Northeast Jazz and Wine Festival

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The music kicked off Thursday with a
light evening performance from the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra’s
supporting trumpet player and Salt City native, Joe Magnarelli, the
festival’s artist-in-residence. True to the theme of his Thelonious
Monk Project, which performed on Saturday, Magnarelli led the SSO
through Monk favorites, including “Con Alma.” Overall, a thin and
decidedly older crowd seemed to enjoy the placid mood of the concert’s
selections, which had the summertime pops feel of an outdoor, community
band show. 

Just before 5 p.m. on Friday, a wave of
rain hammered the Clinton Square festival, washing away many of those
who came out. Those who braved the weather under the festival’s wine
tents heard the sounds of the State Fair Four, a bombastic Dixieland
quartet featuring tuba, trumpet, trombone and banjo. The band’s series
of light, simple tunes with stomping beats from the tuba had a number
of people clapping along to the feel-good music.

As the festival crew frantically
attempted to push the flood of rain into the drains of the Clinton
Square fountain, local jazz group ESP finally deemed it dry enough to
kick off their own first set around 5:45 p.m. The talented quartet
featured a jazzy vibe reminiscent of the 1950s in its laid-back, fluid
approach. “Meet Me in Paris” highlighted Matt Vacanti, who brought his
bass forward as the lead instrument. Those forays sometimes
overshadowed the work of the other players, however; during “Funky
Rodney,” which is funky enough with guitar and sax lines, the constant
slapped bass lines were occasionally jarring and out of place.

Teachable moment: (Left) Joe Tyson and Donald Harrison share a mentoring moment at the Northeast Jazz and Wine Festival. MICHAEL DAVIS PHOTO

 

The rain also wreaked havoc in Hanover
Square, where Sophistafunk, a local funk-soul band, got washed out of
their 5 p.m. set. Some apparent disconnect between festival organizers
and the band resulted in the Hanover Square stage’s abandonment for the
entire night, although Sophistafunk did manage to take the Bull &
Bear Pub stage at 11 p.m.

Despite the delays and the slow start to
the day, the main stage opened on time at 6:30 p.m. with the John
Stetch Trio. Supporting his new CD TV Trio (Brux), Stetch opened with The Waltons’ theme song before running through television theme songs from Love Boat
and Looney Tunes. The band was upbeat and communicative, with upright
bass player Nicholas Walker providing innovative bass lines to
complement Stetch’s piano, even picking up a bow for the theme from Dallas.

Stetch’s “Black Sea Suite,” a highlight
of the set, showcased his interpretation of Turkish and Balkan music.
The song cycled through tightly orchestrated sections that spanned a
wide spectrum of ideas, and was almost hard to follow in its intricacy.
But the great communication between the trio made the song come
together well, with quick piano runs by Stetch alternating with
haunting bowed sections from Walker.

The Central New York Jazz Orchestra’s
8:15 p.m. set was highly anticipated by the appreciative crowd, which
had fleshed out after it became evident that the night’s weather had
improved. With its usual balanced attack, the orchestra tore into
“Greetings and Salutations,” a Thad Jones-penned piece driven by
Luttinger’s super drum work.

“The Mad Men” saw tenor saxophone
extraordinaire John Rohde play a sassy solo; Rohde further demonstrated
his versatility by delivering a low, breathy solo on “Frame for the
Blues.” New York City-based trumpet icon Joe Magnarelli then jumped on
stage for the last two songs of the set, lending his expertise to the
Miles Davis track “Eighty-One.” Magnarelli was all over the song,
although he didn’t seem as sharp as some of the orchestra’s trumpet
players.

All of that was thrown aside when it
came to the last song, “Status Quo.” The orchestra’s music director,
Brett Zvacek, invited trumpeter Jeff Stockham to the front of the stage
to duel with Magnarelli, producing by far the finest trumpet work of
the entire night. Stockham’s solo was crisp and clear, forcing
Magnarelli to step up his game as the two went head to head. A
magnificent battle ensued with the two trading eights, then fours,
before simultaneously duking it out in a final peak. The epic contest
wound down with the two trumpeters shaking hands and the crowd leaping
to its feet.

The good feelings from the orchestra’s
performance continued as ESP and the State Fair Four wrapped up the
last of their three sets while the main stage was readied for headliner
Marion Meadows. When Meadows’ band entered the stage shortly after 10
p.m., it was immediately clear that theirs was a departure from the
up-tempo jazz that had marked the day. The first song was much more
1980s soft rock than cerebral jazz, with a Phil Collins-esque
synthesizer from keyboardist Jay Rowe and reverb-saturated saxophone
from Meadows coupled with drummer Jamaaladeen Tacuma’s plunging
necklines.

From soft rock to smooth jazz and
covering all the fertile, Kenny G-inspired ground in between, Meadows
and his band worked through songs from their recent CD Secrets
(Heads Up). The individual talent of the band produced some pleasing
moments of synth-funk and Latin jazz, and every time Rowe got on the
piano it was a joy to hear. The band was certainly well-rehearsed, and
a rousing ovation took place at the end of each song, but the overall
product left a lot to be desired, especially on the heels of what had
been heard before.

Saturday’s highlights included more
cooperative weather, along with a return of Magnarelli, whose
Thelonious Monk Project provided covers of the legendary jazz pianist’s
material in the afternoon. The group’s touch on the music was subtle
and accurate, often mirroring authentic arrangements found on the newly
discovered and hyped album titled the Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane: Live at Carnegie Hall (Blue Note).

Selections included “Monk’s Mood,”
during which cascading waves of affected arpeggios, originally crafted
by Monk, were treated with great respect by pianist and bandleader Bill
Dobbins, of Rochester. Dobbins’ portrayal of Monk’s sweetly dissonant
sound similarly shined in a requisite cover of “Epistrophe,” a bouncy,
cranky tune that has become one of Monk’s most well-known authorships.

Side projects and various small tents
and stages around Clinton Square and in Hanover Square continued on
Saturday, including a performance of Latin music by Salsa Son Timba,
which got booties a-shakin’ with a cover of the Buena Vista Social
Club’s arrangement of “Chan Chan.” Local alt-rockers Endive set the
Hanover crowd into motion with classic pop and rock covers, ska-style,
like Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” as well as original numbers. The
John Seiger Quartet played on a third stage, featuring Louis
Armstrong-influenced pieces like “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New
Orleans?”

Jazz vocalist Nicole Henry then stole
the show, belting standards with her powerful pipes and Whitney Houston
vibe in the set leading toward dusk. Immediately charming and
charismatic, Henry explained to the audience her reason to perform at
the festival: “Anything that has to do with wine, I’m definitely cool
with!”

A long way from Miami, where Henry got
her start as a jazz singer, she seemed right at home during a set that
felt like a swank, upscale lounge gig. During “Night and Day,” Henry
played with the busy, dramatically high and low bass lines of Dan
Vitale. Similarly, the band stood out on its own with pianist Michael
Orta and drummer Mike Melito, especially during an eclectic, but
still-jazz, rendition of John Lennon’s “Imagine.”

Funky saxophonist Donald Harrison capped
the festival, rocking out and showcasing a young band that had heaping
spoonfuls of talent to help the medicine of returning rain and a
dwindling crowd go down. Warming up with his band, including pianist
Victor Gould, bassist Max Morgan and drummer Joe Tyson, Harrison played
a more traditional version of “They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” as
if he were assessing whether or not an energetic or a heady mood was
appropriate for the late-night set.

He then snapped into a more
party-centric slate of tunes, paying tribute to the late Michael
Jackson by covering “Give Me One More Chance,” as well as ripping
through a catchy original called “Young MJ,” which Harrison said he had
written for Jackson. Oddly enough, that number even seemed to share the
same licks as in the aforementioned Jackson 5 original, although
slightly altered to feature a more sophisticated jazz interpretation.

Morgan switched to electric bass from
that point forward, which gave Harrison’s remaining performance a
fusion jazz aesthetic. “Soul of Soul” segued into acid jazz and soft
jazz jams, while Harrison cycled through soulful solos that referenced
classic Motown as much as hard bop. 

Harrison pulled it all to a close with a
raucous version of The Meters’ “Hey Pocky A-way,” featuring a
Cajun-style drumbeat from the auspices of Tyson, a phenom for his young
age. Harrison, whose immense talent made it easy for him to trade off
between vocals and soloing, acted as a sort of
conductor-become-musical-mentor, leading his group through a
performance that not only they but also the fortunate few left in
attendance likely won’t forget any time soon.