Summer's Last Hurrah: The 2008 Tanglewood Jazz Festival

Unfortunately, my schedule this past weekend did not allow me to spend the entire weekend at the 2008 Tanglewood Jazz Festival in Lenox, MA. I did, thankfully, get to see a couple of performances.  The Jazz Festival is a new tradition for me, but one I look forward to each year. The names, like Dianne Reeves and Jane Monheit draw the crowds, but Tanglewood audiences are also exposed to an incredible variety of styles and talent. The Festival is like a tasting menu of Jazz, Blues and Vocals.

Saturday night's bill opened with Donal Fox: Scarlatti Jazz Suite Project with trumpeter ChristIan Scott. The set was brilliant. Intellectual beyond my comprehension, but fascinating. There is no way to passively listen to Fox. His re-interpretations of classical pieces are a lot to absorb. I would have enjoyed hearing more about his process as it would have helped my access more of the music he composes and played.

In 2005, trumpeter ChristIan Scott appeared at Tanglewood's Jazz Café, a venue for up and coming talent. The decision to put him in Seiji Ozawa Hall for this year's Festival was, undoubtedly, correct. Fox and Scott ended their set with a little "Bach meets Bambola", a tribute to Scott's hometown of New Orleans,

Now in her third decade as a solo artist, Ms. Reeves knows her crowd. She know what they want and she delivers. She scatted her way through 'Social Call' and 'Today Will Be a Good Day' from her new album "When you know". Her interpretation of the Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer's ‘One for My Baby' was an early showstopper. That one song went from a simple solo to a full-out, full-throated wail. It is only a slight exaggeration to say that couple of numbers later, all of the crickets in the Berkshires stopped chirping so they could listen to Reeves' a cappella rendition of ‘If I Could Help Somebody", which was made famous by Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. Reeves, who is often compared to Sarah Vaugh, also gave the crowd a little Mabel Mercer and Angelique Kidjo. No one went away disappointed.

Sunday afternoon's program at the Hall began with the Eddie Daniels Quartet. In the mid-1960's Daniels began playing with The Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra. He can be heard to one of my all-time favorite albums, Fine Brown Frame, which the Orchestra recorded with Miss Ruth Brown. In 1980 he released his debut GRP album "Breakthrough". In his understated fashion Daniels says that he "has some technique on the clarinet". He is clearly at the very top of his profession. Daniels rifts on a theme, guiding the quartet in what it sometimes obviously, and charmingly, completely improv mode.

Daniel's sense of humor is evident in his composition and performance. He gave the audience a short lesson on what the need to know about his style of jazz, "Nothin', just listen". His take on "After You've Gone", "That's Fa Afta", which is on his new album, "Homecoming' is enchanting.

The second half of Sunday afternoon at Seiji Ozawa Hall belonged to Mark O'Connor with his band Hot Swing and guest vocalist Jane Monheit. Before I heard of Hot Swing, I had not even considered that there might be a sub-genre of jazz that included Appalachian Jazz. The sounds that O'Connor's all-string band create are a revelation. In 2003, O'Connor, with Monheit and Wynton Marsalis, released the album "In Full Swing". It is worth a listen.

In my opinion, in the "Voice As Instrument" category of vocalist, Jane Monheit can go toe-to-toe with any female singer. She can be compared to Nana Mouskouri, Barbra Streisand and Sandi Patti in their prime. She opened her 2008 Tanglewood set with a luxurious rendition of ‘Honeysuckle Rose'. Monheit found new low notes during her performance of ‘As Time Goes By', which she followed with an expectedly up tempo rendition of "Fascinating Rhythm", which is included on "In Full Swing". Sharing the stage with O'Connor there wasn't always enough for Monheit to do, which was a shame. Too much of a good thing, I guess.

I am not, nor will I ever be, a real, true jazz aficionado. At the Tanglewood Jazz Festival you don't have to be. If you like good music and be open to new sounds and experiences, you will have a great time.

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