Vibes player and drummer Michael Benedict named this 10-year old band to tell us which of his two instruments he plays alongside David Gleason, piano; Mike Lawrence, bass; and Pete Sweeney drums.
Michael Benedict Jazz Vibes, from left: Michael Benedict, Pete Sweeney, Mike Lawrence and David Gleason. Photographed at the Karen B. Johnson Schenectady County Public Library in April. Michael Hochanadel photo
All but Benedict also play in the Art D’echo Trio while Benedict’s resume includes Bopitude, the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra and the Spike Jones Orchestra. Gleason plays with the Keith Pray Big Soul Ensemble and his own Sensemaya, while both Lawrence and Sweeney play in the Joey Thomas Big Band and Sweeney played with the Dickey Betts Band.
Benedict’s drummer dad inspired him to play, as did drummer Peter Erskine and vibraphonist Gary Burton, but he didn’t play jazz until college. At SUNY Potsdam, he studied drums with Jim Peterscak and earned a degree in music education. Following with a masters in jazz studies at Rutgers, he worked with Keith Copeland and privately with Ray Mosca, but never studied vibraphone professionally.
His first band, in high school, was the Five Cs – “Couth, Class, Charisma, Character and Corigliano.” Benedict recalls them as “a legend in our own minds.” His first payday was $25 with the Pauly Falvo Trio at Utica’s Eagle Club.
Michael Benedict. Michael Hochanadel photo
Michael Benedict Jazz Vibes – which has released three albums– plays jazz and Latin standards with about 10 percent originals. “There’s a big emphasis on improvisation,” says Benedict. “Everyone in the band is featured.”
Not surprising for a percussionist, Benedict approaches the standard jazz repertoire this way: “Basically, come up with a rhythm concept and adapt the song to the groove.”
Jazz Vibes also plays June 22 and Aug. 24 at Stella Pasta Bar, July 14 at Margarita City (with guest singer Kaitlyn Fay), also July 16 at Lark Tavern (trio lineup) and July 20 at 9 Maple Avenue (full lineup); all four also play sideman gigs.
Jazz on Jay free concerts are noon to 1:30 p.m. at Jay Square, the newly park space opposite Schenectady City Hall. The rain site is Robb Alley at Proctors, 432 State St., Schenectady. Seating is provided indoors at Robb Alley, but patrons are invited to bring their own seating and refreshments to Jay Square.
Jazz on Jay is presented by the ElectriCity Arts and Entertainment District and sponsored by the New York State Council on the Arts, a Schenectady County Legislature Arts & Culture Grant, Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation, The Schenectady Foundation, Price Chopper/Market 32, MVP Health Care, Schenectady County, Schenectady City Hall, and Proctors Collaborative.
More will stay the same about Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival – a varied menu of jazz with soul, pop and blues – than will change.
The festival – June 29 and 30 at Saratoga Performing Arts Center – will be the the last under Freihofer’s name sponsorship.
Little else has changed, except for audience-friendly improvements.
Since 1978, the festival has flown the name-sponsor banners of Newport and Kool – which may have been the only jazz event ever to bear a Surgeon General’s health warning.
Grumbles that greeted demand-based ticket pricing probably won’t translate into lower sales this year. Although purists complain that “jazz festival” actually means a mix of jazz with pop, rock, blues and funk dilution. Those quibbles erupt around jazz festivals from New Orleans to Montreal and just about everywhere jazz happens.
But what hasn’t changed is that jazz happens here in impressive quality and quantity.
This 47th festival presents 22 acts on two stages, with sets overlapping so that hot-footed fans can taste at least some of each performance. This comes as a welcome recent improvement; so does the tent providing shade and shelter to audiences at the Charles R. Wood Discovery Stage.
JAZZ TIPS
Take sunblock AND rain gear; and wear comfortable shoes. You’ll want to wander maybe more than you expect.
As for “expect” – See an unfamiliar name on the program? Go see them; just go see them. Somebody will surprise you, for sure. And this year’s surprise may become a lifelong favorite. Case in point: Samara Joy, a singer to love, was unknown in her area debut at Albany’s Riverfront Jazz Festival before playing Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival and wow’ing everybody there, too.
Don’t like what you’re hearing? Ramble over to the other stage.
Samara Joy in her area debut at Albany’s Riverfront Jazz Festival. Michael Hochanadel photo
Go early/on time. This festival traditionally hits hot, with sizzling early sets by lesser-known performers – such as the first two acts on Saturday: a young violinist in her festival debut and generically-named New Orleans funk-masters.
Talk to strangers: You’re in the friendliest, most cosmopolitan crowd around.
Hydrate, then hydrate some more; beer doesn’t count.
SHOWTIMES: A Lightly Curated Hit List
Ads typically list the most prominent artists first, but this list of the performers is more usefully chronological.
FYI: Artist birthdays at the festival include Stanley Clarke (73) and Joey Alexander (21). Alexander has received birthday cakes – and, of course, the song – onstage at both SPAC and Music Haven. Who gets a cooler birthday bash?
An asterisk (*) marks festival debuts, by project, though several artists have played the festival previously in other configurations.
The Terence Blanchard and Helen Sung listings have changed some since earlier announcements; and this entire menu is subject to change. But don’t worry; remember what we said about surprises.
Saturday Showtimes
Amphitheater Stage
12 p.m.: The New Orleans Groove Masters. Drummer Herlin Riley, Jason Marsalis and Shannon Powell sometimes bring a full band, but they can lay down big relentless funky beats as a trio.
1:45 p.m.: Joey Alexander Trio with special guest Theo Croker. The Bali-born pianist has grown beyond the huge promise of his teenaged talent; playing here with trumpeter Croker who also co-stars on his latest album (of seven) “Continuance.” Alexander changes sidemen often, most current info: bassist Kristopher Funn and drummer Jonathan Barber. Alexander released his debut album “My Favorite Things” at age 11 and has played SPAC and Music Haven here. This marks his 21st birthday; get ready to sing.
3:30 p.m.: The Yussef Dayes Experience*. The young British drummer and composer plays at the crossroads of jazz and classical: His debut solo album “Black Classical Music” features a large ensemble playing big ideas.
5:15 p.m.: Samara Joy. At 24, the precociously soulful singer has wowed area audiences in recent years with musical maturity well beyond her years. Her “Linger Awhile” (second) album won Grammys for Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best New Artist while “Tight” won the Best Jazz Performance Grammy the next year.
7 p.m.: Cimafunk* with special guest Pedrito Martinez. Martinez (and the New Yorker magazine) call him the “Cuban James Brown” for upbeat dance-inspiring music that layers American soul-funk onto Afro-Cuban beats. His stage name refers to “cimarrons,” enslaved people who escaped into self-sustaining communities in Cuba in colonial times. Rolling Stone and NPR hailed his third album “El Alimento” (2021) as one of the best albums of the year.
8:55 p.m.: Lake Street Dive*. Bluesy pop as hot as New England Conservatory-trained, country-oriented jazz-bos can cook it. This “Good Together Tour“ may be their most ambitious, including their Madison Square Garden debut. Their latest release “Fun Machine: The Sequel” presents songs by the Pointer Sisters, Bonnie Raitt and Carole King and others, and they’re working on a follow-up, so expect fresh ingredients.
Charles R. Wood Discovery Stage
11 a.m.: Sara Caswell Quartet*. Conservatory-trained (Indiana, and Manhattan School of Music), the violinist earned high raise from the eminent fellow violin virtuoso Mark O’Connor: “Most good violinists will never experience what Sara creates with her instrument. It is beautifully refined emotion that lifts the spirit…”
12:20 p.m.: Harold López-Nussa*. Prolific pianist born to a Cuban musical family, he’s played with the Cuban National Symphony Orchestra, toured with Omara Portuondo and led jazz bands on a dozen albums including “Timba A La Americana,” earning international raves.
1:40 p.m.: Tia Fuller. The elegant Colorado-born, classically-trained saxophonist starred in Schenectady’s A Place for Jazz and the Pixar film Soul. She also toured with Beyonce and Esperanza Spalding and earned a Grammy nomination for her “Diamond Cut” (fifth) album.
3 p.m.: Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra*. The relentlessly curious trumpeter studied at Berkeley (not Berklee) and leads seven of his own bands while playing in several more. This particular big band swings rock tunes as well as jazz classics. He says, “…you can do a Jelly Roll piece, then a Leonard Cohen piece, then an Ornette Coleman piece, then a Duke piece and then a piece by The Band. And it’s not even about it being eclectic, it’s just music.”
4:20 p.m.: Theo Croker. Another trumpeter, the Florida-born grandson of swing-era trumpet virtuoso Doc Cheatham, Croker studied at Oberlin with Donald Byrd, led the house band for a Shanghai TV talk show and has worked with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Roy Hargrove, Stefon Harris and others on 10 albums including a Miles Davis tribute.
5:40 p.m.: Coco Montoya*. After playing drums in guitarist Albert Collins’s band, Montoya switched to guitar before a decade-long run with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. He plays upside-down (left-handed) on a left-handed guitar with a right-handed neck.) His 1995 debut album won Best New Artist at the Blues Music Awards.
Sunday Showtimes
Amphitheater Stage
12:30 p.m.: Terence Blanchard: Flow. Seven Grammys, two Oscar nominations, composer of the operas “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” and “Champion” and many Spike Lee film sound-tracks, the prolific trumpeter and composer also leads SFJazz and often collaborates with the Turtle Island String Quartet. Flow echoes his groundbreaking all-star 1995 album of that title.
2 p.m.: Cory Henry. The Brooklyn-born keyboardist played Harlem’s Apollo Theater at age six, co-won three Grammys as a member of Snarky Puppy (who played this festival in 2023) and has been nominated five times for his own albums, most often as Best Progressive R&B Album.
3:30 p.m.: Laufey*. Cellist with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra at 15, she won numerous TV talent shows as a singer – inspired by jazz vocal giants Ella Fitzgerald and Chet Baker – before graduating from Berklee in 2021. Her debut album “Bewitched” won the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album Grammy, with a style she calls jazz pop.
5:15 p.m.: Stanley Clarke N*4Ever. The veteran bassist turns 73 the day he plays the festival with band-members half or a third his age. Openness to young talent and new ideas mark his career as five-time Grammy winner and leader or sideman of groundbreaking straight ahead jazz and fusion bands and a National Museum of African American History and Culture Fellow.
7 p.m.: Norah Jones. The singer-pianist-songwriter has played both in this festival and her own headlining shows on a decades-deep run of 13 albums, collecting nine Grammys and selling in the millions. She also collaborates with jazz, rock, country and hip-hop giants.
Charles R. Wood Discovery Stage
11:30 a.m.: Skidmore Jazz Institute Faculty All-StarsCentennial Celebration of Max Roach, Bud Powell & J.J. Johnson featuring Clay Jenkins, Steve Wilson, Steve Davis, Mike Moreno, Bill Cunliffe, Todd Coolman & Dennis Mackrel. Bassist Todd Coolman goes wry and professorial in this wry, virtuoso big-band staffed by Skidmore music editors who also play with old-pro skill and swing. They’re way more fun than any music class; tributes are their bread and butter.
12:55 p.m.: Helen Sung: JazzPlasticity*. Pianist Helen Sung, a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow, leads a quartet with drummer Kendrick Scott, saxophonist/clarinetist John Ellis and bassist David Wong in a program inspired by Sung’s jazz artist-in-residence stint at the Columbia University Zuckerman Mind Brain Institute and in partnership with Arts & Minds.
2:20 p.m.: Miguel Zenon Quartet. The Puerto Rican saxophonist has won a Grammy, Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellowships and a Doris Duke Artist Award. A longtime SFJazz performer, he’s released more than a dozen albums including “El Arte Del Bolero Vol. 2” winner of the 2024 Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album.
4 p.m.: Olatuja. The singer graduated from the Manhattan School of Music, sang at Pres. Barack Obama’s second inauguration (2015) and has co-led the Olatuja Project with bassist husband Michael Olatuja.
5:35 p.m.: Pedrito Martinez Group. New keyboardist Isaac Delgado Jr. joins veterans Manny Marquez, percussion; Sebastian Natal, bass; and Xito Lovell, trombone. Superb rumba-based, percussion-powered jazz, every time – with fresh tunes from “Acertijo,” released earlier this year, and even fresher material from an album still under construction.
Hoke's Jukebox 