, and Liz Lang, Vocals
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With Alan Jones, piano & vocals; Matt Bevan-Perkins, drums; Sean Conlon, bass; and Lee Wright, violin & vocals
121 Fitzhugh Street North • downtownpresbyterian.org • Free and Open to All!
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THURSDAY JUNE
26
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Anders Hagberg Quartet If you caught Yggdrasil in one of its appearances at the XRIJF, you’ve heard the wonderful range of sounds Swedish musician Anders Hagberg coaxes out of his soprano saxophone and flutes. When he plays the gigantic contrabass flute, it’s a thrilling journey, filled with percussive breathing and scat-singing, and sounds like the workings of several musicians. (RN) andershagberg.se Buddy Guy You might get the idea from just
listening to a song or reading about him, but when you see Buddy Guy live, that’s when you know why he’s a legend. He’s high up on the list of Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time,” and guys like Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Jeff Beck have gone crazy over his licks. But you don’t really understand it completely until you see Guy go wild on a Stratocaster, masterfully toying with every emotion and squeal in a bluesy, rocking solo. (JC) buddyguy.net
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Cyndi Cain See listing for Wednesday, June 25. Hey Mavis The problem with recent neo-folk injection pop is that there ain’t no ominous; ain’t no intimidation. It’s too nice. Akron’s Hey Mavis ain’t too nice and leans heavy on its sound with a rockin’ energy, profane lyricism, and stance. There’s still the dust and sunlight and cobwebs in the cracks between the notes, but Hey Mavis could be single-handedly taking the boredom out of folk music in the spirit of the hard-core troubadour. (FD) heymavis.com Honey Island Swamp Band Musicians
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know how to find one another — like an unavoidable magnetic force. After Hurricane Katrina ripped through New Orleans, four Crescent City evacuees bumped into one another in San Francisco. The musicians were familiar with each other from working the scene back home, so they started Honey Island Swamp Band. The band’s “Bayou Americana” finds a sweet-spot common ground among Swamp Blues, New Orleans rhythm & blues, and a more western-tinged roots music. (JC) honeyislandswampband.com
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble Get together eight
sons of jazz trumpeter Phil Cohran, and of course some really cool is going to happen. The Chicago-based brass ensemble creates music ranging from hip-hop to funk, a
Cyndi Cain performs Wednesday, June 25, 7 and 9 p.m. at RG&E-LiDestri Spirit Stage, and Thursday, June 26, 8 and 10 p.m. at Squeezers Stage at The Inn on Broadway. PHOTO COURTESY XEROX ROCHESTER INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
little bit of world, and naturally, jazz. Wellcomposed, layered brass over a drum beat, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble’s music is hip, immersive, and the soundtrack for big city scenes. (JC) hypnoticbrassensemble.com Ian Shaw Brit vocal sensation, Ian Shaw has
been crowned Best Vocalist by the BBC Jazz Awards twice. The cat has a seasoned voice with arresting emotion, bravado, and a scat style so stretchy it brings to mind a swinging batch of silly putty. (FD) ianshaw.biz
Ivan Jansen Aruba Jazz Project See listing
for Wednesday, June 25.
Joey DeFrancesco Trio This très cool cat was copying Jimmy Smith verbatim when he was knee-high to a B3, and was signed to Columbia Records by the time he was 16. DeFrancesco’s name is practically synonymous with the instrument, given his lush coloring and his furious note flurry. I mean, DeFrancesco and Studiologic have developed his own signature model organ called Numa. (FD) joeydefrancesco.com Manuel Valera The leader of the vibrant
New Cuban Express, Manuel Valera is a formidable pianist who filters his Cuban musical heritage through a powerful vision of contemporary and forward-looking jazz. His latest album “Expectativas” garnered a Grammy Award nomination. The album’s title means expectations, and when Valera plays, mine are always high. (RN)
manuelvalera.com Nate Rawls A long-time trumpet
professor at the Hochstein School of Music and a Duke Ellington Award
Country Rode Motowerks 286 Macedon Center Rd. Fairport 585-421-0480
(Left) Selwyn Birchwood performs Thursday, June 26, at Abilene, 7:45 and 9:45 p.m. PHOTO COURTESY XEROX ROCHESTER INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
28 CITY JAZZ FESTIVAL PREVIEW 2014
SCHEDULE winner, Nate Rawls leads his bands — The Sound Spectrum Band and Nate Rawls Big Band — through classical, jazz, blues, big band standards, and Top 40 hits. (JC) naterawlsband.com Phaedra Kwant Phaedra Kwant is a
five-string bassist and singer-songwriter from the Netherlands who has taken her unique sound to festivals all over the world. She started out on cello at the age of 8 but switched to bass at 12. Kwant studied at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam but she honed her jazz skills through further study with Victor Bailey, Richard Bona, and Christian McBride. (RN) phaedrakwant.nl Selwyn Birchwood Band Selwyn
Brichwood got his start playing guitar for Texas bluesman Sonny Rhodes when we has 19 years old. Today, the Florida-based musician works with drummer Curtis Nutall, bassist Huff Wright, and Regi Oliver, saxophone, for pure, deep river blues. (JC) selwynbirchwood.com
12:00 p.m.: Nate Rawls Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County (FREE) 1:00 p.m.: Ian Shaw Eastman School of Music (Room 120) (FREE) 3:45 p.m.: Greece Odyssey High School Jazz Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 4:30 p.m.: Webster Thomas High School Jazz Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 5:15 p.m.: Honeoye Falls Lima High School Jazz Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 5:30 p.m.: Honey Island Swamp Band Harro East Ballroom ($20 or Club Pass) 5:45 p.m.: Manuel Valera Hatch Recital Hall ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Brian Kellock & Tommy Smith The Rochester Club ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Greater Rochester Jazz Orchestra Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: ECMS Saxology I and Saxology II Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 6:00 p.m.: Ivan Jansen Aruba Jazz Project Montage ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Joey DeFrancesco Trio Kilbourn Hall ($25 or Club Pass)
Shine The seven-piece party band Shine
has a song list a mile long. The band plays everything from 60’s to the latest Top 40 hits. This is serious business for the professional band. (JC) weareshine.com Soul Stew Marvin Gaye, James Brown, and
6:15 p.m.: The Brain Cloud Max of Eastman Place ($20 or Club Pass) 6:30 p.m.: Phaedra Kwant Xerox Auditorium ($20 or Club Pass) 6:45 p.m.: Ian Shaw Christ Church ($20 or Club Pass) 7:00 p.m.: Hey Mavis Little Theatre ($20 or Club Pass) 7:00 p.m.: Shine RG&E-LiDestri Spirit Stage (FREE) 7:15 p.m.: Soul Stew Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 7:15 p.m.: Honey Island Swamp Band Harro East Ballroom ($20 or Club Pass) 7:30 p.m.: Anders Hagberg Quartet Lutheran Church of the Reformation ($20 or Club Pass) 7:45 p.m.: Selwyn Birchwood Abilene ($20 or Club Pass) 7:45 p.m.: Manuel Valera Hatch Recital Hall ($20 or Club Pass) 8:00 p.m.: Cyndi Cain Squeezers Stage at The Inn on Broadway ($20 or Club Pass) 8:00 p.m.: Buddy Guy Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre ($40-$70) 8:30 p.m.: Hypnotic Brass Ensemble Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 8:45 p.m.: Ian Shaw Christ Church ($20 or Club Pass)
Teddy Pendergrass are no longer with us, but their music will never die as long as Soul Stew is on stage. Powered by vocalist Michael Dunston and featuring the top studio musicians in Toronto, Soul Stew will see to it that you get up offa that thing. (RN) myspace.com/torontosoulstew
9:00 p.m.: Phaedra Kwant Xerox Auditorium ($20 or Club Pass) 9:00 p.m.: Shine RG&E-LiDestri Spirit Stage (FREE) 9:15 p.m.: Hey Mavis Little Theatre ($20 or Club Pass) 9:15 p.m.: Soul Stew Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 9:30 p.m.: Anders Hagberg Quartet Lutheran Church of the Reformation ($20 or Club Pass) 9:45 p.m.: Selwyn Birchwood Abilene ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Cyndi Cain Squeezers Stage at The Inn on Broadway ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Hypnotic Brass Ensemble Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Ivan Jansen Aruba Jazz Project Montage ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Joey DeFrancesco Trio Kilbourn Hall ($25 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Brian Kellock & Tommy Smith The Rochester Club ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: The Brain Cloud Max of Eastman Place ($20 or Club Pass) 10:30 p.m.: XRIJF Nightly Jazz Session with The Bob Sneider Trio State St. Bar & Grill at the Rochester Plaza Hotel (FREE)
The Brain Cloud See listing for Wednesday,
June 25.
XRIJF Nightly Jazz Session with The Bob Sneider Trio See listing for Friday, June 20.
rochestercitynewspaper.com CITY 29
FRIDAY JUNE
27
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Bill Frisell’s Guitar In the Space Age Every
time Bill Frisell has appeared here, it’s been with his eyes on the sonic future; sounds and progressions rarely, if ever heard. This time around, he’s got his eye on the origins of his instrument. Frisell is going to explore seminal six-stringers like Chet Atkins, Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant, Link Wray, Chuck Berry, Duane Eddy, and more. Despite the material’s awesome roots, I’ve got a feeling it’ll be out there. (FD) billfrisell.com
Earth, Wind & Fire With infectious melodies,
THE PLACE
AND
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to be at during
the Jazz Fest
gorgeous harmonies, meaningful lyrics, and the occasional funky beat, Earth, Wind & Fire was the American rhythm & blues answer to the Beatles. You could hardly turn on a radio in the 1970’s without hearing great tunes like “Devotion,” “Reasons,” or “Keep Your Head To the Sky.” And when they come on the radio, odds are you’ll still turn them up today. (RN) earthwindandfire.com
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Ester Rada Taking a page from the powerful
neo-soul women of recent years — Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Jill Scott — Israeli-born Ester Rada’s voice soars over her jazz-funk and R&B tracks. With an Ethiopian heritage, pieces of diverse cultures occasionally float up through Rada’s music, making it all the more enchanting. (JC) esterrada.com Harold Danko It takes a lot more than
theoretical knowledge to become Chair of Jazz Studies & Contemporary Media at the Eastman School of Music. Harold Danko earned his jazz cred as a sideman with Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz, and the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. He also staked a claim as a composer; both Baker and Konitz recorded his wonderful tune, “Tidal Breeze.” (RN) esm.rochester.
edu/faculty/danko_harold Honey Island Swamp Band See listing for
Thursday, June 26.
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble See listing for
Thursday, June 26.
Ibrahim Electric Guitarist Niclas Knudsen
plays with brilliant technique matched by a wonderful sense of adventure. Organist Jeppe Tuxen milks the Hammond B3 for all it’s worth. And drummer Stefan Pasborg is endlessly inventive behind the set. Together they are Ibrahim Electric, Denmark’s punkspirited answer to The Bad Plus. (RN)
Experience Zero-G.
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Ibrahim Electric performs at Montage, Friday, June 27, at 6 and 10 p.m. PHOTO COURTESY XEROX ROCHESTER INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
John “Papa” Gros Band John Gros started
this affair out of musicians he met at a jam session at New Orleans’ Maple Leaf Bar. Gros picked the funkiest of the bunch to handle his take on and complement the improvisational jam and boogie of his organ. The band rocks steady with one foot in New Orleans heritage and one on the way to oblivion. (FD) papagrowsfunk.com
Marcus Miller Band Slap-happy bassist
Marcus Miller has driven the rhythm sections of R&B giants Aretha Franklin and Luther Vandross, rock icons Donald Fagen and Eric Clapton, and jazz giants Dizzy Gillespie and Wayne Shorter. He played on and produced three albums for Miles Davis and has won two Grammy Awards for his own albums. (RN) marcusmiller.com
Mark Lockheart Known for his work
with the radical, genre-stretching Loose Tubes in the 1980’s, British saxophonist Mark Lockheart has gone on to many more influential projects, such as Perfect Houseplants and Orlando Consort, as well as colabs with notables like recorder virtuoso Pamela Thorby. and Irish composer Michael O’Suilleabhain. (FD) marklockheart.co.uk
Pat LaBarbera Quartet Saxophonist Pat LaBarbera was born in Mt. Morris, New York, to a family that would produce three
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(Left) Ester Rada will perform Friday, June 27, at the East Ave. & Chestnut St. Stage, 7 p.m., and Saturday, June 28, at Unity Health System Big Tent, 8:30 and 10 p.m. PHOTO COURTESY XEROX ROCHESTER INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
SCHEDULE formidable jazz players, including drummer Joe LaBarbera and trumpeter John LaBarbera. Fresh out of Berklee College of Music, Pat LaBarbera joined the Buddy Rich Band. Influenced by John Coltrane, he toured and recorded extensively with Coltrane’s drummer, Elvin Jones. (RN) Phaedra Kwant See listing for Thursday,
June 26.
Rufus Reid Trio The names read like a “Who’s Who” of jazz: Milt Jackson, Sonny Stitt, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Freddie Hubbard. Bassist Rufus Reid played with all of them and countless others. In the late 1960’s, he started with the hard-bop giants. Through the 1970’s to the present day, Reid has adapted to the music’s changes and remained at the top. (RN) rufusreid.com The Deciders Straight out of Boulder
comes the hard-rockin’ Deciders. And its decision is to get your ass out of your seat and get down as the band puts a big twist on blues, jam, and classic rock. (FD).
reverbnation.com/boulderdeciders The Dirt Daubers Colonel J.D. Wilkes is one
of the last of the truly great Southern carnival sideshow performers. Part madman, part contortionist, Wilkes is a sight to behold. As a member of Nashville’s Legendary Shack Shakers, Wilkes’ on-stage antics were a full-on roots rock demolition derby, often resulting in the spilling of his own blood. His more recent endeavor, The Dirt Daubers, with his Rochester-born wife Jessica, is a bluegrass raveup with the same intensity, but a lot less blood. Wilkes is by far one of the best harmonica players alive. (FD) thedirtdaubers.net
The Wee Trio Vibraphonist James Westfall, bassist Dan Loomis, and drummer Jared Schonig can certainly swing with the best of them. But the group is also known for reaching well beyond jazz, recording an entire album of David Bowie music. A major force in the burgeoning Brooklyn jazz scene, The Wee Trio defies classification. (RN) theweetrio.com Vince Ercolamento Quartet Saxophonist
Vince Ercolamento has had a storied career. He’s studied with George Coleman, played with Jimmy McGriff and Bo Diddley, and performed at the Lionel Hampton Jazz club in Paris. Along with leading his own quartet, he is a performer and arranger with local band Prime Time Funk. (JC)
vinceercolamento.com XRIJF Nightly Jazz Session with The Bob Sneider Trio See listing for Friday, June 20.
12:00 p.m.: Vince Ercolamento Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County (FREE) 1:00 p.m.: Pat LaBarbera Quartet Eastman School of Music (Room 120) (FREE) 3:45 p.m.: Gates-Chili High School Jazz Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 4:30 p.m.: Pittsford Mendon High School Jazz Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 5:15 p.m.: Buffalo Academy High School Jazz Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 5:45 p.m.: Harold Danko Hatch Recital Hall ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Bill Frisell’s Guitar in the Space Age Kilbourn Hall ($25 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: ECMS Latin Jazz and Junior Jazz Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 6:00 p.m.: Pat LaBarbera Quartet The Rochester Club ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Greece Jazz Band Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Ibrahim Electric Montage ($20 or Club Pass) 6:15 p.m.: Phaedra Kwant Max of Eastman Place ($20 or Club Pass) 6:30 p.m.: Rufus Reid Trio Xerox Auditorium ($20 or Club Pass) 6:45 p.m.: Mark Lockheart Christ Church ($20 or Club Pass) 7:00 p.m.: The Wee Trio Little Theatre ($20 or Club Pass) 7:00 p.m.: Ester Rada East Ave. & Chestnut St. Stage (FREE) 7:15 p.m.: Hypnotic Brass Ensemble Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 7:30 p.m.: The Deciders Lutheran Church of the Reformation ($20 or Club Pass) 7:45 p.m.: Harold Danko Hatch Recital Hall ($20 or Club Pass) 7:45 p.m.: The Dirt Daubers Abilene ($20 or Club Pass) 8:00 p.m.: John "Papa" Gros Band Squeezers Stage at The Inn on Broadway ($20 or Club Pass) 8:00 p.m.: Earth, Wind & Fire Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre (SOLD OUT) 8:30 p.m.: Honey Island Swamp Band Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 8:45 p.m.: Mark Lockheart Christ Church ($20 or Club Pass) 9:00 p.m.: Marcus Miller Band East Ave. & Chestnut St. Stage (FREE) 9:00 p.m.: Rufus Reid Trio Xerox Auditorium ($20 or Club Pass) 9:15 p.m.: Hypnotic Brass Ensemble Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 9:15 p.m.: The Wee Trio Little Theatre ($20 or Club Pass) 9:30 p.m.: The Deciders Lutheran Church of the Reformation ($20 or Club Pass) 9:45 p.m.: The Dirt Daubers Abilene ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: John "Papa" Gros Band Squeezers Stage at The Inn on Broadway ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Pat LaBarbera Quartet The Rochester Club ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Phaedra Kwant Max of Eastman Place ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Bill Frisell’s Guitar in the Space Age Kilbourn Hall ($25 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Honey Island Swamp Band Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Ibrahim Electric Montage ($20 or Club Pass) 10:30 p.m.: XRIJF Nightly Jazz Session with The Bob Sneider Trio State St. Bar & Grill at the Rochester Plaza Hotel (FREE)
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SATURDAY JUNE
28
GEORGE
Thorogood AN D THE
DESTROYERS
[ PROFILE ] BY FRANK DE BLASE
You wanna survive in showbiz? Wanna last in this rock ‘n’ roll racket? Just listen to blues rocker George Thorogood. Eat your greens. Get some Z’s. “I have never underestimated the value of a good night’s sleep,” Thorogood says. “I asked Chuck Berry once, I said, ‘Chuck, if there’s one thing that’s the bottom line to success on any level, what is it?’ And he said, ‘George, you gotta eat right.’ So I try to eat right. I try to get as much rest as I can. I get myself in a horizontal position as often as possible.” Naps and meals aside, if it weren’t for George Thorogood, there’s a good chance you may never have heard about Bo Diddley or John Lee Hooker or Hound Dog Taylor. For the past 40-plus years, Thorogood has not only reverently shed light on these legendary artists and more, but has made their tunes his own. We all like to act a little high-tone, like a bunch of vintage aficionados, but chances are, if you grew up on rock in the 70’s on upwards to today, the first time you heard “Madison Blues” was out of Thorogood and not Elmore James. At 64, the man still gets jazzed when talking about the blues and its icons.
George Thorogood and The Destroyers performs Saturday, June 28, 9 p.m. at the City of Rochester East Avenue & Chestnut Street Stage. This show is free. Georgethorogood.com
32 CITY JAZZ FESTIVAL PREVIEW 2014
“It was the foundation of every rock band I ever — I don’t want to say idolized — liked,” he says. “Like Bo Diddley, the Rolling Stones, The Animals, The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, J. Geils — I’ll stop right there — they all started with the blues. You have to learn that blues foundation in order to be a qualified rock act. The three artists that really captured my imagination and put it in my head were John Hammond, Peter Wolf and the J. Geils Band, and Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers. I looked at those three and said, ‘They’re the ones that are doing it.’ I looked at them and said, ‘That’s it; that’s what I wanna do.’” Thorogood and his band, The Delaware Destroyers,
are sho-nuff qualified — and bonified, jack. The band has released 16 studio albums (two certified Platinum, six certified Gold) and have sold 15 million worldwide. And then there’s the live show. Thorogood is a relentless entertainer with an onstage persona that calls to mind Little Richard crossed con't, page 35
Onstage, George Thorogood could be a Little Richard crossed with Godzilla. And he’s always tweaking his act. PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY XEROX ROCHESTER INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
SCHEDULE 3:45 p.m.: MCC Jazz Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 4:30 p.m.: Webster Schroeder High School Jazz Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 5:15 p.m.: School of the Arts High School Jazz Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 5:45 p.m.: Stephanie Trick Hatch Recital Hall ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Newport Jazz Festival: Now 60 Kilbourn Hall ($25 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Rochester Metro Jazz Orchestra Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: Gomeh Barak Quintet Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 6:00 p.m.: The Deciders Montage ($20 or Club Pass) 6:00 p.m.: The Wee Trio The Rochester Club ($20 or Club Pass) 6:15 p.m.: Cyrille Aimee Max of Eastman Place ($20 or Club Pass) 6:30 p.m.: Norma Winstone Trio Xerox Auditorium ($20 or Club Pass) 6:45 p.m.: Gwilym Simcock Christ Church ($20 or Club Pass) 7:00 p.m.: The London Souls East Ave. & Chestnut St. Stage (FREE) 7:00 p.m.: Scott Feiner & Pandeiro Jazz featuring Mike Moreno Little Theatre ($20 or Club Pass) 7:00 p.m.: Prime Time Funk East Ave. & Alexander St. Stage (FREE) 7:15 p.m.: John "Papa" Gros Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 7:30 p.m.: Susanna Lutheran Church of the Reformation ($20 or Club Pass) 7:45 p.m.: Stephanie Trick Hatch Recital Hall ($20 or Club Pass) 7:45 p.m.: Chuck Mead & His Grassy Knoll Boys Abilene ($20 or Club Pass) 8:00 p.m.: Joe Beard Band Squeezers Stage at The Inn on Broadway ($20 or Club Pass) 8:30 p.m.: Ester Rada Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 8:45 p.m.: Gwilym Simcock Christ Church ($20 or Club Pass) 9:00 p.m.: Norma Winstone Trio Xerox Auditorium ($20 or Club Pass) 9:00 p.m.: Soulive East Ave. & Alexander St. Stage (FREE) 9:00 p.m.: George Thorogood and The Destroyers East Ave. & Chestnut St. Stage (FREE) 9:15 p.m.: John "Papa" Gros Band Jazz Street Stage (FREE) 9:15 p.m.: Scott Feiner & Pandeiro Jazz featuring Mike Moreno Little Theatre ($20 or Club Pass) 9:30 p.m.: Susanna Lutheran Church of the Reformation ($20 or Club Pass) 9:45 p.m.: Chuck Mead & His Grassy Knoll Boys Abilene ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Ester Rada Unity Health System Big Tent ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Cyrille Aimee Max of Eastman Place ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Newport Jazz Festival: Now 60 Kilbourn Hall ($25 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: The Wee Trio The Rochester Club ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: Joe Beard Band Squeezers Stage at The Inn on Broadway ($20 or Club Pass) 10:00 p.m.: The Deciders Montage ($20 or Club Pass) 10:30 p.m.: XRIJF Nightly Jazz Session with The Bob Sneider Trio State St. Bar & Grill at the Rochester Plaza Hotel (FREE)
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Chuck Mead & His Grassy Knoll Boys
Chuck Mead burst on the scene with the three-time Grammy-nominated retrohillbilly outfit BR549. With the band officially on hiatus, Mead has focused on a solo career and producing the Broadway hit “Million Dollar Quartet.” His latest platter, “Back at the Quonset Hut,” was recorded at what was originally known as Bradley’s Film & Recording Studios — the famed studio is the country-music equivalent to the Vatican. And these acolytes are honkytonk royalty, too. (FD) chuckmead.com
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Cyrille Aimee There ain’t nothing quite like
hearing a young artist scat … and do it right. Vocalist Cyrille Aimee is so cool — frosty actually — as she taunts and teases, wringing the juice out of each note and flirting with time signatures like a careless lover. Enchanting. (FD) cyrillemusic.com
Ester Rada See listing for Friday, June 27. George Thorogood and The Destroyers
See feature on page 32. georgethorogood.com Gwilym Simcock Gwilym Simcock has
found a way to distinguish himself in the crowded international jazz world. In composition and style, the young British pianist’s influences stretch from jazz improvisers like Keith Jarrett to classical composers like Maurice Ravel and Igor Stravinsky. (RN) gwilymsimcock.com
Joe Beard Though born and raised in
Ashland, Mississippi, Joe Beard has spent his life singing and playing the blues in Rochester. Virtually every blues artist coming through town has this legend sit in. Beard has a classic Chicago style shuffle full of tight, terse twang with his remarkably soulful voice riding on top. Baby, don’t you wanna go? (FD) facebook.com/joebeardblues
John "Papa" Gros Band See listing for
Friday, June 27.
Newport Jazz Festival: Now 60 Celebrating
the Newport Jazz Festival’s 60th anniversary, a dream-team ensemble of world-class musicians is hitting the road, spreading the festival’s jazz message. The group includes clarinetist/saxophonist Anat Cohen, vocalist/pianist Karrin Allyson, bassists Larry Grenadier, pianist Peter Martin, guitarist Mark Whitfield, trumpeter Randy Brecker, and drummer Clarence Penn. (JC) newportjazzfest.org
Norma Winstone Trio Though British jazz singer Norma Winstone began her con't, page 34 rochestercitynewspaper.com CITY 33
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career with jazz standards, she is wellknown for her experimental approach to wordless improvisation. Her gorgeous voice and touching lyricism has won countless awards over the years — including an MBE awarded in 2007. Her current trio features Italian pianist Glauco Venier and German saxophonist Klaus Gesing. (JC) normawinstone.com Prime Time Funk Prime Time Funk picks
up the pieces and pulverizes them. With its attention to funky grooves, no concern about what dancing may do to your spine, and a horn section that comes on like a brasspowered blitzkrieg, Prime Time Funk will wear you out. (FD) primetimefunk.com
Rochester Metro Jazz Orchestra If you are longing to hear the wonderful tunes made famous by the Duke Ellington Orchestra, the Count Basie Orchestra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Natalie Cole, the Rochester Metro Jazz Orchestra is the band for you. The 19-piece band, founded in 1998, fosters the preservation of big-band music so that it can be enjoyed for generations to come. (RN)
Stephanie Trick How does a classically trained pianist still in her 20’s become one of the leading proponents of stride piano and boogie-woogie, genres dating from almost a century ago? Stephanie Trick was born in St. Louis and went to college in Chicago, two cities known for early jazz prowess. And, it seems she just had a love of — and a knack for — playing the music of Fats Waller, James P. Johnson, and other bygone greats. (RN)
stephanietrick.com Susanna The delicacy in Norwegian singer Susanna’s voice makes each song she touches intensely emotional. Susanna and the Magical Orchestra — her duo with keyboardist Morten Qvenild — has released a critically-acclaimed string of albums that feature a low-key, but powerful combination of voice and organ. Take a listen to Susanna’s covers of Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and you’ll see those classics in an entirely new light. (JC) susannamagical.com
rocjazz.com
The Deciders See listing for Friday, June 27.
Scott Feiner & Pandeiro Jazz The small Brazilian hand drum known as a pandeiro is a versatile instrument, but it still took a great deal of audacity when drummer Scott Feiner decided to use only the pandeiro for percussion in his band. Surrounded by superb musicians, Feiner strikes the small drum in every imaginable way. (RN)
The London Souls New York City-based
scottfeiner.com Soulive Soulive is a 21st-century soul-jazz fusion group with a distinctive hip-hoptinged style. They’ve got the funk and they know how to use it. A recent album, “Rubber Soulive,” takes the infectious drumguitar-organ sound on a journey to meet the Beatles. The group’s newest, “Spark!,” is a tribute to soul-jazz legend Melvin Sparks. (RN) royalfamilyrecords.com/soulive
rock band The London Souls list bands like Led Zeppelin, Cream, and The Beatles as its influences — and so does every other modern blues-tinged rock band. But what makes The London Souls unique is how well it would fit into the late-60’s/ early-70’s hard rock world. The band isn’t just influenced by the guitar work of Jimi Hendrix, or Ginger Baker’s drumming, it sounds like The London Souls was a band in the same era, and then jammed with these greats when they played New York. (JC) thelondonsouls.com
The Wee Trio See listing for Friday, June 27. XRIJF Nightly Jazz Session with The Bob Sneider Trio See listing for Friday, June 20.
Soulive will perform Saturday, June 28, at East Ave. & Alexander St. Stage, 9 p.m. PHOTO COURTESY XEROX ROCHESTER INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
34 CITY JAZZ FESTIVAL PREVIEW 2014
George Thorogood shows no sign of slowing down. There’re still plenty of
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houses to be rocked. “Some people want to rest on their laurels,” he says. “And I say, ‘What if you have no laurels?’ I have to keep tweaking my act and make it better than it ever was. That’s how you stay in business.” Tweaking, eating right, plenty of sleep, got it. When it’s all over, 100 years from now, what’ll they say? Thorogood sums up his legacy: “Now there’s a guy who got the job done.”
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with Godzilla. His big, bad guitar fills the room with its sheer slide and a throaty growl akin to his voice. “Our show is pretty versatile,” says Thorogood. “We do a lot of stuff. When we do ‘Born To Be Bad,’ that’s like Steppenwolf. When we do ‘Who Do You Love?’ that’s John Hammond and Bo Diddley. When we do ‘Night Time,’ that’s J. Geils all the way. When we do ‘I Drink Alone,’ that’s me. ‘One Bourbon, One Scotch, and One Beer,’ that’s John Lee Hooker. ‘Cocaine Blues’ is Johnny Cash mixed in with a little Gramm Parsons. And our show has all that going for us. We’re a smorgasbord of Americana and American rock ‘n’ roll from 1948 to 1968.” No one else is doing it, either. No one new anyway, according to Thorogood. He is not impressed with today’s crop. There’s nobody new that excites him. “No, there isn’t,” he says. “There’s B.B. King, there’s Buddy Guy, John Hammond, Charlie Musselwhite: anything outside of that is pretty much an interpretation of the blues. You’ve got to understand, my first gig was with Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. My second was with Robert Lockwood Jr., then Hound Dog Taylor, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Howlin’ Wolf. I came in at the eleventh hour of the real blue thing. After that I said, ‘That’s it, man.’ The rest is an interpretation of the blues; it’s not the real blues.”
CITY’s
GEORGE
NEW EVERY MORNING.
con't from page 32
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36 CITY JAZZ FESTIVAL PREVIEW 2014