On Saturday night Liane Carroll mounted the ChristChurch altar — which doubled for a
stage – in a fairly understated fashion. I mean, she got up there carrying her
purse. What do you suppose she had in there? One thing’s for sure: the lady can
certainly carry a tune without a handbag. She has a beautiful voice that went
into hyper-syllabic speed when she scatted
throughout a rapid-fire set that was overall traditional while still managing
to come off fresh. She’s the second artist in two days I’ve heard cover Tom
Waits. Fine with me.
Next it was the touch, the feel of Cotton with Big Apple babe Danielia
Cotton, a red-hot rocker who played the festival a few years back. She
put on a soulful rock set opening for the remnants of The Outlaws on the East and
Chestnut stage. At its foundation, the music was powered by a strong
singer-songwriter aesthetic, except for when Cotton roared — which was a lot —
and when her guitarist laid down a funky hook — which was a lot — and reeled
the crowd in.
Esperanza Spalding was both enchantingly focused and filled
with child-like wonder as she fronted an excellent 11-piece band at Kodak Hall
at Eastman Theatre. The whole set was musically varied, including swipes
at swing, flights of funk, and dives into dissonance with a constant narrative
about love’s ambiguity running throughout. It was positively brilliant as the
band (including previous Jazz Fest performer Tia Fuller on sax) followed the
uber-afro’d Spalding’s flexible scat, going so far as to mimic and harmonize.
Abilene was rockin’ so I didn’t
bother knockin’. I just walked on in to catch Canadian Americana (I guess we
should call it Canadiacana) rockers Blackie & the Rodeo Kingsblow
up the joint. This was hardcore bang and twang like Steve Earle used to do when
he was still on drugs. In matching Flying Burrito Brothers suits, the band laid
it down big time with some sensational slide leading the parade. Nobody sat still.
I mean, I saw a woman dancing in her wheelchair. Stuff was getting biblical
tonight.
I’m noticing a few more buskers on the sidewalks than in years past. I plan
on checking some of them out more closely Sunday, in between officially
sanctioned sets like Brandi Disterheft at Max of Eastman Place.
Looking for more of City’s Jazz Fest coverage? Click
here for City’s 2012 Jazz Fest Guide, click here for
our Jazz Blog landing page, or Like City on
Facebook or follow us on Twitter @roccitynews.
This article appears in Bye bye unions?.
