Rochester through Doug Ramsey’s eyes (0)

Posted 28 June, 2006 in Jazz, Music, Rochester

Author, blogger and jazzhead Doug Ramsey was in Rochester recently to write about The Commission Project’s annual Swing ‘n Jazz event.

While he was here, he also wrote two good pieces about Rochester as he saw it. The first piece is an overview of the city, and the second essay is a tourist’s-eye’view of the Flower City. I always enjoy reading about where I live as viewed through another’s eyes. If you feel the same, check out Doug’s essays. And then put his blog on your daily reading list.

AAJ: Check out my review of Live In Amsterdam DVD by Tineke Postma (0)

Posted 23 June, 2006 in All About Jazz Articles, Jazz, Music

Head over to All About Jazz for my review of Tineke Postma’s new concert DVD.

Hilton Ruiz’s family sues over jazz pianist’s death (0)

Posted 22 June, 2006 in Jazz, Music, Obits

NEW ORLEANS (22 June 2006) — The family of jazz pianist Hilton Ruiz, who died June 6 in New Orleans, is suing Club Utopia, claiming Ruiz was attacked in the Bourbon Street dance club while the club’s bouncers “failed to intervene in any meaningful fashion.”

Filed by Ruiz’s daughter, Aida Ruiz, the negligence suit alleges the security workers didn’t even call an ambulance for Ruiz after the May 19 incident, but instead threw him out of the club.

Police said the incident first was investigated as an attack, but evidence indicated Ruiz sustained his injuries in a fall that left him unconscious. (He never regained consciousness.)

Utopia manager Fred Woodruff said he had not heard about the lawsuit.

From wire reports

Ghana 2 – 1 United States (0)

Posted 22 June, 2006 in Soccer, Sports

Clint Dempsey, who scored the only U.S. goal of the World Cup.

And that’s the way the ball bounces. The U.S. Men’s National Team is leaving the 2006 World Cup after an exceedingly craptacular game against the Czech Republic, a heroic match against Italy, and a match against Ghana that featured some spirited play by the same chronic trouble putting the ball in the back of the net.

I hate to say that the refereeing cost us the game, because our play on the field is what cost us the game. That said, the call against Onyewu was a bad call. It wasn’t even a foul, let alone worthy of a penalty kick.

I watched the game in a packed Monty’s Korner here in Rochester. The place went nuts when Clint Dempsey scored his fabulous goal. Then it was as if someone had thrown a heavy blanket over the crowd, as the shouts and chants were instantly muffled by the penalty kick.

I’ve always said that my soccer loyalty comes in three levels: first, the US Men’s National Team; second, the MetroStars (now Red Bulls); and third, the Rochester Rhinos. It’s sad to see the U.S. exit in the first round, but exciting to think about all the great soccer to come at every level.

A lovely wedding … or so I was told (0)

Posted 21 June, 2006 in Random Musings

This past Sunday, my longest-suffering friend got married to his partner of 13 years. And they did it for that most American of reasons — health insurance.

Being the wonderful friend that I am, I agreed to do two things at the wedding: provide the music and host (and write) a trivia quiz for the guests.

The wedding was at 2 p.m. in Buffalo, an hour and change from our house in Rochester. We packed the kids and all the music gear into the car and headed to Ellicott Creek Park, arriving at about 1:40.

As we drove up to the building where the wedding would be held, Jen noticed the brother of the bride walking up the sidewalk. She also noticed people eating inside the building. We’d been told by the bride and groom that the ceremony would be short (under 3 minutes) and very informal, so we weren’t too suspicious. As the bride’s brother approached, Jen asked about the ceremony, and when it would take place.

“It was at noon,” he replied.

That’s right. The wedding of my friend of 19 years was at noon, and I arrived at 1:40. Within minutes of our arrival, 90% of the guests went home, leaving about 15 people. I couldn’t believe it.

Shall we say I was embarrassed? Yes, let’s say that. As it turned out, though, our late arrival was probably the best thing that could have happened. When the majority of the guests left, those who remained were all pretty good friends, several of whom also had small kids. Everybody had a fun time hanging out and chatting. The kids played. About 10 people did the trivia quiz. And a wonderful time was had by all. Congrats to Jenn and Kevin!

The Respect Sextet at RIJF (0)

Posted 19 June, 2006 in Jazz, Music, RIJF, Rochester

Here’s a little clip of the Respect Sextet playing “Time To Say Goodbye” at the 2006 Rochester International Jazz Festival. The clip runs about 2 minutes. Enjoy!

2006 Rochester International Jazz Festival: The final word (0)

Posted 17 June, 2006 in Jazz, Music, RIJF, Rochester

Once again, it’s over. From the look of it, the 2006 Rochester International Jazz Festival has been a roaring success. We’ll have to wait for the facts until the annual post-festival press conference, but here are a few thoughts as we close out the year.

1. It was a great decision to close Jazz Street (Gibbs St.) for the whole festival. The East End felt like a party for the whole nine days, and that was fantastic. Toward the middle of the festival, as the weather improved, Jazz Street was packed every night with folks watching the free student shows, and the free shows by the pros, too. This is a what a festival atmosphere is supposed to feel like. My prediction? In another five years, we’ll see additional street closures — maybe even free East Ave shows every night of the festival.

2. Kudos to John Nugent for the diversity of the acts. This year’s festival had a great group of acts from overseas, plus a fair amount of adventurous music for those of us who like hanging out on the ragged edge. I’d like to see a venue devoted to “out” music in future fests.

3. Rochester’s jazz fans are a pretty classy bunch. With a few exceptions, most of the folks in most of the venues were polite and attentive, because they were there to hear the music. The Montage is probably the biggest offender in the loud crowd category, and Max and the tent had those tendencies, too, but by and large people were cool.

4. We have a wealth of student talent in the Rochester area. Alen Tirre and Bill Tiberio booked a great collection of student ensembles for the early sets at the Jazz Street Stage. That was great to see, and it’s always a cause for celebration to see young players diggin’ the music. I was particularly impressed by a young woman who played trombone from West Irondequoit High School.

5. It’s time to start booking acts in other venues at 8 p.m. For the first five years, the producers haven’t booked acts at the same start time as the Eastman shows. It’s probably time for that to stop. The festival is drawing a large enough crowd these days that there are enough people to buy Eastman tickets AND fill the club venues. Otherwise, there’s not much to do at 8 p.m. This year, by the time the 8:30 shows started, you really needed to be in line for a 10 p.m. show at one of the clubs. Which leads me to…

6. We need more venues. Club Passes were sold out on Day 1. Just about every show in the clubs had a 60-90 minute wait, and many people couldn’t get into ANY show during a particular time slot. There are additional venues downtown, and some just out of walking distance that an EZ-Rider-style shuttle could take people to. It’s time for an expansion! We’ll end on an up note:

7. The Bop Shop was back — yay! Two years ago, Tom Kohn and the boys set up shop at East and Jazz Street. This year, they had a tent on Jazz Street. It makes such a difference to have access to the records right there at the festival. I’d like to see the official autograph sessions return, too.

All in all, a brilliant festival, brimming with great music and good times for every jazzhead — and lover of good music — in the region. See you next year!

2006 Rochester International Jazz Festival: Day 8 In Review (0)

Posted 17 June, 2006 in Jazz, Music, RIJF, Rochester

It’s always bittersweet as the festival winds down to the end. There are still great acts to see, but you know that in a few days Rochester will turn back into a pumpkin, and we’ll have to wait a year to fit into the glass slipper again.

Tonight in Kilbourn Hall, Sweden’s E.S.T. (the Esbjorn Svensson Trio) worked hard to push back the final moment and keep the festival energized. They succeeded, functioning as a three-man instrument to turn groove into gold and complex harmonic and melodic structures into the anthems that have sold more than 100,000 copies of their latest record. And before you read that number and say, “Wait a minute, doesn’t Britney sell millions of records?” remember that a smash jazz album tends to sell around 10,000 copies. That’s a big hit. So 100,000 is an insane number in the jazz world.

E.S.T. is Esbjorn Svensson on piano, Dan Berglund on bass, and Magnus Ostrom on drums. The band is touring the U.S. and Canada in support of their new CD, Viaticum. Tonight was the first show of the tour. The set opened with “Eighty-eight Days in My Veins” from the new album. Svensson is a wonder, playing left-hand bass lines that many pianists couldn’t play with their right hands, let alone solo over. He and Berglund were locked in at the low end, with Ostrom driving the group forward and adding very musical shadings with cymbals, bells and effects. In fact, the group used its effects skillfully, creating new textures and layers rather than using them to cover up poor or unimaginative playing. “Viaticum” featured a rivulet of rhythmic playing on the bass, but the rivulet quickly widened into a stream of of tubular industrial sounds from the upright bass and an arco solo that sounded like Ravi Shankar going through a Cuisinart. At one point, Svensson reached into the piano with what looked like an overturned shot glass, using it to bend pitches on the strings of the piano. The woman in front of me leaned far forward in her seat as if she were in the crowd at a magic show, trying to see behind the illusion.

Later in the set, Ostrom took a drum solo that was processed through some ENIAC-era effects, the bloops and bleeps blending in with the toms and cymbals. He played the solo with brushes, which added a wonderful texture and sounded great through the effects unit, as did his yelping onto the snare head. And no, that isn’t a type-o. This is a good time to mention that the band came with its own sound engineer, which probably explains why it sounded so good in the tricky Kilbourn Hall.

The highest compliment I can pay is that when I tried to think of whom to compare EST to, I couldn’t come up with anyone. This highly original and entertaining trio is huge in Europe, and promises to have a similar effect here on this continent.

Soulive held court at the East Ave Stage, and thousands of people came out to enjoy the show. Unfortunately, the 9 p.m. start time meant that you could either watch Soulive or line up for a 10 p.m. club set. Maybe next year the festival can finally free itself from its five-year policy of not booking bands at the same start time as the Eastman Theatre shows at 8 p.m. For folks who don’t attend those shows, that means that you usually can only see a club set at 6 and 10, rather than also seeing a club set (or major outdoor act) at 8 p.m.

For me, there was no question about my destination: Asylum Street. No, that’s not an address in Rochester, it’s the home of the Spankers. The Asylum Street Spankers are a reviewing nightmare. The music is just about uncategorizable, many of the lyrics are unprintable, and a Spankers show is more or less indescribable. So take the next several sentences with a grain of salt.

Tonight, the Spankers were a six-piece band. At various times, the members played washboard, fiddle, guitar, ukilele, manolin, percussion, harmonica, upright bass, voice, and beer bottle. Everybody sings, everybody tells jokes, and everybody contributes to the hillbilly-bluegrass-improv-comedy-country-blues-fill-in-your-own-adjectiveness of the experience. Maybe it’s easiest to just give you a few choice concepts, words and phrases from some of tonight’s selections. WARNING: NOT SUITABLE FOR UNENLIGHTENED CHILDREN OR PARENTS!

• “Fellatio. Cunnilingus. Pedaresty. Daddy, why do these words sound so nasty?”
• “Winning The War On Drugs” — sung by Wammo (!) as he chugged a beer
• “You Only Love Me For My Lunch Box”
• “If you love me, you’ll sleep on the wet spot / Buy my tampons using your foodstamps / take out the garbage and clean out the cat box / If you love me, the wet spot is yours”
• A brief interlude of musical saw
• A hilarious tune about bestiality titled “I Want To F*** You Like An Animal” (“written for my grandma,” said Sick (!!), who sang the tune)
• A hick-hop tune “about when cousins marry” combining country murder ballads and gangsta rap
• The Star Wars Cantina Theme

Get the idea? Run, don’t walk, to the next Spankers show. They’ve been in Rochester before, and I’m sure they’ll be back. (Kudos to Tom Kohn from The Bop Shop for making it happen!)

A quick non-RIJF review: I stopped by the Bug Jar after the Spankers show and caught Filthy Funk and a bunch of hip hop MCs and singers gettiin’ it on for about 90 minutes. Hassan dropped the knowledge on the mic, and even saxman Jimmy Highsmith made a guest appearance. Where my funk at?