On the penultimate day of the 2008 Rochester Jazz Festival (oooo…I’ve always wanted to use the word penultimate in my blog), I’m doing the traditional departure from the jazz and will join the throngs out on East Ave. for the big concerts. Huge crowds are not my thing and I’ve seen some whoppers (like spending a July 4th in Grant Park in Chicago with 1,000,000 of fellow Chicagoans). It’s going to be a party inside as well, at least where I’m going:
- 6:15 pm: Any band described as "Tom-Waits-influenced-romantic-alco-jazz-quartet from St Petersburg, Russia" is worth a listen in my book, so I’ll do a shot of vodka and head over to Max at Eastman Place for Billy’s Band for the early show. Check out the music and videos on their MySpace page. Perhaps two shots ….
- 7:00 pm: I went to college in the early 1980s and worked in a record store when ska was making great inroads here in the U.S., so I’m stepping off the jazz train for a spell to catch the Skatalites out on East Ave. They were some of the originals in ska out of Jamaica. You can listen to the Guns of Navarone on their MySpace page and a video them playing Freedom Sound live.
- 9:00 pm: I’ll make a choice based on various factors (weather, fatigue, annoyance, some received intelligence about something I didn’t know about) on whether to catch Third World, who will play on the Alexander Street end stage or go west on East at Chestnut and catch some Soulive, who I missed last time they were here. On the other hand, I’m not the happiest when I’m in big crowds, so I may just head inside to see one of the other acts like MusicMusicMusic (that puts that song in my head, which I assume is not really in their repertoire, as their Myspace page will prove).
- 10:00 pm: Another dose of Nawlins with the Soul Rebels Brass Band over at High Fidelity. If you have a bit over 20 minutes, check out this video interview and performance and the tunes on their MySpace page.
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