JVC Jazz Festival, Newport RI

[CTC Command]

The Newport Jazz Festival, established by jazz impresario George Wein in 1954, rolled into town this past weekend. It would be impossible to review the entire show, as there were three stages and much going on simultaneously, but here are some pics and reviews of the parts I did catch from the Saturday August 12 Jazz Fest.

This was the schedule for Saturday.

Saturday morning was kind of crazy, and I didn't get out the door as early as I had planned. Fortunately, I know all the 'back roads' to get across tourist infested RI and I also knew to go around the Thames Street traffic jam in Newport that extended out onto the right lane of the Newport Bridge coming over the Bay, so I didn't lose as much time as I might have...

But after arriving it was still about a mile walk from "Parking Area 4" to Fort Adams, lugging my folding chair and a cooler full of snacks, fruit and water, (there's usually busses running; I took one back after the show and on Sunday too, but for some reason they were none operating when I got there ) so I completely missed Robert Glasper and got there part way into McCoy Tyner's set.

The view of the main JVC stage from my seat...

Here's a closer view of the stage.

The McCoy Tyner Septet was doing a tribute to Impulse! records based on "The House That Trane Built." Tyner's set was one of the highlights of Saturday--he was really the only "straight ahead jazz" veteran that they had on the main JVC stage for the Saturday festival. Excellent ensemble. He should have been given a higher billing, IMHO.

Tenor Sax lion Eric Alexander supposedly got lost trying to make it to Newport from his hotel in Warwick, and he was a little bit late. (That's Alexander in the brown shirt all the way to the right in the photo above) He showed up even after I did lol, and his playing seemed a bit stiff and formulaic at first--maybe nervous? needed to warm up? He was definitely looser and better sounding with Cyrus Chestnut a little while later, but who wouldn't be nervous after racing to a gig and showing up late in front of 7000 people to improvise with...McCoy Tyner!

As soon as McCoy Tyner finished I cruised over to the Pavilion Stage and caught the Cyrus Chestnut quartet, though at first it was just a trio, as Eric Alexander was late (again), having had just played with McCoy Tyner over on the main stage. Chestnut is an amazing pianist, and his set before Alexander showed up was a relaxed exposition of Chestnut's gospel/blues-inspired improvisation. Met him after the show and he signed my program--a quiet-spoken and gracious man. Highly recommend his music and live show...

The Pavilion Stage is much more intimate than the main JVC stage, and it's in the shade too. Eric Alexander had loosened up and his playing seemed much more inspired than his earlier set with McCoy Tyner. Here's another picture of Eric Alexander, just before the batteries died on my stupid camera...

The rest of the Saturday show.--sorry no more photographs...

After meeting Mr. Chestnut, I walked back to the JCV stage to catch Arturo Sandoval. His set was a trumpet led Cuban extravaganza ala Dizzy Gillespie. Very danceable stuff, and not a few extraordinary trumpet solos Caught part of Al Jarreau's set, and George Benson sat in with him. Later, Jarreau returned the favor and sat in with Benson's set. But "smooth jazz" isn't really my cup of tea, so part way into the second song by Al Jarreau I wandered off. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band was hyped up to be a good bet, but I really wanted to catch Gold Sounds.

Gold Sounds are James Carter (Soprano Sax), Cyrus Chestnut (Keys), Ali Jackson (Drums), Reginald Veal (Bass), interpreting the songs of Pavement. Of all the performances I saw on Saturday, this was probably the best. I would recommend to anyone with a passing interest in either jazz or Pavement to pick up this CD, or better yet, see Gold Sounds if at all possible. An extremely enthusiastic group of musicians, James Carter is simply amazing to watch; Cyrus Chestnut was impeccable again; Veal and Ali Muhammad Jackson bass & drum interplay had the place swinging. After the show I met James Carter, who was signing autographs over by the Borders tent. I was going to ask him his opinion about saxophone mouthpieces, but there was a ton of people behind me and the man was wearing a suit sitting in the sun, so I kept it short, thanking him for an inspirational set while he signed my program, and asked him when he was coming around again. Carter said he would be playing the Regatta Bar in Boston again sometime in the near future. Here's a scan of my autographed program...

After Gold Sounds, George Benson was downright anticlimatic. I enjoy his earlier guitar work, but again, I am not enamoured of the whole "smooth jazz" genre--too formulaic and bland for my taste. While Benson did have a couple of Wes Montgomery moments of inspiration, it seemed that most of the main stage crowd was there to hear Benson sing "Masquerade" and "Give Me the Night" rather than hear him play the guitar, and he was more than willing to cater to that element. He knows whose buttering his bread anyway, it sure isn't straight ahead bebop hard fusion lovin' mp3 downloading freaks like myself. I left halfway through his set when Al Jarreau came out and Benson's guitar went away, as much to beat the crowd about to pack onto the buses back to the parking lot as it was that I'd rather sit in my car and listen to Benson's Collaboration CD...

On the way out I caught a listen of Luciana Souza, since the Pavilion stage is near the exit--it was good sounding Brazilian jazz, but the line to the bus was already queueing up so I bailed for the car.

And thought about the line up for Sunday's festival on the drive home...

Edited August 18, 2006 by CTC Command

[DudeAsInCool]

Nice writeup. I wish you could have caught Dave Brubeck...