The final night of the Jazz Festival was a disappointing end to a great festival for me. For instance, I expected a lot from Donny McCaslin’s set at Xerox Auditorium. McCaslin is a fine saxophone player, and his recent involvement in David Bowie’s final album has given him new visibility. But if tonight’s show is […]
Jazz Festival Review
Posted inMusic
Jazz Fest 2017, Day 9: Daniel reviews Balkun Brothers and Bonerama
When the band playing consists of only electric guitar and drums, somehow you just know it’s going to be gritty. Such was the case when the Balkun Brothers, Steve and Nick, took the stage with their Southern-style blues rock. There’s something about a rock duo that can sound incredibly full and satisfying, despite the lack […]
Posted inMusic
Jazz Fest 2017, Day 9: Frank reviews Danielle Ponder and the Tomorrow People and The Hooligans
Shootin’ pretty pictures (instead of dirty pool) and trying to give solid testimony to the plethora of artists I’ve seen over the last nine days has left your boy a little punchy folks — tore up from the floor up; beat up from the feet up. But just the same, I once more lugged my […]
Posted inMusic
Jazz Fest 2017, Day 8: Frank reviews Binker and Moses, tries to see King Crimson, and ends the night with Caravan Palace
It has been exactly a year when I last set foot in a church. In fact, it was the same church I was in tonight to see, hear, and experience the elegant chaos of British duo Binker and Moses. B&M rocked Christ Church like a hell-bound stage coach reverberating around the nooks and spaces usually […]
Posted inMusic
Jazz Fest 2017, Day 8: Ron reviews 4 By Monk By 4, Tessa Souter, and Ariel Pocock
At Kilbourn Hall Friday night, 4 By Monk By 4 was something akin to a Thelonious Monk symphony, or at the very least, a Monk piano sonata. Because the great jazz composer’s tunes have a lot in common with each other — notably off-kilter timing and dissonant melodic twists — an hour of nothing but […]
Posted inMusic
Jazz Fest 2017, Day 8: Daniel reviews Iris Bergcrantz Group, Filthy Funk, and Sammy Miller and The Congregation
Upon hearing Iris Bergcrantz Group (featuring Anders Bergcrantz) at the Lutheran Church, the individual performances stood out immediately. As an ensemble, however, the net effect was more muted. To describe Iris’s pure vocal tone as merely ethereal would be clichรฉd and somewhat misleading. Her voice was also grounded and worldly. At times, the melodies had […]
Posted inMusic
Jazz Fest 2017, Day 7: Frank reviews The Wee Trio and Sheryl Crow
The Wee Trio was anything but wee as they filled the Wilder Room Thursday night with hip, bouncy bop. The atmosphere in the room is a tad stiff without music, and it’s still stiff with music. The picture the band painted didn’t entirely color the walls, but I loved it. The trio was equal amounts […]
Posted inMusic
Jazz Fest 2017, Day 7: Daniel reviews Phronesis, Jeff Coffin’s In Orbit, and Oskar Stenmark NYC Quartet
As the members of Phronesis made their way to the front of the Christ Church sanctuary for its first set on Thursday night, they looked more like a rock band than a jazz trio. Group leader and double bassist Jasper Hรธiby looked a bit like a lankier, Nordic version of the late, great Kurt Cobain, […]
Posted inMusic
Jazz Fest 2017, Day 7: Ron reviews Youn Sun Nah, Manuel Valera, and The Walt Weiskopf Quartet
How did a South Korean singer with a fantastic voice end up on a Rochester, New York, stage singing Tom Waits’ “Jockey Full of Bourbon” with a punk-metal vibe and earn a standing ovation and an encore? That might have been the question on your mind if you had just arrived at the Xerox Rochester […]
Posted inMusic
Jazz Fest 2017, Day 6: Daniel reviews Shauli Einav Quartet, Electric Kif, and Klabbes bank
Shauli Einav Quartet’s first set at Max of Eastman Place on Wednesday night was among the more traditional jazz performances I’ve heard at the festival so far. While this isn’t exactly my style, the musicianship was impeccable, and the overall vibe was suave and sexy. An Eastman School of Music alumnus, Einav’s delivery on the […]
Posted inMusic
Jazz Fest 2017, Day 6: Ron reviews Charles Pillow Large Ensemble, George Cables, and Ryan Keberle & Catharsis
When jazz aficionados think of Miles Davis and jazz orchestra music, the first thing that comes to mind is a series of recordings Davis made with arranger Gil Evans in the late-1950’s. Wednesday night at Xerox Auditorium, the Charles Pillow Large Ensemble performed something fairly radical: jazz orchestra arrangements of some of Davis’s most controversial […]
Posted inMusic
Jazz Fest 2017, Day 6: Frank reviews Tommy Smith, Marcia Ball, and Mavis Staples
As Tommy Smith slowly strode down the aisle in the Lyric Theatre, I got to thinking how I would describe it. I first thought it took on the look and speed of a wedding march. Nope; that would be too happy for what he was playing on his tenor saxophone. How about a funeral march? […]
