San Jose Jazz Festival

[TRX-C]

Last weekend was our local jazz fest. I think this year was probably the best I've attended. There were so many excellent acts (Liz Wright was the big draw this year), and so many venues and types of music to choose from, even though the focus was on jazz. I was fortunate enough to have Sax Lix and imnoangel1975 (Kelly and Angelique) join me on Saturday. That day was sort of a mixed bag. No one really stood out, but we had a good time. We were able to see Tierney Sutton, who I liked, but I wished that the song arrangements were better and not so laden with scatting. Her voice is amazing, but obscured by all that scatting. But Sunday was a different story.

Sunday started out with a set by a local artist named Kim Nalley, who is the proprietor of San Francisco's Jazz at Pearl's club. Let me say that if any of you are in the SF area, and want to see an A+ act, go see Kim. I regret never having gone to see her before yesterday(Sunday), but I'll not make that mistake twice. She and the other members of her quintet were just phenomenal. She sang some of the usual jazz standards (My Man, Comes Love, Remember- all kinda attributed to Billie Holiday), but the arrangements were really fresh and perfect. She sang "It Could Happen To You", and it actually made me cry! Thank goodness, I wasn't alone. Her set was the highlight of the festival to me.

Later, I went to a set by a drummer named Sylvia Cuenca, who is from San Jose. She works with Clark Terry, and is just fabulous. Their set was outstanding, highlighted by a phenomenal version of Herbie Hancock's "Chan's Song", with trumpet solos by Eddie Henderson. But, the big news about the quartet she headed was that Geoff Keezer sat in at piano! I was excited because, of course, Diana worked with him on "Turn Up The Quiet". Plus, though I initially bought his CD because Diana was on it, I ended up liking the whole CD a lot.

After the set with Sylvia, I was able to go up and talk with Geoff a bit. He was nice, kinda quiet. His girlfriend did most of the chatting. But, they both were really impressed that I pulled out his CD for him to sign. which he did very graciously.

It was just a fantastic weekend for someone like me who is just a huge music fan. And, of course, besides the fact that it's some of the best music you'll hear, it's all free. Can't beat that.

[imnoangel1975]

Ironically, I saw Sylvia Cuenca at Jazz at Pearl's. I saw her about 2 years ago and she's amazing! I've been to Pearl's quite a few times, but Sylvia really stood out for me. The fact that I remembered her name says a lot (since my memory is total junk). Her band mates weren't bad either.

It was fun hangin' out with you on Saturday, Joy. I hope we can do it again really soon.