John Nugent remembers when he first conceived the idea of a Rochester International Jazz Festival.
“It might have been October, November of 2001,” said the producer and artistic director of RIJF. “Or maybe it was the spring of 2002.”
OK, so he sorta remembers. And it was June of 2002 that we got our first look at the festival, the highlight show happening at the city’s baseball stadium and headliner Aretha Franklin emerging from the bullpen, delivered to the stage in a golf cart.
“Everybody showed up, it was a great first year,” Nugent said. “Financially, it was difficult, but we pulled it off. And then Marc Iacona joined forces with me while I was also running the Stockholm Jazz Festival, and we formed a partnership. Here we are, 20 years later with, probably, one of the most-recognized jazz festivals in North America.”
That first festival was a vastly different event than year 20 will be. RIJF opens Friday, June 23 and runs through July 1 — and there is no escaping it now. Along with annual Rochester Fringe Festival each September, it is one of the two monsters of the Rochester arts festival scene.
RIJF returned to downtown Rochester last year after a two-year COVID-induced absence. That has resulted in caution on both the part of acts whose touring has been shelved for a couple of years and the audiences.
“Everybody’s sorta coming out of their shell,” Nugent said. “The pandemic has essentially ended worldwide.”
Putting the ‘international’ in Rochester International Jazz Festival this year are 1,750 musicians from 17 countries, which adds up to more than 300 shows at 19 venues.
The event has also evolved in ways that are not COVID-induced. Venues have shut down, or, in a few cases, removed themselves from the fest over business disagreements with Nugent and Iacona. The Lutheran Church of the Reformation, once the home of the charming Nordic Jazz Now series, is no longer a part of the festival. Nugent isn't exactly sure why. Other venues have arrived, and the group of oft-idiosyncratic Nordic jazzers is now sharing space with British acts at Christ Church for a series called “Global Jazz Now.”
Iacona, the festival’s producer and executive director, notes that last year’s state grants – an entertainment life jacket – were essentially funneled back into the community through free shows, rather than being invested in ticketed shows. There were no shows at Eastman Theatre last year. The large crowds traditional to RIJF (an estimated 200,000 each of the last few years) were at Parcel 5, the grassy expanse off of East Main Street. Iacona says there was also limited revenue from the sale of Club Passes, as many of those used in 2022 were holdovers from the previous two years of cancellations.
“What’s different is what’s come back,” Iacona said. Specifically, Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre is returning to host five shows. Friday’s opening night is guitarist Pat Metheny, and Sunday is an unusual early start time at the theater for Omara Portuondo — 4 p.m. The 92-year-old Cuban singer came to attention in this country in the mid-1990s as part of the Buena Vista Social Club and the acclaimed Wim Wenders documentary on that group of Cuban musicians.
Kodak Hall will also host bluesman Keb’ Mo’ on June 24 and the Eastman School of Music Ensemble’s free Jazz Scholarship Concert, celebrating the late Chick Corea, on June 26. Bonnie Raitt’s June 27 show, also being held at the venue, sold out about a half hour after it went on sale.
Among the festival’s returning signature sights and sounds are the big free outdoor shows. On the East Avenue at Chestnut Street Stage is the high energy blues and rock of St. Paul and the Broken Bones at 9 p.m. Saturday, June 24. Parcel 5 has four free shows: Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers on June 28; Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes on June 29; The Artimus Pyle Band, featuring Lynyrd Skynyrd’s drummer playing the music of Ronnie Van Zandt and Lynyrd Skynyrd on June 30; and RIJF favorite Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue closing out the fest on July 1.
Club Pass venues are Christ Church, Hatch Recital Hall, Hyatt Ballroom, Kilbourn Hall, Little Theatre, Max of Eastman Place, Montage Music Hall, Rochester Regional Health Big Tent, Temple Building Theater, Theater at Innovation Square and the Wilder Room. Those stages feature performers such as vocalists Curtis Stigers, Emilie-Clare Barlow and Catherine Russell, young pianist Joey Alexander, guitarist Bill Frisell and one-time backup singer for the Rolling Stones, Ms. Lisa Fischer — all of whom have appeared at previous jazz festivals.
Playing rooms that reflect the diversity of sound: Hatch Hall is a piano listening room, while the Big Tent will bring the party.
“Each one of these venues,” Iacona said, “has a personality to the programming.”
The late-night jam sessions following evening performances also return to the Hyatt Regency.
Three-Day Club Passes ($254 plus a $6 service charge) and nine-day Club Passes ($294 plus a $6 service charge) are available at rochesterjazz.com. A three-day Student Club Pass ($174 plus a $6 service charge) for students ages 25 and under are available at RIJF Official Ticket / Information Shop at Gibbs Street and East Avenue.
Otherwise, admission to individual shows is $35 for Kilbourn Hall and $30 at all other Club Pass venues.
Jeff Spevak is senior arts writer for WXXI/CITY Magazine.