I attended an annual arts and jazz festival for the third time last weekend. Man, was it hot! For no good reason, I'm going to list some of the interesting performers:
Fridayhttp://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=173334377Keith Anderson. With dreds and all, this guy plays mean funk sax. It was wonderful to hear him in action, since Joe McBride didn't attend this festival.
http://mccoytyner.com/McCoy Tyner is almost as high as it gets when it comes to jazz pianists. He's played with them all, and his two bandmates are very talented; the drummer occasionally steals the show.
Saturdayhttp://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=85959688http://littlejackmelody.com/Little Jack Melody and his Young Turks. Nah, not a Final Fantasy 7 reference, but this guy still strikes a "cool" note and attempts to experiment with music with light beat themes in the mix.
http://www.myspace.com/vitalorganhttp://www.vitalorgan.org/Eric Scortia. It takes talent and drive to lead a band with a B3 organ, but to pull it off is to unleash a special sound upon the world. Jazz great Jimmy Smith was a B3 man, and if you ever want a taste of how great it can be (from jazz to rock to blues), listen to his "Walk on the Wild Side" signature piece. Scortia does some pretty funky stuff, and he gets major props for continuing to haul around the massive B3 and two huge Leslie amplifiers. To be an honest to goodness B3 organist, you have to have the authentic equipment, produced forty to fifty years ago. This stuff is big and heavy; it's tough being a B3 roadie.
http://www.popscarter.com/POPS CARTER! The man is 87 and probably one of the few people you meet that you'll recognize as a legend immediately. He's got the entire James Brown soul act going on for him, as he makes his way up the stage with a cane on a funky number, discards it, and then brings the funk and blues with his incredible suit. Pops Carter is mythic.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=73588890http://www.gumbokings.com/In jazz, Dixieland is king. Dixieland gave birth to jazz and maintains its most rigorous exercise. These guys, straight out of Lake Dallas, have got it. They're talented enough to do the most complicated numbers while still belting out Louis Prima oldies with gusto. They're also humorous, and give an interesting edge to Dixieland with jokes (their latest CD, UFO Saloon, has Star Wars / Star Trek references in the sort of spoken word over of the music sequence).
