If anyone feels like the nine days of this year’s Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival went by in a blur, you’re not alone. According to XRIJF organizers, more than 208,000 people followed the music downtown across this year’s run. But if you missed it, the festival will be back for an 18th edition on June […]
Rochester Jazz Fest 2018
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Jazz Fest 2018, Day 9: Daniel reviews Eric Krasno Band, Geoffrey Keezer, and Abe Nouri
Pianist Geoffrey Keezer had an elegant approach to the keys during his first set at Hatch Hall. His confident technical facility and flair for the whimsical in melody was a delight to hear. And his precision in the right hand was mesmerizing. Keezer’s style as a whole was engrossing and effervescent, with a slight air […]
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Jazz Fest 2018, Day 9: Ron reviews Matt Wilson’s Honey & Salt Band, the Mark Lewandowski Trio, and Thomas Stronen
If you can create a Broadway musical about Alexander Hamilton using hip-hop, it doesn’t seem too radical to take the poetry of Carl Sandburg and set it to jazz. Matt Wilson’s Honey & Salt Band does exactly that, and Saturday night the group provided one of the most unusual concert’s I’ve heard at the XRIJF. […]
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Jazz Fest 2018, Day 9: Frank keeps his clothes on and beats the heat with Deva Mahal and Tower of Power
Frank streaks the Jazz Fest; pictures at 11. Well, no, not really, but it would have felt good. Remember it’s not the heat; it’s the stupidity. And yes, it was stupid hot last night, but the Harro East Ballroom had us on ice with the AC and the super cool Deva Mahal. Now I’ve heard […]
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Jazz Fest 2018, Day 8: Daniel reviews Stephane Wrembel, Miles Electric Band, and Jerry Granelli Band with Robben Ford
The Jerry Granelli Band with Robben Ford presented a set of easy-going music complete with jazz-shuffle rhythms and blues structures. Interpreting the music of greats such as Charles Mingus, Fats Domino, and Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach, the band exhibited undeniable skill — and yet the arrangements felt almost commonplace. The mostly mid-tempo tunes lacked […]
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Jazz Fest 2018, Day 8: Frank catches Robin McKelle, Jill Scott, Pokey LaFarge, and one more song from Gwyneth Herbert
Rochester ex-pat Robin McKelle is far from your stock blues belter or jazz singer. She detours around those parameters , forging her own path. This path led her to the Harro East Ballroom last night. She has a jazzy voice that follows a certain discipline in tone and attack, especially when singing out-and-out jazz. There […]
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Jazz Fest 2018, Day 8: Ron reviews the Geoffrey Keezer Trio, Maciej Obara Quartet, and Jean-Michel Pilc
Sometimes a group with a big name in the title only has one true star, but at Xerox Auditorium, the Geoffrey Keezer Trio proved to be a band of equals. Keezer may be the most well known member; after all he’s played with Sting. But every time bassist Ben Williams or drummer Billy Kilson took […]
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Jazz Fest 2018, Day 7: Frank stumbles upon Gwyneth Herbert, takes a Lake Street Dive, and goes Sax-O-Matic in the process
There’s no explaining how Gwyneth Herbert arrived at her arsenal of eclectic instrumentation. but there she stood on the Max of Eastman Place stage behind half a drum set, a ukulele, and a melodica, an actual instrument that looks like a mini keyboard with a hose to blow into on one side. It’s cool really. […]
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Jazz Fest 2018, Day 7: Daniel reviews The Suffers, GoGo Penguin, and Pilc Moutin Hoenig
The joy and the enthusiasm coming from The Suffers during its first set at Harro East Ballroom felt effortless. In the Houston soul band’s debut performance in Rochester, it was all about the presence of frontwoman Kam Franklin, whose delivery could be sensitive and understated but frequently involved first-rate vocal pyrotechnics. The band was nothing […]
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Jazz Fest 2018, Day 7: Ron reviews the Vincent Herring Quartet, the Georgia Mancio/Alan Broadbent Quartet, and Megumi Yonezawa
The Vincent Herring Quartet put on quite a crowd-pleasing show at Kilbourn Hall Thursday night. Part of the charm was Herring’s personality; he had a great rapport with the audience. But the other reason was his song selection. There were no brooding ballads, just lively tunes with great heads and perfect chords to improvise over. […]
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Jazz Fest 2018, Day 6: Daniel reviews ‘Songs of Freedom,’ Shake Stew, and Ghost-Note with MonoNeon
Drummer Ulysses Owens Jr.’s “Songs of Freedom” was a different kind of American Songbook concert. For this performance, Owens and his band looked no further than a trio of powerhouse singer-songwriters from the 1960’s — Nina Simone, Abbey Lincoln, and Joni Mitchell — to conjure up the sounds of liberation. The assembled quartet was prolifically […]
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Jazz Fest 2018, Day 6: Frank reviews Liz Vice, Davina and The Vagabonds, and Rai Thistlethwayte
The dampness put a damper on the vibe last night, I’m afraid. Still, those who had umbrellas soldiered on despite the inclemency. Last night, I started off at Montage to see an artist I knew little of: Liz Vice. Her story is one of triumph over adversity. She was raised by a single mother with […]
