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Twin Cities Jazz Festival Kicks Off in St Paul, June 22-23 Print E-mail
Written by Andrea Canter, Contributing Editor   
Wednesday, 13 June 2007
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Kenny Garrett © Andrea Canter
The schedule might seem pared back a bit this year but the quality of the music will more than compensate when the Twin Cities Jazz Festival kicks of at Mears Park in downtown St. Paul on Friday evening, June 22. With local and national acts spread over Friday evening and much of Saturday, the Summit Brewery Stage will cover much of the wide spectrum of modern jazz. The name of the festival may no longer be “Hot”—but the music will sizzle. And all Mears Park events are free!

Friday, June 22

6:30 pm, Irv Williams Quartet. What better opening act than Minnesota’s own Mr. Smooth? At 87 (nearing 88!), Irv is one of the living treasures of local music. Raised in Cincinnati and Little Rock, Williams first performed in the Twin Cities as a clarinet and sax player with the Navy during Word War II. Turning down invitations to play with Count Basie and Duke Ellington, he stayed in the Twin Cities, although his vita includes stints with Fletcher Henderson, Mary Lou Williams, and Billy Eckstein. Here at home, Irv has played at every jazz venue, past and present, including the old Flame Bar where he was often back to back with such stars as Sarah Vaughn, Dizzy Gillespie, and Johnny Hodges. Retire? No chance, as Irv has demonstrated with three new CDs in the past three years! Joining Irv will be very special guest, pianist Jon Weber, who has become the “house” pianist for the festival over the past five years. Also on the bandstand, local legends Gordy Johnson on bass and Kenny Horst on drums. Let the music begin!

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Irv Williams © Andrea Canter
8:30 pm, Kenny Garrett Quartet. It must be saxophone night in St. Paul, with one of the headline acts of the festival taking the bandstand as the sun goes down. Altoist Kenny Garrett is considered one of his generations pre-eminent voices. A major force in jazz since his first appearances with the Jazz Messengers and Miles Davis twenty years ago, Garrett and company have been sizzling across the country following the release of his acclaimed Beyond the Wall, topping many “best of the year” lists for 2006. The Detroit native cut his teeth early with Art Blakely, Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw before joining Miles’ last touring band for a five-year term. A frequent winner of readers’ and critics’ polls, Garrett has concentrated on his own compositions and ensembles in the past decade, and always tours with a tight band: The winner of the 2005 Great American Piano Competition, Venezuelan pianist Benito Gonzales first played accordion and percussion before taking up organ and later piano, and is now one of the fast-rising stars in Latin and modern jazz. Bassist Chris Funn maintains a rapid pulse, at times setting a heavy funk rhythm that keeps the band in the groove. Drummer Jamire Williams has been touring with Garrett, Marcus Strickland’s Twi-Life, and others. The Kenny Garrett Quartet festival gig promises to be one of the jazz highlights of the summer—just don’t call him Kenny G!

 

Saturday, June 23

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Walker West © Andrea Canter
Noon, Walker West Music Academy. One of the treats of the Twin Cities festival is the opportunity to see “works in progress”—young jazz musicians as they venture out of school and onto the performance stage. A long-standing part of the festival has been Walker West. The St. Paul music school is dedicated to instruction and performance inspired by and reflected in the African-American experience and language of music. Under the leadership of acclaimed educator Felix James, multiple groupings of talented young artists show us why local jazz has a bright future. Students as young as sixth grade through college-age have found their chops at Walker West.

1:30 pm, NOVA Jazz Orchestra. Minnesota is home to a number of stellar big bands and NOVA is among the best. With a repertoire of home-grown compositions and arrangements, NOVA includes performer/composers John Ahern (trumpet), Bob Byers (alto sax), former Maynard Ferguson band member Larry McCabe (trombone), and Paul Peterson (tenor sax).

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Connie Evingson
3 pm, Connie Evingson. A popular chanteuse on the Minneapolis side of the festival in 2006, Connie brings her wide-ranging repertoire to Mears Park. Covering everything from Gershwin to Peggy Lee to the Beatles and Django, Connie is one of the most versatile performers around, an alum of Moore By Four and leader of seven acclaimed recordings including the two most recent devoted to “gypsy jazz.” Connie keeps pretty busy locally but also finds time to tour Japan, Scandanavia and in the past year has appeared at Jazz Alley in Seattle and Blues Alley in Washington, DC.

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Phil Aaron © Andrea Canter
4:30 pm, Phil Aaron Trio. One of the busiest of area pianists, Phil Aaron held down a long-time trio gig at the Hotel Sofitel. Regularly playing with the Phil Hey Quartet and other area ensembles, Phil draws inspiration from Bill Evans, Cedar Walton, Tommy Flanagan, and Keith Jarrett. Notes the Star Tribune, he “can swing hard or wax romantic at the keyboard.” Phil will have a cross generational base of support, with popular bass virtuoso Gordy Johnson and young lion cub Miguel Hurtado on traps. Gordy is always busy on both sides of the river during the festival, with a stylistic range that makes him invaluable to vocalists, straight-ahead ensembles and more edgy artists alike. Just completing his first year at the Manhattan School of Music, Miguel is already a festival veteran after years with youth bands and sitting in at the jam sessions.

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Salsa Del Soul © Andrea Canter

6:30 pm, Salsa Del Soul. Another act that made a big splash at last year’s festival, this ten-piece band brings the sounds of Latin America and the Caribbean to the north country where they have been a warming presence, the best excuse for dusting off your dancing shoes! Get into a Latin frame of mind –this evening is definitely south of the border!

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Chuchito Valdés
8:30 pm, Chuchito Valdes. There may be no greater legacy in jazz than the three generations of Cuban keyboard monsters named Valdes. Following grandpa Bebo and papa Chucho, Chuchito has recorded and performed with the world renowned band, Irakere, which he led for two years. Wrote Neal Tesser in the Chicago Reader, "Chuchito Valdés displays the hell-bent intensity and daredevil technique of the elder Valdes – qualities recognized worldwide as hallmarks of Cuban jazz.” This will be Chuchito’s Twin Cities debut.

 

Artists Quarter After Dark

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Jon Webber © Andrea Canter
The first weekend of the Twin Cities Jazz festival takes place officially in Mears Park, but come dark, the music continues down the street at the Artists Quarter, led by perennial festival pianist Jon Weber. A Chicago native/child prodigy recently relocated to New York, Weber has dazzled festival audiences for many years with his extensive musical vocabulary and equally extensive internal encyclopedia of jazz. There’s nothing Jon does not know or can not play on the keyboard, from boogie woogie to bebop to modern improvisation. With bassist Gordy Johnson and drummer Kenny Horst (his cohorts on Friday evening on the Summit Brewery Stage), the Jon Weber Trio will be in full swing, and open to jamming with festival guest artists. It will be two evenings of great music and surprise. So come on down when the festival closes for the night--$10 cover and lots of fun.

Full schedule and artist information is available on the festival website at www.hotsummerjazz.com; Artist Quarter (408 St. Peter Street, St. Paul) website at www.artistsquarter.com. The Mears Park event is possible through sponsorship of Summit Brewing Company and a City of St. Paul Cultural STAR grant.

 

 

 
 
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