So often, music stands at the intersection of joy and sorrow. And perhaps helps pull them together.
There stood Glen David Andrews on Tuesday; playing two shows at Montage Music Hall, in the midst of the Rochester International Jazz Festival. The joy was that celebratory New Orleans sound. The sorrow was the news from that morning — a nephew, who lived in New Orleans, had been shot and killed.
Yet Andrews went on with the shows.
He was bigger than the room. He had his trombone. (As will his cousin, the festival favorite Trombone Shorty, who closes out nine days of RIJF on Saturday night at 9 p.m. on Parcel 5.) Throughout his second of the two shows, Andrews mostly left his own trombone tucked beneath an arm. Instead, he prowled the stage, and paraded through the packed club, mostly ignoring microphones in favor of elephantine bellowing.
“Everyone get up,” Andrews yelled as he started the show, and virtually everyone in the packed room did as they were told. And they stood throughout the more than hour-long show. Andrews’ trio was delivering New Orleans standards such as “When the Saints Go Marching In,” songs the audience readily joined in on. And, drifting from that a bit, “I Fought the Law and the Law Won.” He whistles well, sneaking in a few bars from the theme of “My Three Sons,” before moving on to the haunted “St. James Infirmary.”
And then, that second show took a turn toward serious themes. Anti-racism, with Andrews chanting about Black skin, white skin, it’s all the same. “Get out the vote,” he sang, as the music took on the feel of a gospel revival. Andrews did not go into the details about the shooting death of his nephew, but he was turning his family tragedy into a call for change.
Andrews is back onstage with 8:30 and 10 p.m. shows at The Big Tent.
Person2Person homecoming
In a nine-day festival filled with guitar pyrotechnics and chasing the ghosts of Lynyrd Skynyrd, one also needs some old-school jazz at a jazz festival. On Tuesday evening at Kilbourn Hall, that was Person2Person: the tenor saxophone of the 88-year-old Houston Person and the alto saxophone of Eric Person, younger by three decades.
Soulful Houston Person, looking sharp with his handkerchief tucked into the pocket of suit jacket, has a vast catalog of recordings with the likes of Charles Brown, Lena Horn, Lou Rawls and Horace Silver. The prolific Eric Person has recorded with a diverse crew that includes The World Saxophone Quartet, McCoy Tyner and Bootsy Collins.
Accompanied by the classic jazz setup of piano, drums and bass, the two Persons took turns onstage and sometimes played together, easing their way through a series of jazz chestnuts. Illinois Jacquet’s “Black Velvet.” Eubie Blake’s “Memories of You.” Benny Carter’s “Only Trust Your Heart.” Person and Person took the slow road on virtually every one of them, as if they had all night.
And sitting in the front row Tuesday was Jose DeCosta, the creator of the Rochester Exodus to Jazz series, which first put the two saxophonists on stage together in 2009. And the two have continued the partnership since then. As Eric Person noted, looking out at the Rochester audience, “This is the birthplace of Person2Person.”
Today’s jazz haiku
Set the room on fire
with twin saxophone coolness
clear the room of smoke
Hooked by Nordic jazz
As his band played the first of two shows Tuesday at Christ Church, Joona Toivanen suggested that optimum conditions for fly fishing is a little rain.
What that has to do with jazz is anyone’s guess. But it seems to suggest some kind of theme for Toivanen’s Jazz & Fly Fishing. Led by Toivanen’s electric guitar, the Nordic quartet is a quiet collision of ideas. There are bright sounds, especially electric piano, like Chick Corea in his playful moments. Or a well-tied fly plopping into a slow-moving eddy. One moment the band is pensive, like a Tibetan prayer bowl; the notes are barely there. Then the fish strikes, the music soars to a crescendo.
An intriguing jazz choice was an instrumental version of Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War.”
There has also been some kind of filmmaking going on about the band during its American tour, with the final stop at the Rochester International Jazz Festival.
It seems as though self-effacing humor is a part of all of these Nordic jazz players. “We absolutely love your big, beautiful country,” Toivanen said. “The fishing’s been pretty good, too.”
Spevak's picks for Wednesday, June 28
Catherine Russell, Theater at Innovation Square, 6:30 and 8:30 p.m.
A jazz fest favorite, this one-time backing singer with David Bowie delivers classic jazz vocals.
Marc Broussard, Temple Theater, 7 and 9:15 p.m.
This guy is a Louisiana Bayou soul powerhouse on guitar and vocals. He also plays Thursday at Theater at Innovation Square.
Akiko Tsuruga Organ Group, Hyatt Regency Rochester Grand Ballroom, 7:45 and 9:45 p.m.
We’ve been here before with Tsuruga. It’s a blast watching her wrestle with the organ, drawing inspiration from the great Dr. Lonnie Smith.
Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers, Wegmans Stage at Parcel 5, 9 p.m.
Hornsby’s 1986 album “The Way It Is” was a Grammy winner. And the guy gets around, having spent time playing with The Grateful Dead.
Jeff Spevak is senior arts writer for WXXI/CITY Magazine.