Burlington Discover Jazz Festival

[Gary Sisco]

www.discoverjazz.com

[Bill Beran]

Got to be the first festival where they have separate children's ticket prices! That's taking family values to the next level.

[Gary Sisco]

Hey, back in the daze, some of the clubs used to have a "peanut gallery" for people younger than drinking age, so they could hear the cats play, too. And matinees. But Burlington is also festival city during the summer. When I lived there I used to joke that Burlington and Montreal should both have advertised weekends when there *isn't* a festival. Come on down! :-)

[Gary Sisco]

MONDAY JUNE 2
Andrew Hill Quartet FlynnSpace 8:30 pm

TUESDAY JUNE 3
Jazz on the Marketplace Church Street Marketplace Noon – 5 pm Free
Alfredo De La Fé and His Orchestra
Flynn MainStage 7:30 pm

Hector A. Cobeo’s Latin Dance Party
FlynnSpace 9 pm


WEDNESDAY JUNE 4
Jazz on the Marketplace Church Street Marketplace Noon – 5 pm
Free

Ray Anderson’s Pocket Brass Band
Burlington City Hall Contois Club 6:30 pm

Jean-Michel Pilc Trio
FlynnSpace 8:30 pm


THURSDAY JUNE 5
Jazz on the Marketplace Church Street Marketplace Noon – 5 pm Free

Burlington Discover Jazz Festival Blues Tent & BBQ featuring
John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers
Jon Cleary and The Absolute Monster Gentlemen
Seth Yacovone Band
Burlington Waterfront Park Tent 5:30 pm

Matthew Shipp String Trio
FlynnSpace 8:30 pm


FRIDAY JUNE 6
Jazz on the Marketplace Church Street Marketplace Noon – 5 pm Free

WPTZ Newschannel 5 Block Party
Top of the Church Street Marketplace 5 – 8 pm Free

Dixieland Cruise
The Onion River Jazz Band
Lake Champlain Ferry 6 – 8 pm

Sonny Rollins
Flynn MainStage 8 pm

Sneakers Jazz Band
The Reunion Shows
FlynnSpace Two Shows:
8:30 pm & 10:30 pm


SATURDAY JUNE 7
Jazz on the Marketplace Church Street Marketplace Noon – 5 pm Free

Jazz Parade & Jazz Picnic In The Park
Downtown Burlington and City Hall Park Noon – 4 pm Free

Trey Anastasio
Burlington Memorial Auditorium 7 pm

Dave Holland Big Band
Flynn MainStage 8 pm

Saturday Night Block Party
Church Street Marketplace 9 pm – Midnight Free

Jazz Jam
Burlington City Hall’s Contois Club 10 pm


SUNDAY JUNE 8
Gospel Tent
Sons of Glory / Kevin Cloud and The Delegation / Tammy Fletcher and the Disciples
Burlington Waterfront Park Tent Noon – 4 pm

Matthew Savage Trio
First United Methodist Church
21 Buelle Street, Burlington 4 pm

Trey Anastasio
Burlington Memorial Auditorium 7 pm

Duke Ellington Sacred Concert
Flynn MainStage 7:30 pm

[Pete C]

Don't miss Alfredo de la Fe.

[Gary Sisco]

up

[Pete C]

There's a teeny possibility that I'll be coming up for de la Fe and staying with a friend in Burlington, but I won't know till the last minute.

[Uli]

Damn, C-man, you've got it made. Good food and music all over the place!

[Chaz Longue]

Mister PC comes to VT.

...works for me.

db

[Gary Sisco]

That'd be cool, Pete. Make sure you get my number when I'm in NYC.

[Chaz Longue]

The program guide appears in tomorrows (May 21) local weekly called 7 Days. As usual it's not until this happens that much of the detail is really available - the meet the artist gatherings, the club dates, etc.

There's also a lot of detail (non festival sponsored club dates, for instance) that may appear only in the entartainmant callendar of the weekly itself and not in the Festival Program Guide. So a look at this weekly - "seven days" - should be interesting for anybody who's planning to be in town at all from June 2-8.

Are we allowed to use web address in posts now?

www.sevendaysvt.com

www.discoverjazz.com

[Pete C]

Who's going to see Alfredo de la Fe? I'll be visiting my friend Other David, and I'll be around on Tuesday the 3rd.

[Chaz Longue]

Mister PC

I'll look for you at Alfredo de la Fe. Perhaps you'll let me take y'all out for drinks at my favorite LOUNGE after. There's a guy there that night who does a version of "Feelings" that's to die for.



;-)

db

[Root Doctor]

Pete, I can't swing de la Fe (I'm taking the family to Ray Anderson and Andrew Hill), but I'm up for a few drinks on the 3rd, particularly if Sisco is the wheel man.

Chaz: Nice piece on Discover Jazz in 7 Days.

[John B]

Originally posted by Root Doctor
(I'm taking the family to Ray Anderson and Andrew Hill),

Root Doctor -

I am doing the same. I am going to be at the Hill and Anderson shows along with my wife, aunt and uncle, none of whom have any familiarity with the artists. Should be a good time! It will be nice to finally start putting some faces with names.

[Root Doctor]

John:

Sisco will be at both shows as well, and should be able to introduce us to each other. I'm looking forward to finally meeting you.

Cheers,

Joe

[Chaz Longue]

RD:

Thanks!

I'll look for you at Ray Anderson.

After a cool damp Spring, the weather for the week looks like it might be favorable. Which would be a big relief.



cHaZ

[John B]

I really enjoyed the Hill show, despite not being able to hear anything he was playing for long stretches. It might as well have been a trio for most of the evening, for what we could hear. I was a little disappointed and kept hoping that Andrew would play something solo so I could focus on what he was playing. The show was a little too "out" for my aunt and uncle, which I was expecting. I think they will enjoy tomorrow's Ray Anderson show a great deal more.

Root Doctor -

no luck on the introduction last night. Hopefully tomorrow. You might have seen me last night...I was the tall guy talking with Sisco and Chaz Lounge briefly at our table by the door.

[Root Doctor]

Sorry I missed you last night, John. Let's plan on meeting tomorrow night at Ray Anderson. My wife and I will be the tired looking ones with the animated seven year old.

Are you going to hear the Unstable Ensemble at STN HQ next Tuesday?

[John B]

sounds good!

Yes, as of right now I am planning on going. It will be my first time going to the HQ. should be a good time!

[Chaz Longue]

Root Doc,
I meant to thank you for the kind words - but tried to post from a computer that wouldn't let me post...

It was great to meet you at Andrew Hill John B!

I found Andrew Hill fascinating, but not entirely to my taste I'm afraid - although I do like some of Dusk and Great Day (Palmetto). It felt to me like Andrew Hill simply hears time differently than most folk do. I liked seeing Nasheet Waits, enjoyed Gregory Tardy a lot - his tone on Tenor was just beautiful much of the time...I like saxophone players who make saxophones sound like woodwind instruments..., and enjoyed John Hebert. But I didn't hear enough of Hill's piano playing and found the sense of time on offer to be a little bewildering. Seems it's true - Hill's sui generis, a school unto himself. I heard so many different comments made about the quartet's playing that night that I'm reminded just how much the listener brings to the experience. Comments all over the map. Capacity crowd - SRO - most of whom stayed 'till nearly the end.

Alfredo de la Fe was an utter delight: He started with the kind of shenanagins most performers save 'til the encore and kept the small crowd delighted for the whole evening. He wandered around the hall with his wireless green 6 string plastic violin and even serenaded people walking through the balcony, which I've never seen anybody do in that room. He poured water from his bottle onto his percussionists Timbale, causing a huge spray of water to explode ala The Blue Man Group...as the crowd roared with delight. And this was the first number (!). When a player seems to be enjoying himself as much as he did - the crowd sort of gets swept along, and you'd have had to have had a pretty tough work day not to be uplifted by the doin's in The Flynn last night. De la Fe's band was also outstanding: musicians from all over Latin America ...and even a couple of Italians! They were alternately pretty good natured about letting the boss have a blast; and cutting up themselves. The two singers/dancers were just mesmerizing. They played a lot of different kinds of music that didn't all seem to me to be "Salsa" - perhaps even a Paso Doble or Bolero at one point. I'd go see them again in a heart beat and I'd even take somebody who wasn't crazy about "Latin" music, because they were so entertaining. And Alfredo de la Fe himself is a pretty mindblowing violinist. In fact the whole band is as good as instrumentalists as any group of it's kind I've ever seen.

I also got to see Ray Anderson give sort of a master class. Ray just radiates joy and purpose. I'd love to get him talking and hear him tell stories...in fact I have to run off and see his "meet the artist" get-together this afternoon.

I need some sleep and it's only Wednesday. I may not make it through the week...but I can have fun trying, I guess.

[John B]

Chaz -

There were a variety of responses to the Andrew Hill show among the people I took to see him. Most thought it wasn't their cup of tea while my wife and both enjoyed seeing him, with the reservations I mentioned earlier.

Ray Anderson won everyone over last night. That was a joyous, energetic and just plain fun show. I would take any non-jazz fan to see that band without reservation. He also turned out to be a great person, too. My uncle needed some medical attention after the show and Ray came over and helped take care of him until the ambulance came. He (my uncle) was fine, in the end, but it was nice to see an artist that cared about his audience beyond the performance.

I'm glad I finally got to meet you last night Root Doctor. Hopefully the next time will be under better circumstances.

[Root Doctor]

It was nice to finally meet you, John. I'm relieved that your uncle is OK. I'm sure that was an unsettling moment.

As for the shows I caught this week, I enjoyed Andrew Hill immensely. To me, the band hit the open road about two songs
into the set and never looked back. Great fun. Sisco thought Waits was too busy, but I dug the way he'd tuned his kit.

Ray Anderson was terrific, as well. I was delighted to finally hear Pheeroan akLaff in person, and he didn't disappoint. He was also wonderful to my seven year old son, as was Ray. I'm bringing ear plugs for the young man, though, the next time I haul him to a show. I bet even Superman doesn't have hearing as acute as my son's.

It should be noted that our emerging master of all media, Dave Beckett, did a nice intro for Ray.

[Chaz Longue]

Thanks, RD. But I learned something yesterday - note to self: avoid attempting introductory remarks from stage with a brass band riffing quietly behind you! Yo...is it warm up here, or is it me?

My admiration for Ray Anderson knows no bounds. What fun! That was a fun show. But I'm stunned there weren't more people there. Ray's been in Burlington 3 times, but until yesterday - never as a leader. You'd have thought the groundwork had been done ...weird. Were you there right at the end, when an audience member went into insulin shock? I missed it, but heard the story.

Did anybody see Jean Michel PILC? SRO crowd again, and a good time was had by all, from what I can tell. This is the second time I've seen him and I thought it was fascinating to see him with a different bassist (Thomas Bramerie) and drummer than he had with him the first time I saw him. I love Pilc's exuberance, and lack of self-consciousness about shamelessly flaunting his chops. If Pilc wasn't as brainy as he is, his brawn would get him a few raised eyebrows from reviewers, but I think most people can see past the flash to the music beneath. And it's marvelous music. He's fond of completely reharmonizing familliar tunes. last night's choices were Some Day My Prince Will Come and If I Were A Bell, both of which he deconstructed to marvelous effect. I think he also played a Monk tune, but since whatever he was playing seemed to be partly an exercise in pantonality as well as an excuse to attempt some fairly baffling exercises in rhythmic displacement, I can't be certain. The drummer Steve Hass was unfamiliar to me (I suspect I've seen him with The Manhattan Transfer, but hadn't remembered him) and just delightful. The trio also played several of Pilc's originals - due out soon on his new release called Cardinal Points. How they managed to play music this complex and demanding - reading charts all the while - is beyond me, but it's a testament to the excitement that can be generated by the process of collaborating on improvisation based music. Jazz as process - thrilling.

David

[Gary Sisco]

Dated, at this point, I know, but I liked the Andrew Hill show quite a lot, though I'd rather hear him than most of the people he had with him. Tardy was at his best of the several times I've heard him, but he's not my favorite tenor. Waits I also like but I hope that as he matures he learns the old lesson of not having to play every single thing you know every time you play. He's still a young man so there's plenty of time for him to learn. Even Coltrane was told by Miles to try taking the horn out of his mouth once in a while. Still, a good show, and, from my perspective, an unheard of crowd, considering Hill's obscure status.

I echo everyone's comments about Ray Anderson's show, which was by far the hit of the week (and summer) for me. Wonderful. And there were plenty of people there. Not every show is going to sell out, and not every show that sells out is going to pay for itself. So that's that. The people who *were* there will always remember a great show that was fun while also serious music at the same time, and many will become Ray Anderson fans who weren't beforehand. That's a successful show, by any measure.

It was interesting to hear the Dave Holland Big Band, also, but I prefer the quintet. Still, an excellent concert, by any standard. It didn't help that I was in a foul mood throughout for completely unrelated issues. I hope I get another chance to hear the big band when I'm in a more receptive mood.

Didn't hear the Pilc show, but I heard the same trio play at Cornelia Street some years back. He's another who can definitely play but who needs to learn what not to play sometime. Hell of a piano player but too busy, too much, for me to love his music. Great bass player, though.

[Chaz Longue]

Gary -

Thanks for posting your reflections. I thought the festival was a real success this year.

Now all we have to do is figure out what to do for next year. Any ideas?

DB