Charles Lloyd©Andrea Canter

“Probably the best small jazz festival in the country, if not the world.”—San Francisco Chronicle 

It’s no longer a well-kept secret that the northern California town of Healdsburg holds one of the finest small jazz festivals in the nation. Tucked into the picturesque vineyards of Dry Creek, Alexander Valley and Russian River in Sonoma County, Healdsburg welcomes a diverse array of internationally acclaimed and locally prominent musicians every summer, scattering performances around restaurants, hotel lobbies, small theaters and winery grounds, usually over the course of ten days. With two weekends of prime time performances and a week of engaging jazz related activities in-between, the 2011 festival is set to prove that “13” is a lucky number. Just ten months ago, there seemed little hope that the festival could continue at all, let alone without missing a beat. 

Danilo Perez©Andrea Canter

It might be below zero and there might be three feet of snow on the ground, but the Twin Cities Jazz Festival, aka the Hot Summer Jazz Festival, is just heating up in preparation for the 13th annual event, the biggest jazz gig in Minnesota and the upper Midwest. Beginning with the “Jazz Night Out” round of music throughout St Paul’s Lowertown venues on Thursday night, June 23rd, the main events of the festival again take place in and around Mears Park, with two stages of music Friday afternoon through Saturday evening, a Youth Stage on Saturday on nearby Prince Street, and music on several club stages in the area. The full schedule at Mears Park will run 4 pm-10 pm on Friday, Noon til 10 pm on Saturday. All events on outdoor stages are free. 

Boasting perhaps the strongest line-up of headliners in festival history, Executive Director Steve Heckler announced the following main stage schedule, with more stages, and more music, to be announced over the coming months: 

• Friday, June 24, 8:30 pm: The Gary Burton Quartet with Julian Lage, Jorge Roeder and Antonio Sanchez
• Saturday, June 25, 4 pm: Air Force Notables
• Saturday, June 25, 6 pm: Deodato
• Saturday, June 25, 8:30 pm: Danilo Perez

Harry Connick Jr. ©John Whiting

Click here for a slide show of photos from the festival. http://www.jazzpolice.com/content/view/9242/79/

A jazz festival starts as a series of choices. What will you see? Whom will you hear? Where will you go next? How much can you squeeze in? It can turn into a scan of your radio dial: A bit of this, a bit of that, settling nowhere, a sonic blur.  

In my sixth year at the Monterey Jazz Festival (and my photographer husband John Whiting’s fifth), we decided to try a different approach. Rather than see a half-hour of one performance and ten minutes of another, we chose several we wanted to see from start to finish. This meant missing some things entirely and hearing only snatches of others. Was this the right decision? There’s no right or wrong way to do Monterey. You go with the flow. We heard stellar sets in their entirety and skipped others that people raved about. You win some, you lose some, and, deo volente, you return next year for more. 

Ahmad Jamal©Jean Marc Lubrano

I’m writing this early (very early) on Saturday morning, after the festival’s first night (Friday). Did I see everything I said I would on Friday? Mostly, and then some. 

We began at the Garden Stage with the Ben Flocks Quartet, where Flocks was joined by Javier Santiago, Chris Smith, and Cory Cox—all past Brubeck fellows, two (Santiago and Smith) from Minneapolis. We saw the first half of Marcus Roberts’ first set in the Coffee House, with Rodney Jordan on bass and Jason Marsalis on drums. And the first half of the Roy Hargrove Big Band in the Arena, up to and including both songs by Roberta Gambarini, who looked amazing in a red gown. 

The very end of Jazz Mafia’s Brass, Bows and Beats, a 45-member band squeezed into Dizzy’s Den. A little Les Nubians back at the Arena. All of Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Indo-Pak Coalition in the Night Club. And, as it happened, a bit more of Hargrove’s big band. For their second performance of the night, they got a late start at Dizzy’s and played late—until well after midnight. Nobody minded. The line to get into that show was huge, by the way, a reminder that if there’s someone you really want to see in one of the smaller venues, where seats are not reserved, try to arrive early. 

Fred Hersch©Jimmy Katz

SATURDAY  

The festival's first full day. We'll head over in the early afternoon all bright and bouncy and drag our tired selves back to the hotel after midnight. (It's a half-mile walk between our hotel and the festival site, a WPA-era fairgrounds, and it feels a lot longer at the end of the day.) 

2 pm DownBeat Blindfold Test with Fred Hersch Hosted by Dan Ouellette (Dizzy's Den)

The premise is, jazz journalist Ouellette will attempt to stump pianist Hersch by playing several jazz recordings and asking him to identify the performers. It's really an excuse for what is sure to be a far-ranging, fascinating conversation about jazz. If you can't be there in person, you can read about it in a future issue of DownBeat. 

This will be my sixth year at the Monterey Jazz Festival. I'm still a newbie compared to those who have been coming here for decades (there are many), but I know where the venues are, where to find samosas and sterling silver jewelry, and why it's good to visit the merchandise tent early in the festival (because otherwise the T-shirt you want will be sold out). I know to carry an extra layer or two of clothes because it gets chilly in the Arena at night. 

I know it's perfectly fine to see part of a set by one artist or band and move on to another (someone will be grateful for your seat or spot on a bleacher). I know I won't see everything I plan to see. I'll be en route to the Coffee House when a siren song from the Garden Stage will lure me in. Or I'll head for Dizzy's Den and run into a friend and we'll stand there talking or go for a beer.