I
have many friends in Rochester who have never been to the Jazz Fest. The answer
almost always comes down to, “I don’t like jazz.”

Here’s
the good news: the Rochester International Jazz Festival is about much more
than jazz. In fact, some purists argue that there’s not enough jazz
at the event (frankly, we disagree with that assessment, too). The Jazz Fest is
home to a wide variety of music, not just jazz. This year you can get rock,
blues, r’n’b, world music, zydeco, reggae, Americana,
and even a bit of classical. You just have to know where to look for it.

Many
of the headliner acts performing in Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre fall outside
of what most would consider jazz. Willie
Nelson (Saturday, June 22) is a bona-fide country legend — which is
precisely why his show is already sold out. But as of the start of the festival
you can still snap up tickets to the Tuesday, June 25, show by former Talking
Heads frontman David
Byrne and alt-leaning singer-songwriter St. Vincent. You might not recognize the name, but you’ll probably
know the pipes of Roger Hodgson, dubbed
“the Legendary Voice of Supertramp,” who will perform
Wednesday, June 26. And guitar god Peter
Frampton will bring his Guitar Circus show to the Jazz Fest on Friday, June
28, with blues master Robert Cray.

The
free outdoor stages are a great place for Jazz Fest newcomers to get a taste of
the festival’s offerings. This is especially true on the weekends, when massive
concerts take place at the East & Chestnut and East & Alexander stages.
On Friday, June 21, you can catch country-rock from Josh Panda & The Hot Damned and New
Orleans organ-rock from Dr. John &
The Nite Trippers. On Friday, June 28, there’s a
great soul double-bill of Shemekia Copeland and the James Hunter Six. And the
festival will close Saturday, June 29, with what is becoming an XRIJF
tradition: Trombone Shorty & Orleans
Avenue will transform East & Alexander into Funkytown for the night.

For
more free options, the RG&E-LiDestri Spirit Stage
(RG&E parking lot at Chestnut and East) will host bands most weekdays of
the festival, and few of them could be classified as jazz. Rock band Violet Mary plays Monday, June 24,
while Latin band Calle Uno performs Wednesday, June 26.
Ohio-based rock/jazz hybrid Gem City will close down the stage Thursday, June 27.

Several
of the Club Pass Venues also venture outside of the jazz realm. Consider Abilene
Bar & Lounge (153 Liberty Pole Way), which during the Jazz Fest becomes the
“Roots & Americana Stage.” As the name suggests, here you’ll find a twangier group of performers, including Virginia’s The Hackensaw
Boys (Friday, June 21), rockabilly gal Marti
Brom (Sunday, June 23), 1960’s NYC folkster Garland Jeffreys
(Thursday, June 27), and even Irish rock band The Blaggards (Saturday, June 29).

New
venue Little Theatre(240 East Ave.)
has a line-up that’s more wide-ranging, but among the non-jazz offerings are blues
act Rocky Lawrence plays Robert Johnson (Wednesday, June 26), James Taylor and Carly Simon’s son Ben Taylor (Friday, June 28), and NYC soul act Amy Lynn & The Gunshow (Saturday,
June 29).

Beyond
that, you might want to reconsider what you mean by, “I don’t like jazz.” Jazz
as a genre covers a huge amount of ground, from smooth to avant-garde to big
band. You might not dig one variety but another might get you moving. Rather
than dismissing it all out of hand, consider checking out some of this year’s
Jazz Fest artists online. In fact, Rochester music blogger Dave Waltman has put together a collection of Spotify playlists for each day of the festival, featuring
music by each day’s artists. Check it out and see if any of it cures your
jazz-phobia.

This article appears in Jun 19-25, 2013.