XRIJF 2015
Jazz Fest 2015, Day 5: Daniel reviews Mario Rom’s Interzone and George Colligan
If you blinked on Tuesday night, you might have missed the Austrian trio known as Mario Rom’s Interzone, easily one of the most entertaining and scintillating acts at this year’s festival. I have yet to hear a group of musicians — anywhere — with a more serious sense of play. The band opened its first […]
Jazz Fest 2015, Day 5: Ron reviews Fred Hersch, Julia Hulsmann, and George Colligan
Fred Hersch was so perfectly in command of everything he played at Kilbourn Hall Tuesday night that you would hardly have noticed anything subversive going on. But toward the end of his set I realized that I knew the ballad he was playing very well, but at that moment I didn’t know it at all. […]
Jazz Fest 2015, Day 5: Frank reviews Beth Hart and Gary Clark Jr.
I first witnessed the female phenomenon that is Beth Hart at Lollapalooza some 15 years ago when the headliners on the main stage were Metallica, Rancid, Soundgarden, and The Ramones. Tucked away on a little stage among the merchandise was this skinny little hippy girl with cathedral pipes and a throaty wail. Flash forward to […]
Jazz Fest 2015, Day 4: Daniel reviews Blue Highway, The Soul Rebels, and Stephane Wrembel (again)
On Monday night, the members of Blue Highway brought a more traditional bluegrass approach to the Squeezers Roots & Americana Stage. This sound had less swagger and more twang than The HillBenders from three nights before. And while the music of Blue Highway was perfectly pleasant, it felt staid — almost commonplace — lacking the […]
Jazz Fest 2015, Day 4: Ron reviews Joe Locke, Eivind Opsvik Overseas, and Trio Red
When former RochesterianJoe Locke plays at Kilbourn Hall it’s always an event. I still vividly remember a long-haired Locke as a punky teenager, already brilliant on the vibes, playing little clubs on Alexander Street. And look at him now, arguably the best jazz vibraphonist in the world. The hometown fans couldn’t be more proud and […]
Jazz Fest 2015, Day 4: Frank reviews Joe Locke, Blue Highway, Stephane Wrembel, and Kat Edmonson
Joe Locke’s double malleted arms were a blur last night at his 6 p.m. Kilbourn Hall show. It was if he were a cross between an octopus and a helicopter. You could literally feel the heat coming off of him. This was my fourth or fifth time seeing the vibe master and by far the […]
Jazz Fest 2015, Day 3: Ron reviews Tessa Souter, Nils Berg Cinemascope, and Raul Midon
I rarely go back for a second show, but Tessa Souter is one of my favorite singers, so why not indulge? Souter has been at the festival four times before at three different venues. She finally made it to Kilbourn Hall. Souter does not sing a lot of standards; she’s more likely to transform a […]
Jazz Fest 2015, Day 3: Daniel reviews Stephane Wrembel and Kneebody
On Sunday night, though the two Jazz Festival performances I witnessed were stylistically quite disparate, both concerts had a nonstop energy that was remarkably uncanny. First was guitarist Stephane Wrembel and his 8:30 p.m. set at the Rochester Regional Health Big Tent, where he was joined by drummer Nick Anderson, bassist Kells Nollenberger, and guitarist […]
Jazz Fest 2015, Day 2: Frank reviews Grace Kelly, Chet Catallo, and Herb Alpert
Before we kick off into this evening’s festivities I forgot to tell you about the Sauce Boss and his set last night on the Jazz Street stage. Well, he was on fire and I’m not just talking about his kitchen shtick where he’s rockin’ while a big pot of gumbo is cookin’ which he serves […]
Jazz Fest 2015, Day 2: Daniel reviews The Splendor and Blood, Sweat & Tears
The music featured nightly at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation on Chestnut Street as part of XRIJF’s “Nordic Jazz Now” series is perfect for the contemplative listener. The Scandinavian artists who perform there tend to have a more cerebral approach to the art form of jazz-less demonstrative or overtly showy and more nuanced and […]
Jazz Fest 2015, Day 2: Ron reviews Joey Alexander, Benny Green Trio, and Andrew McCormack Quartet
I entered Hatch Hall — where keyboard wunderkind Joey Alexander was about to play — with a lot of questions. Can a young Indonesian boy really know the American idiom of jazz? Can any 11-year-old, without significant life experience, know the meaning of what he’s playing? And could reincarnation be real; could it be that […]
