Jazz Fest is music lover's dream come true

Tom Ineck

NEW ORLEANS—Four days at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival seem to fly by as in a hallucinatory dream, with alternating flashes of sounds, colors and the enticing aromas of Louisiana cooking.

Among the essential ingredients in Jazz Fest’s musical gumbo are traditional jazz, modern jazz, blues, gospel, Cajun and zydeco. The Mardi Gras Indians display their beaded and feathered, hand-crafted costumes in rainbow hues, emphasized even more as they strut and chant on stage and throughout the fairgrounds. When hunger beckons, dozens of vendors are ready to serve up the regional and international favorites. But it is the music that makes Jazz Fest so memorable and unique.

To take full advantage of the mind-boggling array of artists performing simultaneously at 12 stages from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., the intrepid music-lover maps out the day in detail, but always leaves room for serendipity.

On April 29, we began our Jazz Fest adventure in the Blues Tent with Coco Robicheaux and the Swamp Monsters. The long-time Louisiana blues singer delivers a visceral punch with his pungent New Orleans patois, a sound that can be heard nowhere but here, on tunes like “Walkin’ with the Spirit of Love,” and the funky “Street Connection.” As Robicheaux said at one point, “They were draining the bayou and they came up with us!”

Kirk Joseph’s Backyard Groove and Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk delivered back-to-back sets to good crowds at the Acura Stage, one of the festival’s two large outdoor venues. The latter band was especially funky, playing “Turn This Thing Around” and “Everybody Wants Some.”

After a couple of hours in the sun, we retreated to the Allison Miner Music Heritage Stage inside the large grandstand, where a local deejay was interviewing jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater. During their relaxed, intimate conversation, she spoke of Nancy Wilson’s early influence on her, her four years at the Village Vanguard with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, and later work with Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon and Dizzy Gillespie. Perhaps most interesting was her commitment to a non-music activity, as United Nations goodwill ambassador for food and agriculture, working in Senegal.

Shifting from the serious to the ludicrous, we joined the swarming hordes en route to the Gentilly Stage to hear Steve Martin perform on banjo with the Steep Canyon Rangers. The set combined humor with straight-ahead bluegrass virtuosity, illustrating Martin’s own considerable technique as composer and instrumentalist in the wake of his 2009 Grammy-winning bluegrass CD “The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo.”

Selections from that release included “Daddy Played the Banjo,” a tune Martin co-wrote with Randy Scruggs, “Hoedown at Alice’s” and “Wally on the Run,” written for his dog. As a teaser for Martin’s next bluegrass project, they performed the title track, “Jubilation Day.” From the lighter side of life came Martin originals “Let’s Keep the Minimum Wage Right Where She’s At,” the hilarious “Atheists Ain’t Got No Songs,” and the closer, a bluesy take on his 1970s hit “King Tut.”

The day ended sublimely underneath the WWOZ Jazz Tent, where Dee Dee Bridgewater and her band paid loving homage to Billie Holiday. Pianist and arranger Edsel Gomez was joined by Craig Handy on saxophones and flute, bassist Kenny Davis and drummer Gregory Hutchinson on such tunes as “Lady Sings the Blues,” “Lover Man,” and “Don’t Explain.” Edsel’s arrangement of “Them There Eyes” drove the tune with an infectious New Orleans rhythm that inspired Bridgewater to a vocal “trombone” solo as she traded fours with Handy on tenor sax. Bridgewater’s lusty and rambunctious “Billie’s Blues” revealed the stylistic differences between her and the more subtle Holiday. “My Mother’s Son-in-Law,” “A Foggy Day,” and a wonderful version of “God Bless the Child” were followed by the closer, “Miss Brown to You.”

One of the natural hazards of having limited space in which to erect so many stages is that the listener is occasionally distracted by sound “bleeding” from adjacent venues. In this case, Bridgewater’s performance was impaired by the rock roar of both Widespread Panic at the Acura Stage and Blues Traveler at the nearby Blues Tent.

Friday began at the WWOZ Jazz Tent with the idea of staking out our territory and avoiding a claustrophobic crowd like the one we had to contend with at the Steve Martin concert. Aretha Franklin’s cancellation made that easier, since we wouldn’t have to leave the comfort of the tent to see her. The logistics and psychology of Jazz Fest force some tough choices, and the fewer decisions the better off you are.  

The Julliard Jazz Ensemble delivered a finely-calibrated performance of mostly original tunes. Next, Kent Jordan, on flute and piccolo, led a group with a strong African jazz influence, performing a couple of tunes by the late South African pianist and saxophonist Bheki Mseleku. They also rendered fine interpretations of “Out of This World,” “Feelin’ Good” and Chick Corea’s “Spain.” After more than 30 years together, Astral Project can still deliver, as the quartet showed in their riveting performance of original tunes like “Voodoo Bop,” “McCoy” and “Lauren Z.” We left before the Nicholas Payton Sextet had finished its somewhat disappointing set of fusion jazz.

Friday also included brief side trips to the Peoples Health Economy Hall Tent for Lars Edegran and the New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra and to the Sheraton New Orleans Fais Do-Do Stage for Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, one of the most popular exemplars of the Cajun folk tradition.

I was determined to pace myself Saturday for the day’s final act at the Gentilly Stage, guitar legend Jeff Beck. So again I spent much of the day in tent seating, beginning at Economy Hall with Connie Jones and the Crescent City Jazz Band. A trumpeter, cornetist and singer, Jones and his nine-piece outfit took listeners through a trad-jazz history lesson that included “Savoy Blues” from Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five period, Jelly Roll Morton’s “Wolverine Blues” and “Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans?” which he dedicated to legendary clarinetist Pete Fountain. The New Leviathan Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra followed with authentic arrangements of traditional popular music from the turn of the last century, performed by an ensemble of some 20 seated musicians in matching white, navel-style uniforms and playing trumpets, saxophones, clarinets, trombones, tuba, guitar, banjo, piano, violins, cello, drums and a Theremin!

Over at the blues tent, the blind singer-guitarist Bryan Lee and the Blues Power Band, who replaced an ailing Mem Shannon, was wailing through “TV Mama,” while Germaine Bazzle was giving some lessons in New Orleans jazz vocal technique at the WWOZ tent, where she crooned “My Foolish Heart,” scatted through the Basie standard “Shiny Stockings,” and went uptempo for Cole Porter’s “It’s Allright with Me.”

I eventually settled in to the WWOZ tent for a couple of highly anticipated acts—Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band and The Allen Toussaint Jazzity Project. The Fellowship Band has been one of our favorites here at the Berman foundation since we covered them at the 1998 Kansas City International Jazz Festival. After two remarkable Blue Note recordings in the late 1990s, the seven-piece band went on hiatus for nearly a decade, finally reforming under the leadership of drummer Blade for 2008’s equally compelling “Season of Changes.” Pedal steel guitar had been dropped from the unusual lineup, but the group retained its idiosyncratic sound with electric guitar, two reed instruments, piano, bass and drums.

At Jazz Fest, the group had been further altered with trumpeter Antoine Drye replacing the guitar. The three-horn front line of Melvin Butler, Myron Walden and Drye was inspired, trading off soaring, squalling solos as Blade urged them on with his thrashing drum attack and pianist Jon Cowherd and bassist Chris Thomas added to the deep harmonic tapestry. The Fellowship Band continues to communicate on a very high level with the audience, despite the absence of any stage commentary. The hour-long set was virtually an unannounced suite of tunes that alternately surged in intensity and waned in spiritual contemplation.

Toussaint’s jazzy set was weighted heavily with tunes from his brilliant 2009 tribute to New Orleans, “The Bright Mississippi,” the first release in 10 years for the legendary R&B composer, arranger, producer, pianist and singer. Astral Project guitarist Steve Masakowski was among the prominent soloists featured on such tunes as Django Reinhardt’s “Blue Drag,” Armstrong’s “West End Blues,” “Egyptian Fantasy,” “St. James Infirmary” and the ballad “Long, Long Journey,” on which Toussaint sang the mournful lyric, “when the river stops flowing and the trees lay down and die.” It brought to mind another recent Toussaint project, his 2006 collaboration with Elvis Costello on “The River in Reverse,” a recording to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina. 

Finally, the moment had arrived. I made my way across the fairgrounds to the Gentilly Stage, where Jeff Beck would soon appear with his current touring band—Jason Rebello on assorted keyboards, Rhonda Smith on bass and Narada Michael Walden on drums. He would allow credentialed photographers front-stage access for the first three tunes only, so we jockeyed and jostled for the best positions and started firing. It was somewhat difficult to concentrate on the work at hand while being aurally blasted and awestruck by the sheer volume and technical virtuosity of this master of the Stratocaster as he launched into the instrumental “Led Boots,” from the 1976 masterpiece “Wired.”

Over the course of the next hour, Beck rolled out a wide range of material, approximating a career retrospective. He played an instrumental version of “People Get Ready,” which was originally sung by Rod Stewart on 1985’s mediocre crossover attempt “Flash.” Smith took the vocal part on Beck’s revamped, supercharged version of the blues classic “Rollin’ and Tumblin’,” and Beck nailed the stop-time fretting of “Big Block,” from 1989’s “Guitar Shop.” Delving into the 1960s, he pulled out a rollicking cover of Sly Stone’s “I Want to Take You Higher,” and treated Lennon and McCartney’s “A Day in the Life” with grace and respect.

He also introduced several numbers from his new release, “Emotion and Commotion.” Those included an ecstatic “Over the Rainbow,” played by Beck as though mournfully vocalizing with quavering tremolo, with Smith on acoustic bass and Rebello on keys. For an encore, Beck slung a Les Paul guitar over his shoulder and reeled off a swinging and virtuosic “How High the Moon,” first performed by Beck to great acclaim during a Grammy Awards tribute to the late, influential guitarist and inventor earlier this year. This time, the vocals came eerily from the original tapes of Les Paul and Mary Ford, with Rebello switching from keys to rhythm guitar.

Beck concluded with the epic “Nessun Dorma (None Shall Sleep),” a Puccini aria featured on the new CD. Rebello contributed synthesized strings, Smith bowed the bass and Walden used soft mallets. The tune’s inherent melodrama is perfectly suited to the guitarist’s soaring, pleading and lyrical attack. For effect, he dropped to his knees for the final devastating note.

As befitting the final day, Sunday was filled with praise and thanks, not just for surviving another Jazz Fest but for the fact that such music exists in the world and that New Orleans provides an annual venue for it. To avoid the morning downpour, we huddled in the gospel tent and listened to the Zulu Male Ensemble, a choir of more than 20 male voices associated with the 101-year-old Zulu Aid and Pleasure Club, another New Orleans tradition. With additional support from organ, trumpet, bass, piano, drums, congas and washboard, they raised the tent roof with “Down by the Riverside,” “I’ll Fly Away” and “When the Saints go Marching In.”

Singer and choir director Jo “Cool” Davis had help from a brass section of three tenors and two trumpets, piano, organ, bass and drums as he rocked the gospel with arrangements of “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” “I Found Jesus (and I’m Glad),” “I’ll Fly Away,” “Over in the Glory Land,” “Saints,” “Riverside” and a tribute to Sam Cooke.

The rain let up enough for us to scurry over to the trad-jazz tent for the Dukes of Dixieland, a Crescent City fixture for more than 30 years. Driven by the skillful playing of a female drummer, they ran through favorites like “Hindustan,” “St. James Infirmary,” “(Back Home Again In) Indiana,” “Little Rock Getaway,” “Milk Cow Blues,” and “That’s a Plenty.”

We settled into the modern jazz tent for consecutive afternoon sets by trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis & the Uptown Jazz Orchestra and his father, pianist Ellis Marsalis, fronting a quartet that also featured youngest son, Jason, on drums. Co-founded by Delfeayo and Ellis in 2008, the Uptown Orchestra covers New Orleans classics and standards by Ellington, Basie and others. By contrast, the Marsalis quartet tends toward more modern fare.

While standing in a huge muddy field with thousands of other fans waiting for Van Morrison to take the stage, the skies began to open with rain again, and I concluded that I was too old for Woodstock revisited. Instead, we retreated to the gospel tent for The Davell Crawford Singers, who gave us the strength and inspiration to head for the festival exit in praise and thanks.

Yes, I had missed a few artists I had hoped to see—the all-star Wayne Shorter Quartet, Irma Thomas, BeauSoleil, the subdudes, Stanley Clarke Band, Van Morrison—but the weekend also had delivered on the perennial Jazz Fest promise. Indeed, the good times did roll! 

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By Tom Ineck

HEALDSBURG, Calif.—Having first experienced the small-town ambiance and world-class performances of the Healdsburg Jazz Festival in 2009, I had to return for the second half of this year’s edition to see if my initial experience was just a lucky fluke. It wasn’t. The 12^th annual event was just as memorable as the previous one.

For the two-week festival, running June 4-13, artistic director Jessica Felix again had assembled an eclectic lineup of musicians, even reprising the popular Brazilian concert, which this year featured Oscar Castro-Neves, Leny Andrade, Romero Lubambo and Claudia Villela. But it was the second week’s series of concerts that most intrigued me—George Cables Trio, Esperanza Spaulding, Charlie Haden with Ravi Coltrane and Geri Allen, and a “Keepers of the Flame” finale including Jason Moran and the Bandwagon with special guest Bill Frisell, Gretchen Parlato Group with Taylor Eigsti, and the Dafnis Prieto Quartet with Peter Apfelbaum. The first three performances were booked at the quaint Raven Theater in downtown Healdsburg, which holds just a few hundred people in its intimate confines. The finale, as always, was held outdoors at the Rodney Strong vineyards.

A wonderful pianist and a beautiful human being, Cables is generally underappreciated for his many contributions to the jazz legacy over the decades, but not at the Healdsburg festival, where he is a return favorite. For his June 9 performance at the Raven, he was ably accompanied by bassist Peter Barshay and drummer Jaz Sawyer. The trio’s repertoire included sterling renditions ranging from Dizzy Gillespie’s “Con Alma” to the standard “Up Jumped Spring” and Cables’ own composition “Helen’s Song.” Singer Shea Breaux Wells joined the trio for “Softly, As In a Morning Sunrise,” an Annie Ross novelty called “A Mouse Named Jackie,” “I Remember Clifford,” an original called “Dark Matters,” Tim Buckley’s “Song to the Siren,” and “Caravan.” While she possessed a well-trained voice and demonstrated the ability to leap several octaves at a single bound, she failed to give “Caravan” the requisite swing. On the other hand, she delivered the classic Buckley tune with great skill and emotion.

Opening the evening’s festivities with an adventurous set was German-born Healdsburg resident guitarist Christian Foley-Beining, with veteran bassist Chris Amberger, drummer Lorca Hart and special guest Paul McCandless of the group Oregon. Wayne Shorter’s “Black Nile” got a nice treatment with McCandless on tenor sax. He switched to soprano sax for a Latin-tinged Foley-Beining original and an intriguing new arrangement of Lennon and McCartney’s “We Can Work It Out.” Showing his versatility and distinctive sound, McCandless employed the bass clarinet on the guitarist’s ballad “Four Good Friends.” Foley-Beining himself proved a capable player, drawing on influences as diverse as Wes Montgomery and Pat Metheny.

Two nights later, the Raven was packed for the return of Esperanza Spalding, who made a big splash at the 2009 festival. Rising from obscurity with her 2008 recording, “Esperanza,” the 25-year-old bassist, singer, composer and bandleader is the latest “celebrity” jazz artist, but unlike others she deserves much of the hype. Drawing heavily from the infectious rhythms and melodic lyricism of Brazilian samba and Argentine tango, Spalding melds her classical training with the urban sounds of funk, mainstream jazz and even an occasional foray into free jazz. Her excellent band also featured pianist Leo Genovese, guitarist Ricardo Vogt and drummer Justin Brown. Their willingness and ability to shift gears at a moment’s notice was matched by their genuine enjoyment, as they exchanged smiles and laughter throughout the performance. 

Among her own compositions, Spalding also sprinkled unexpected tributes to Abbey Lincoln, Wayne Shorter and even Eric Dolphy. Similarly, she took a new take on the old standard “Let’s Fall in Love” and introduced a couple of new originals, including “Cinnamon Dreams.”

Finally, she demonstrated her extraordinary range and scatting ability by dividing the audience for a “sing-along.” Of course, she left everyone struggling in her wake as they attempted to mimic her rhythmic, virtuosic vocalese.

As an opening act for Spalding, popular local drummer and educator Tacuma King led his Children’s Percussion Workshop students in a spirited, audience-pleasing performance pairing the master with his young protégés. Using traditional African drums and techniques, they demonstrated polyrhythmic complexity and communal teamwork with a sense of good-natured competitiveness.  

By comparison, Saturday evening’s headlining concert by bassist Charlie Haden, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane and pianist Geri Allen was solemn and profoundly engaging. On the occasion of Allen’s 53^rd birthday, the audience greeted her with a round of applause as she took the stage for a couple of solo tunes dedicated to the late keyboard great Hank Jones, who died May 16. She was discreetly joined by Coltrane on tenor sax, then Haden on bass as the trio exhibited a telepathic ability to communicate and respond with deep feeling in a performance that included bop standards, originals, folk melodies and even a rendition of the 1920s Irving Berlin tune “What’ll I Do?”

The Healdsburg High School Jazz Band opened with a set of familiar tunes that provided an opportunity for soloists to prove that even a city of just 15,000 people can produce a jazz education curriculum that produces considerable talent. The young guitarist showed special promise, both in his leadership capacity and in his chording and solo improvisation.  

As always, the festival went al fresco on its final day, taking residence on the green at the lovely Rodney Strong Vineyards outside of town. This year, Sunday was a relative broiler for the characteristically mild Northern California, climbing to over 90 degrees by late afternoon.

Considering the intense heat, the day’s theme of “Keepers of the Flame” seemed especially apt. But the theme was intended to convey the sense that some contemporary jazz artists are preserving and distilling the long legacy of the music while crafting a unique and personal sound in the moment and suggesting where jazz might be headed.

Multi-instrumentalist Peter Apfelbaum has always marched to a different drummer. His legendary Hieroglyphics Ensemble drew on an array of world music influences from West Africa to the Caribbean, as well as the urban American sounds of funk, blues, rock and mainstream jazz. Kicking off the “Keepers of the Flame” concert as a featured member of the Dafnis Prieto Si O Si Quartet, Apfelbaum was among like-minded progressives of a decidedly Afro-Cuban bent.

Since his arrival on the New York City jazz scene in 1999, Prieto has been a highly sought-after drummer, working in ensembles led by Don Byron, Steve Coleman, Henry Threadgill and Apfelbaum. The Cuban possesses a virtuosic grasp of polyrhythmic percussion that was on full display for the opening performance at Rodney Strong. Rounding out the quartet were the equally impressive Cuban pianist Manuel Valera and a German bassist named Johannes Vandenmuller.

Much of the Si O Si Quartet’s program was taken from their 2009 release, “Live at Jazz Standard NYC,” including the Prieto compositions “Si o Si,” “Claveteo,” “Seven by Seven,” “Ilu-Uli,” and “Trio Absolute.” The time signatures were typically mind-boggling in their degree of difficulty, with Prieto frequently dividing and subdividing the beat, but the band never wavered or hesitated. Their ability to mix complexity with a sense of fun reminded me of Bill Bruford’s Earthworks, another drummer-led quartet with the same instrumentation. Apfelbaum usually alternated between tenor and soprano saxophones, but “Seven by Seven” featured him and Valera hauntingly harmonizing on melodicas. In his percussive, driving style and dazzling technique, Valera at times reminded the listener of Gonzalo Rubalcaba. The leader introduced “Trio Absolute” with an amazing vocalized percussion interlude that epitomized his rare sense of rhythm.

In need of some shade and a cold beverage, I left the concert grounds during the performance by the Gretchen Parlato Group, which also featured young pianist Taylor Eigsti. A Los Angeles native, Parlato won the 2004 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition, and has received raves for her debut recording.

After conserving my energy and reviving myself, I was prepared for headliners Jason Moran and the Bandwagon, a trio that has remained intact for a decade, a rare occurrence in today’s competitive jazz world. In that time, Moran has established himself as one of the most original and adventurous pianists in modern music, while drawing on past influences like Thelonious Monk, Jaki Byard and even Cecil Taylor. Bassist Tarus Mateen and drummer Nasheet Waits have proven themselves the perfect foils for Moran’s expression. However, it was the added attraction that most intrigued me. Billed as the trio’s special guest, guitarist Bill Frisell seemed an odd choice playing “second fiddle” to a well-established group sound.

To some extent, that’s exactly the role the eclectic and prolific improviser played, preferring to create electronic background esthetics and trigger looped phrases rather than simply cutting loose on guitar. Not surprising, the piano trio communicated among themselves with the hyper-sensitivity of a threesome that has performed and recorded for 10 years.

Frisell was left to fill in the spaces, which he did with typical creativity and humility, harmonizing with subtle, but interesting chords progressions and occasional single-note phrases. Still, those of us who also admire his ability to create intensifying heat in rock-style attacks were hungry for more. As one impatient listener shouted near the end of the performance, “Take off the handcuffs!”

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By Grace Sankey-Berman

SIOUX CITY, Iowa—It was Saturday July 3. Eight of us packed into two cars and with great anticipation for a good time we headed to Sioux City to see Carlos Santana and Steve Winwood in concert. The line up looked great and the price was right—free!

On our way we stopped for breakfast at the busy and friendly Penny’s Diner in Missouri Valley, Iowa. I enjoyed the décor. The pictures on the wall were of old Hollywood and old magazine advertisements. They also had photos of celebrities who had dined there, one of whom was Ziggy Marley. We even ventured into the town’s visitors center for some fresh cherry juice.

This was the 20^th anniversary of the Saturday in the Park Music Festival at Grandview Park. In 1991, Dave Bernstein, Adam Feiges and Tom Grueskin co-founded the festival with the goal of just getting a headliner. It was so successful that 5,000 people showed up and had a riot. They never looked back. Over the years the festival grew, headlining acts like the Neville Brothers, and B.B. King among others. This year was no exception with Santana—the main act in 1994—returning for an encore performance in front of an estimated crowd of 25,000-30,000.

The demographic ranged from babies to boomers, hipster to seniors and everything in between, all in seeming harmony. We sat next to some young men with the best-behaved puppy I’ve ever seen, a 3½-month-old alpha bulldog. For hours, despite the hot and humid temperatures, he lay quietly under a chair, occasionally looking around to see what the excitement was about, taking a drink of water and going back to sleep.

The festival had the usual variety of food, from Mexican to Greek, BBQ, funnel cakes, turkey drumsticks, pizza and of course the beer garden, of which we gladly partook before settling down to enjoy the music.

The festival opened at 12:05 p.m. with punk rocker Ron Emory, followed by South Dakota’s Native American blues rockers Indigenous, and Cajun fiddler Amanda Shaw. Then came an impressive California band called Fitz & the Tantrums. They were dressed in black and white like the Blues Brothers. This band had a combustible old-sounding style, with Motown influence. Yet it was refreshingly new, a sound that was hard to ignore. It was especially unique because the band did not have any guitars and I did not miss it.

Next up was Michael Franti & Spearhead. Franti was very interactive with the audience, running into the crowd barefoot—he has been shoeless for 10 years!—in a very hilly landscape while singing. He is obviously in very good shape from years of practicing yoga. His top 40 pop hit “Say Hey” got the crowd singing a long, clapping and dancing.

By this time, the excitement was building in anticipation of Steve Winwood, so we moved closer to the stage. I was in line for water as Winwood took the stage, and I heard his voice blaring from speakers, singing his hit “Gimme Some Lovin'.” I got my water as soon as I could and headed back to the spot my girlfriends Ruthann Nahorny and Elizabeth Nelson were holding for me. The fans were whistling and yelling, “Steve, we love you.” Winwood looked good and sounded even better.

He did not disappoint. The five-piece band went right to work playing song after song, Winwood alternating between organ and guitar. Their sound was clean and tight. He did not say much; it was all about the music.

I gave up my spot near the stage because I could no longer stand the cloud of smoke that kept coming. It gave me a chance to hydrate and get ready for the main act—Carlos Santana!

Santana’s band was 10 men strong, with two horn players, two sets of congas and a powerful, master drummer who played relentlessly—with a sound so deep and hypnotic it took my breath away—two more on guitar and two on vocals. Santana did what he does best, seducing the crowd with his distinctive guitar sound. From “Black Magic Woman” to “Samba Pa Ti,” he kept the crowd on their feet.

"This is what we tried to do at Woodstock!” Santana said. Towards the end he sat down to play some slow tunes, seamlessly transitioning from his Latin rhythms to a more contemplative and jazzy style. The Grammy-winning legend also chimed in on the socio-political issues of the day, from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to legalization of marijuana, Fox News and the new immigration law in Arizona. But most important, he took the audience on an unforgettable musical journey that spanned most of his career and left us wanting more.

The festival ended with a big bang of fireworks….how appropriate.

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By Tom Ineck

LINCOLN, Neb.—It was sunny and mild on the evening of June 15, ideal weather for Angela Hagenbach and her sextet as they took the stage for the third weekly concert at Jazz in June. The audience of several thousand responded with enthusiasm to a performance emphasizing the singer’s considerable range and her penchant for Latin rhythms.

The two-hour concert also drew heavily from Hagenbach’s current release, a tribute to the tunes of Johnny Mandel, Michel Legrand and Henry Mancini called “The Way They Make Me Feel.” Her debut on Resonance Records, it is likely to garner more well-deserved attention nationwide than any of her previous indie releases.

Hagenbach was backed by her longtime rhythm section, consisting of Roger Wilder on piano, Steve Rigazzi on bass and Doug Auwarter on drums. Guitarist Danny Embrey is always a tasteful addition, especially as a singer’s accompanist, having worked with Karrin Allyson for many years. But it was tenor saxophonist Matt Otto who provided most of the surprises. A recent migrant from the West Coast to Kansas City, he demonstrated admirable technique, a sumptuously breathy and romantic tone, and a rare sense of restraint.

Although the opener, “It Had Better Be Tonight,” is a Mancini composition, it does not appear on the new CD. Hagenbach recorded it for a 2001 release called “Weaver of Dreams.” It still sounded fresh in the hands of the versatile singer and her Kansas City cohorts. Likewise, Legrand’s “Watch What Happens” is from a previous recording, 2004’s “Poetry of Love.” Embrey took his first turn in the spotlight with a beautiful lilting solo.

The band went uptempo with Legrand’s “Old Lovers,” allowing Otto his first solo and setting up a duo teaming Hagenbach and Otto in unison. From the new release came Mandel’s lively Brazilian romp “Cinnamon and Clove,” a great vehicle for Wilder’s contrapuntal lines and Embrey’s imaginative guitar solo. Taken as a mid-tempo swinger, “Pennies From Heaven” featured an Otto solo reminiscent of Stan Getz.

Rigazzi switched to electric bass for a funky rendition of Gershwin’s “Summertime” that had everyone trading four-bar breaks with Hagenbach’s r&b-influenced vocals. The singer demonstrated her lithe scatting technique on a fast-paced “You Do Something to Me,” also from her CD “Weaver of Dreams.”

The second half opened with a spirited version of “Bye Bye Country Boy,” a tribute to the composer, the late singer Blossom Dearie. Returning to the new CD and the rhythms of Brazil, Hagenbach launched into a smooth bossa nova arrangement of Mandel’s “Quietly There,” which again featured a wonderful tenor solo by Otto. She reached back to 1994 for her take on the Rodgers and Hammerstein tune “The Sweetest Sounds,” which appeared on her CD “Come Fly with Me.”

Chick Corea’s “You’re Everything” was an interesting choice. Dedicated to the Jazz in June audience, it was the perfect setting for Hagenbach’s sultry lower range and Wilder’s skillful improvisations on the Yamaha baby grand, an electric model that is, no doubt, easier to keep in tune at an outdoor concert than its acoustic counterpart.

The Kern standard “Yesterdays” provided another chance for Hagenbach and Otto to join in a duet. The singer returned to the “Poetry of Love” CD for the standard “Never Let Me Go.” Recorded in 2004 with saxophonist Jimmy Heath, it proved a good fit for Otto’s tenor. Hagenbach finished with a return to Brazil for Jobim’s classic “Agua de Beber,” also from her debut release “Come Fly with Me.” The rhythmic tour de force was a workout for the whole band and provided Otto with another opportunity to shine.

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By Tom Ineck

LINCOLN, Neb.—The Jazz in June concert series began its 2010 season with a washout, as severe thunderstorms kept thousands of fans at home on June 1 and sent about 300 scurrying for the relative comfort of the Sheldon Museum of Art auditorium to hear the Darryl White Group.

The lucky few who braved the elements were rewarded with a stunning performance of originals and standards over two long sets. Trumpeter White and most of his cohorts are well known to Jazz in June regulars, having played there just two years ago. Among the usual suspects were pianist Jeff Jenkins, bassist Craig Akins, drummer Brandon Draper and conguero Michael Pujado, who arrived in time for the second set only.

The single unfamiliar face was that of saxophonist Dick Oatts, who is best known for his work with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra and the fusion group Flim & the BB’s. Equally adept on alto and soprano saxophones, he repeatedly illustrated his superb technique and penchant for weaving intricate variations on a theme. Just a few minutes into the opener, his tribute to Joe Henderson called “Owe Joe,” he was confidently trading convoluted lines with Draper, an adventurous, all-around percussionist who always welcomes a good challenge.

On “Ancient Memories,” the title track of his debut CD of a decade ago, White displayed his trademark warm tone on flugelhorn, making fluid octave leaps before passing it off to Oatts for an alto solo with sensitive accompaniment by Jenkins, Akins and Draper, who kept time on tambourine. The title track from Freddie Hubbard’s 1978 release “Super Blue” had White pairing off with Oatts on soprano. Each took a confident solo, with White reaching high, sustained notes in the manner of the composer.

Oatts introduced the next piece as a tune based on the standard “What’s New.” He hinted at the original melody during his solo introduction on alto sax, and then fully engaged the changes with White joining him on flugelhorn, followed by a lyrical bass solo. Flugelhorn and piano joined company for a beautiful balladic opening to “Amazing Grace,” which soon went uptempo with White switching to trumpet and Oatts on alto sax. Oatts’ solo was inspired, deftly voicing unusual harmonic variations on this well-worn tune.

By request, White opened the second half of the concert with an unusual choice, “O Magnum Mysterium,” a choral piece by modern classical composer Morten Lauridsen. With trumpet and piano only, the melody had a haunting, elegiac quality that was warmly received, despite its questionable inclusion in a jazz set list. More suited for the occasion was Kenny Garrett’s “2 Step,” which included a wonderful, searching piano solo, followed by Oatts with a keening statement on alto sax. Pujado added considerable rhythmic heat on congas. From the bop songbook came Hank Mobley’s bluesy “This I Dig of You,” beginning with a piano-bass vamp leading to a statement of the melody on flugelhorn and alto sax. The swinging uptempo nature of the piece inspired outstanding solos by both White and Oatts.

Draper bore down on the New Orleans street beat for a rousing rendition of “When the Saints Go Marching In.” At one point, the rhythm section dropped out for some polyphonic playtime on trumpet, alto sax and piano. A standing ovation brought the band back for another Oatts composition, “King Henry.” White allowed the composer to front the band for a couple of minutes, returning for a trumpet solo, followed by Oatts quoting from “If I Only Had a Brain.” Draper and Pujado also had ample space to mix it up, raising the excitement level and sending everyone home a little dampened by the rain, but certainly not dejected.   

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By Tom Ineck

LINCOLN, Neb.—In the first attempt to sell its concert series directly to the Lincoln market, the Brownville Concert Hall scored an artistic success May 13 by presenting veteran cabaret singer Marilyn Maye and her sterling trio at the lush, downtown Rococo Theatre.

Series organizers are celebrating the 20^th year of bringing world-class music to the tiny Missouri River village—Nebraska’s oldest town—and they hope the ambitious outreach effort will encourage music lovers in the state’s two largest urban areas to make future trips to Brownville. With that in mind, they are staging several concerts in Lincoln and Omaha this year, in addition to the regular season at their home venue, a beautifully restored church with excellent acoustics.

I hadn’t seen Maye perform for many years and feared that her considerable vocal technique, vivacity and magnetic stage presence might have declined with age. I needn’t have worried. At 82, she proved herself a show-biz trouper of the old school, running through dozens of tunes from the Great American Songbook without dropping a lyric, telling humorous stories and even demonstrating a couple of high kicks during her performance.

Her accompanists were equally adept at shifting gears from ballads to jazzy swingers. New York-based pianist Tedd Firth also served as music director and arranger. As always, Kansas City bassist Gerald Spaits provided solid grounding and a sure sense of harmony. Drummer Jim Eklof, who has been a Maye sideman for nearly 50 years, delivers clockwork time-keeping and a flair for dramatic punctuation.

Maye is a master at thematic development in the context of a single performance. From a rainbow-themed medley that included “Look to the Rainbow,” “Over the Rainbow” and “The Rainbow Connection,” she delved into the blues with “I Love Being Here with You” Then she was off on an astounding round of Cole Porter masterpieces—“I Concentrate on You,” “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “It’s Allright with Me,” “It’s Just One of Those Things,” “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” and “All of You”—all delivered with emotional conviction and jazzy self-assurance.

But it was Johnny Mercer’s lyrical genius that received the most attention, as Maye paid homage with “Day In, Day Out,” “Too Marvelous for Words,” “You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby,” “Jeepers Creepers,” “I’m Old-Fashioned,” “Clear Out of This World,” “That Old Black Magic,” and “The Summer Wind.” She cleverly ended the first set with the obscure “Drinkin’ Again” and the more familiar “One for My Baby (and One More for the Road),” introducing the tunes with references to the lyricist’s penchant for alcohol and her own experience with over-imbibing former husbands.

But Maye had just begun. In the second half of the show, she picked up the Mercer thread with the heartbreakers “Blues in the Night,” “Guess Who I Saw Today,” and “I Won’t Be Around to Pick Up the Pieces,” highlighted by a Spaits bass solo. Firth got a solo spotlight during a swinging arrangement of “Come Rain or Come Shine.”

The Mercer love-fest continued with film favorites “Moon River,” “Days of Wine and Roses,” “In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening,” “Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe,” and “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive.” Ever the romantic, Maye led to a strong finish with “I Remember You,” “I Thought About You,” “Dream,” “Time to Hit the Road to Dreamland,” and “Anyplace I Hang My Hat Is Home.” On “It’s Today,” a great closer from the musical “Mame,” Mercer’s lyrics are typically clever, but profound, a plea to live in the moment:

“It’s a time for making merry,
And so I’m for making hay.
Tune the grand up,
Call the cops out,
Strike the band up,
Pull the stops out,
Hallelujah!
It’s today!”

An undeniable artistic success, the concert drew only a small crowd of about 75 avid Maye fans, many of whom were in her approximate age demographic, not a hopeful sign for building a future audience in Brownville. We at the Berman Music Foundation have long been aware of this underappreciated gem 90 minutes southeast of Lincoln, and recently awarded the concert series a $1,000 grant. In the hope that others will take the hint and make the trip to Brownville, we will continue to inform our readers with concert previews and reviews.

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By Tom Ineck

LINCOLN, Neb.—There were horns a-plenty April 13 when the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra paid tribute to the riffing swing music of Count Basie, aided in part by NJO trumpeter Bob Krueger and one of his trumpeter sons, Tommy.

The program began with a Ben Webster-Lester Young-style tenor saxophone duel on Neal Hefti’s “Whirlybird,” with Cully Joyce and Paul Haar taking the roles of Webster and Young. NJO composer Mark Benson contributed “Ides of March,” a lushly romantic ballad featuring saxophones, two bass clarinets and two flutes in unison. They returned to the Hefti songbook for a very slow version of “Lil’ Darlin’,” with Brad Obbink soloing on muted trumpet.

Tommy Krueger, named the NJO’s young jazz artist of the year, took the stage for Freddie Hubbard’s “Red Clay,” arranged by Dave Sharp. Krueger showed great control and warmth on the flugelhorn and was ably assisted by Andy Hall on electric bass, Cully Joyce on tenor sax and Peter Bouffard on guitar. The focus remained on trumpet players with “Thad Had,” a John LaBarbera tribute to Thad Jones on which Krueger briskly articulated the jazz-waltz time and the complex melody line.

Frank Foster’s “Blues in D Flat,” also known as “Blues in Hoss Flat” or “Blues in Frankie’s Flat,” was shared by Bob Krueger on plunger-muted trumpet, Paul Haar on tenor sax and Todd Thatcher on trombone, with the rest of the brass swinging soft to loud, Basie-style. Thad Jones’ own “Three and One” featured the trio of Krueger on flugelhorn, Scott Vicroy on baritone sax and Andy Hall on bass. Krueger switched to trumpet, first with Harmon mute then open horn and finally back to the mute, for the Sammy Nestico favorite “How Sweet It Is.” Long an essential element of the NJO sound, Krueger’s playing was typically fluent and swift, doubling the tempo with ease.

Ellington’s “Concerto for Cootie” again showcased Krueger’s plunger-muted trumpet, this time in the classic growling style of the song’s namesake, Cootie Williams. The lilting jazz waltz “Get Up” is the composition of yet another trumpeting Krueger son, Paul, written while he was still a student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In this arrangement for septet, it featured the elder Krueger on trumpet, Haar on tenor sax, Thatcher on trombone, Bouffard on guitar, Tom Harvill on piano, Hall on bass and Greg Ahl on drums.

Wayne Bergeron’s tribute to Maynard Ferguson, “Maynard and Waynard,” closed the concert as Krueger father and son locked in playful combat, trading tricky licks and high notes. To name the victor and risk opprobrium from either would be unwise for this reviewer. Suffice it to say that the future of the NJO is likely in good hands.

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