Freihofer Jazz Festival in Saratoga, NY

[Alexander]

For Fathers Day it has become customary in my family to buy me tickets to the Freihofer Jazz Festival. I went both days, and while I didn't see all there was to see, I heard a lot of great music. Here's what I saw:

Saturday -

I had lawn seats and rain was predicted, so I came prepared with an umbrella and an (ostensibly) waterproof chair. I found a good spot, right near the ampitheater so I could see the stage.

First, I saw Conrad Herwig's "Latin Side" band. I've been getting in to Latin music lately, and I've always loved the Latin Side albums (I have both Miles albums, both Trane albums, and the new Wayne Shorter album). They performed numbers from all of the various "Latin Side" projects. Great stuff. Herwig played some burning solos!

Next up was Ryan Shaw, a young R&B singer with Gospel roots. He was impressive and I picked up his CD. Unfortunately, it started raining during his set. I opened my umbrella, but I still got wet. My chair got especially wet.

Next came the Saxophone Summit (Lovano, Liebman, and Coltrane). It was fantastic, but marred by the fact that I was very uncomfortable and wet. I decided that however much I wanted to see Return to Forever's reunion show, I wanted to be dry more. So I went home, changed clothes, and went to a movie ("Mongol," which was very good, btw).

Sunday -

Not wanted to get stuck out in the rain again, I decided to see if I could upgrade my lawn ticket and get a seat inside the ampitheater. They wouldn't do it, but I had already resolved that if I couldn't I would just buy another ticket. I wound up with a great seat. I also wound up sitting next to an interesting guy (a bass player and a professor at Hamilton College) who gave me a copy of his CD. I listened to a bit of it in the car and it was pretty darn good! I look forward to hearing the whole thing!

First up was Terence Blanchard, who I saw at the Egg a couple of years ago when my friend Brian Patneaude opened for him. His show was largely based on "A Tale of God's Will" and was very good. His band was great, especially his tenor sax player to had some excellent solos.

The highlight of the day was Charles Lloyd with Jason Moran, Rueben Rogers, and Eric Harland. What an amazing group! I've never seen Lloyd peform before and it was a real treat! He dances around the stage in an almost Monk-like manner when the others are playing. Moran took several amazing solos, as did the other members of the rhythm section (it was like a band with four leaders, really...each player was top notch and really commanded the stage when they soloed). I was grinning like an idiot through the whole set, which seemed to fly by.

It was at this point that I took a walk over to the gazebo stage to check out Rachel Price, by whom I was quite impressed. I'll have to look for one of her discs.

Next up was Dianne Reeves. I only have one album of hers, but I admire her talent. At the same time, she's certainly not my favorite vocalist in the world (a little too showy at times for my taste). Her set was good, but she had some moments where she seemed to be dazzling the crowd for the sake of dazzling them. I've heard her in a more restrained mood, and I prefered it to her set today. The crowd (which seemed to be largely African-American and over 50) loved her, however, and was very vocal in their support ("Take 'em to church!" was what one guy shouted). I stayed for about forty-five mintues of her set and then went to check out the Brubeck Brothers on the gazebo stage. They were very good. I got to see the end of their set during which they did a nice version of "Take Five" which the (largely white and over 50) crowd really dug.

At this point I got a bite to eat and had an interesting conversation (largely about movies) with a father and his college age son who asked if they could sit at my table (the dining area being quite crowded). Jazz fans are so friendly!

At the ampitheater, Boney James and Jonathan Butler were wowing a packed house (I noticed, with some rue, that less than a quarter of that number saw Charles Lloyd. Mores the pity). Never having heard James' music before, I lingered for a few minutes to "take in the scene". His style seems to be largely influenced by Junior Walker and the All-Stars, but not as funky. The crowd, as I said, loved it. I went over to the gazebo stage to see Aaron Goldberg (whom I had seen last summer playing with Carl Allen). To my surprise and delight, his trio was rounded out by none other than Reuben Rogers and Eric Harland (who peformed earlier that afternoon with Charles Lloyd). After an excellent set (marred only by the sound of Boney James bleeding into the gazebo area) I went over to the Borders tent to see if I could get one of Goldberg's CDs. As it happened, Goldberg himself was scheduled to do a signing. As it also happened, Boney James was scheduled to do a signing immediately afterwards and the tent was soon SWARMING with Boney James fans, who quickly lined up at the signing table (this despite the fact that their hero would not be appearing for more than a half an hour). The quick witted Borders people decided to have the people there for the Goldberg signing line up alongside the Boney James people. We made a rather sad spectacle: Four of us were waiting to have our CDs signed by Aaron Goldberg (I hadn't planned to get an autograph, but when I saw how few people were there I decided to increase the number by one) while literally hundreds of people were already lined up for James. I wound up sharing a few wry comments with the young woman (a Skidmore student, I learned) in front of me in line. I also had a rather surreal conversation with the woman in the line next to me:

"Who are you here to see again?"

"Aaron Goldberg."

"Does he sing?"

"No, he's a piano player."

"Oh! I love the piano! Who does he sound like? Does he sound like George Winston?"

(Pained smile)

I would have stuck around to hear at least part of the O'Jays' set (they were closing, as Al Green closed the festival last year), but they started late and I felt that I had seen and done enough for the day. In all a highly enjoyable experience! (Despite the rain yesterday and the Boney James fans today. I certainly don't begrudge the man a living, but you have to pity a man with fans like that!)

[marcello]

Thanks for the report. Well done.

Reuben Rogers is a friend of mine. Always working and is able to mix with a variety of musical situations.

I'm almost surprised he didn't work with Reeves too!

I'd love to hear that Lloyd band with Jason Moran.

[Alexander]

Thanks for the report. Well done.

Reuben Rogers is a friend of mine. Always working and is able to mix with a variety of musical situations.

I'm almost surprised he didn't work with Reeves too!

I'd love to hear that Lloyd band with Jason Moran.

He did, actually! I forgot to mention it!

[marcello]

Thanks for the report. Well done.

Reuben Rogers is a friend of mine. Always working and is able to mix with a variety of musical situations.

I'm almost surprised he didn't work with Reeves too!

I'd love to hear that Lloyd band with Jason Moran.

He did, actually! I forgot to mention it!

Big payday for Reuben!

[AllenLowe]

I was gonna go, but it was too much bread -

[Van Basten II]

Saw Goldberg with a favourite of this board, Joshua Redman, a few years ago, i kinda lost him on my radar. Is his music in the same style, does he play with people relatively well known ?

[Dan Gould]

I also had a rather surreal conversation with the woman in the line next to me:

"Who are you here to see again?"

"Aaron Goldberg."

"Does he sing?"

"No, he's a piano player."

"Oh! I love the piano! Who does he sound like? Does he sound like George Winston?"

(Pained smile)

That certainly is emblematic of the "jazz" fans who think Boney James is the shit. I am kind of disappointed that we didn't get a demographic report on his audience though. I was astounded and frankly sickened to see, years ago, the Bonester winning a "jazz" award on a BET broadcast.

[Alexander]

I also had a rather surreal conversation with the woman in the line next to me:

"Who are you here to see again?"

"Aaron Goldberg."

"Does he sing?"

"No, he's a piano player."

"Oh! I love the piano! Who does he sound like? Does he sound like George Winston?"

(Pained smile)

That certainly is emblematic of the "jazz" fans who think Boney James is the shit. I am kind of disappointed that we didn't get a demographic report on his audience though. I was astounded and frankly sickened to see, years ago, the Bonester winning a "jazz" award on a BET broadcast.

I listened to the James music from the outside of the ampitheater (on my way over to see Aaron Goldberg and while I lingered at the Borders tent) so I didn't get to see the crowd first hand (as I did with the Dianne Reeves crowd). I did wander down towards the ampitheater, just to get a sense of the SIZE of the crowd (which I could see was considerable). Certainly the people on the lawn seemed to be digging James' sound. I saw several people (particularly African-American couples who appeared to be (again) over 50) dancing to an instrumental version of "Grazin' in the Grass". The line to get autographs was a bit more diverse, although I would say that it was roughly 70% African-American and 30% white (the woman with whom I had the above conversation was white, for example). Just to give you a sense of this crowd, I saw a LOT of white male baby boomers with gray pony tails. (Shudder)

At one point, I was looking over the Aaron Goldberg CDs (deciding which one to buy, as they were $20 a pop) with a few other people who had seen AGs show. There were two young white guys (late teens, early 20s I would guess) who kept asking which was his most recent CD. I told them it was called "Worlds," but they kept insisting that he had mentioned a CD called "Shine." It took me a minute, but it dawned on me that they were talking about Boney James! I pointed out that they were looking at the wrong guy's CDs. This seems fairly typical of the observational powers demonstrated by the Boney James fans that day...

[rogler]

I went to Saturday's show and it was one of the best I've seen at Saratoga. We always get seats inside but set up camp (chairs and cooler near the gazebo. Here is my 2 bits:

Jonathan Batiste came out playing a "mouth piano". He was OK with it but I really wanted him to sit down and play the piano. He finally did after a couple songs and played a wonderful blues tune. I left half way into his set and went to the gazebo to see Andrea Tierra. Couldn't really get into her until the band let loose on the last song.

Went back to the amphitheather to see Conrad Herwig's band and was blown away! Some great arrangements and amazing band.

Went back to the gazebo to see Jonathan Batiste's encore set. He started playing the same songs with that mouth piano again. Was very dissapointed until he started improvising on the "Entertainer".

Went to see some of Ryan Shaw and had enough after one song. I wanted to see Maurice Brown back at the Gazebo but had a rain delay. By the time he started, the Saxaphone Summit was blowing so I had to run back. They were the best set of the whole day. Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, Ravi Coltrane, Bill O'Connell, Billy Hart and Cecil McBee! I could of left then and would of been satisfied with the day. But I had to stay for RTF.

So, I went back to the Gazebo and another rain delay to see Jenny Scheinman. It was nice but she shoul of been the opening act instead of the closer. So I went back to the amphitheater to see Chris Botti"s last song. I was glad that was all I saw.

Dee Dee Bridgewater was OK but probably would of left if it wasn't for RTF.

RTF started out great with the electric band. Then they went acoustic and had some amazing solo's but then it was suddenly over and no encore, so I wasn't completely fulfilled with them.