Sunday at Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival

Good, you’re back – thanks

Ah, sun!

Black-shirted Skidmore Jazz Institute kids filed into the Wood tent (remember: the Charles R. Wood “Jazz Discovery” Stage at Saratoga Performing Art Center) to see their profs throw down. And, teach: leader, bassist and extra-wry host Todd Coolman of the Institute Faculty All-Stars introduced songs/lessons, linking tunes to giants the big-band memorialized to fun/educational effect.

The cumbersomely titled but cool “Skidmore Jazz Institute Faculty All-Stars”

After Bud Powell’s playful “Gertrude’s Bounce,” Coolman confessed the crowd’s respectful silence “is creeping us out,” and everybody loosened up. In trombonist J.J. Johnson’s “Shortcake” and “Lament” later, trombonist Steve Davis appropriately took top solo spots.

Steve Davis

Dave Stryker and Todd Coolman; obscured, sorry

Guitarist Dave Stryker starred in Clifford Brown’s bop classic “Joy Spring,” and the backstage presence of Powell’s son motivated the band. As Coolman said: “It better be good.” It was: “A Night In Tunisia” (a Dizzy tune Powell claimed to thrilling effect in 1951) brought brassy blasts, swaggering solos all around and a droll quote of “Hernando’s Hideaway.”

Terrence Blanchard, trumpet, center-right; with the Turtle Island String Quartet and E-Collective

Trumpeter and composer of everything Terrence Blanchard celebrated the 20th anniversary of his “Flow” album on the Main, adding the Turtle Island String Quartet to his E-Collective – Taylor Eigsti, piano; Charles Altura, guitar; DJ Ginyard, bass; and Oscar Eaton, drums – an effective combination. Blanchard often stepped back between agile, soulful trumpet runs, letting the ensemble shine. This was heady stuff, inspired by Csikszentmihalyi’s book “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.” It hit the body as effectively as the mind since the strings so effectively followed even the funkiest and fleetest passages Blanchard wrote for the ground-breaking album.

Helen Sung

Also addressing psychological themes though a unifying thematic framework was pianist Helen Sung’s Jazz Plasticity project; next on the Wood. Her sparsely arranged quartet reached to inspire brain and body in a quieter, even more reclusive presentation than Blanchard’s.

See the sign

Cory Henry playing organ, second from left

Mighty mood swing: Next on the Main, Cory Henry built burly grooves around his own keyboards and voice, just as he packed phat funk on both sides of Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely” early in his hour-long run. Drums, guitar, bass, keyboards and two singers added color and punch to high-impact riff-songs. Lively, lush stuff, though I missed the promised visit of Pedrito Martinez as I buzzed back to the Wood.

Miguel Zenon

There, Miguel Zenon played the hottest saxophone of the festival, leading his quartet in Spanish-titled tunes ambitiously describing Caribbean lands and people with breathtaking facility and melodic force. His set hit like a unified suite, though “Navegando” and “Bambula” offered distinct flavors after brief stops that felt like mere pauses in the flow. An arpeggio parade on unaccompanied alto rocked and rolled, riff after fiery riff.

Laufey comes onstage, fans lose it

Laufey fans inside

Icelandic singer Laufey (loy-vey) drew Beatles-like ecstasy to the Main, singing “While You Were Sleeping” solo. Fans, mostly teens and 20s, screamed in their seats or jumped up when a lyric went straight to the heart, and they packed half a dozen deep outside the Amphitheater. Laufey then summoned her lush band, including the second string quartet of the day, for depth and drive to waltz-time love songs. She sang simply, with little gesture or drama and no vibrato, letting the songs do the work. And they did.

Laufey fans outside

Afterward, some of the younger fans headed for the exits, but the Main somehow stayed full for Stanley Clarke N*4Ever, then Norah Jones, as parents picnicking on the lawn came in to replace them.

Alicia Olatuja

On the Wood, Afro-pop couple-band Olatuja (singer Alicia and bassist Michael) layered lyrics of struggle and resilience over bass-heavy grooves. “Stay Gold” and “Kadara” (Yoruba for “destiny”) served up hope over a surging beat, as “Bright Side” did later, while “Sumo Mi” cast a romantic spell.

Few danced however, despite Michael’s urging; that came later, in a big way, when Pedrito Martinez took over the Wood.

Meanwhile, bassist Stanley Clarke fronted N*4Ever on the Main, a re-tooled amalgam of Return to Forever (his band with the late Chick Corea) and the Mahavishnu Orchestra (the other top 70s jazz-rock juggernaut). Clarke surrounded himself with second generation fusion players, most notably violinist Evan Garr and drummer Jeremiah Collier. They set up a thunderstorm of happy, mutually supporting riffs. When I caught Clarke alertly echoing Colin Cook’s guitar riffs, I realized Clarke did this with everybody. They stretched tunes – Eddie Henderson’s “Galaxy,” George Duke’s “Brazilian Love Affair,” Chick Corea’s “No Mystery” – into fiery long groove-and-solo suites, Clarke leading on electric or acoustic bass with flying fingers.

Everything was flying on the Wood where Pedrito Martinez did what second-stage closers often do: Get everybody jumping up to shake that thing. The elements seemed simple: Martinez at four congas and cymbal plus new keyboardist Isaac Delgado Jr.; Manny Marquez, timbales and kick drum; Sebastian Natal, bass; and Xito Lovell, trombone. The results: irresistible.

Pedrito Martinez. Above, with his band

Everybody moved all over the place, surrounding Martinez onstage, with only Delgado’s caffeinated-Chopin-and-Bach solo piano interlude to catch our breath. Joy in faces, feet and everywhere between.

Decidedly lower-key on the Main, singer-pianist Norah Jones closed the festival with familiar hits, a surprising two-guitar country interlude and a cameo by Laufey that delighted fans of both singers.

Jones lamented/asked “What Am I to You,” starting her set at a white grand piano, bassist Josh Lattanzi and drummer Brian Blade in tasty, quiet support. Blade got the biggest crowd reaction when Jones introduced him, a legit jazz player Joni Mitchell once took on tour as her only accompanist. 

Soon singer-guitarist Sasha Dobson and keyboardist-singer Emily King joined, but the mood stayed subdued until “Running” reached soft-rock momentum. Jones sang eight songs from “Visions,” released earlier this year; a move as brave – or confident in her fans – as Lake Street Dive on Saturday. Just as brave/confident: coming out from the grand or Rhodes piano to play guitar alongside Dobson in a country-rock run of the new “Queen of the Sea,” “Staring At the Wall” and “All A Dream.” They won’t scare the ghosts of (Allman Brothers) Duane and Dickey but the two-guitar team worked just fine.

Back at the piano for “Come Away With Me,” Jones would have returned to her earlier mellow flow – but instead she invited Laufey back onstage to duet on “Come Away With Me.” Big audience happiness reigned, making the familiar “Stay With Me,” “Happy Pills” and “You Didn’t Call,” plus the new “On My Way” almost anticlimactic. Almost.

2024 Schedule As Announced Officially (my notes in parentheses, like this)

SATURDAY, JUNE 29
Amphitheater
12 – 1:15 p.m. – The New Orleans Groove Masters featuring Herlin Riley, Jason Marsalis & Shannon Powell
1:45 – 3 p.m. – Joey Alexander Trio with special guest Theo Croker (Pedrito Martinez guested here, unannounced)
3:30 – 4:45 p.m. – The Yussef Dayes Experience
5:15 – 6:30 p.m. – Samara Joy
7 – 8:15 p.m. – Cimafunk with special guest Pedrito Martinez
8:55 – 10:25 p.m. – Lake Street Dive

Charles R. Wood “Jazz Discovery” Stage
11 – 12 p.m. – Sara Caswell Quartet
12:20 – 1:20 p.m. – Harold Lopez-Nussa: Timba a la Americana
1:40 – 2:40 p.m. – Tia Fuller
3 – 4 p.m. – Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra
4:20 – 5:20 p.m. – Theo Croker
5:40 – 6:50 p.m. – Coco Montoya
 

SUNDAY, JUNE 30
Amphitheater
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. – Terrence Blanchard Sextet (As noted, Blanchard grafted the Turtle Island String Quartet onto his E-Collective band.)
2 – 3 p.m. – Cory Henry (Pedrito Martinez guested here, unannounced)
3:30 – 4:45 p.m. – Laufey
5:15 – 6:30 p.m. – Stanley Clarke N*4Ever
7:00 – 8:30 p.m. – Norah Jones – no photography/video (This announcement worked only for press photographers who tucked away our gears as fans’ phones recorded everything)

Charles R. Wood “Jazz Discovery” Stage
11:30 – 12:30 p.m. – Skidmore Jazz Institute Faculty All-Stars
12:55 – 1:55 p.m. – Helen Sung: Jazz Plasticity
2:20 – 3:25 p.m. – Miguel Zenon Quartet
4 – 5:05 p.m. – Olatuja
5:35 – 6:45 p.m. – Pedrito Martinez Group

WEATHER

Rain most of Saturday. Clouds dumped big wet stuff; or, at least, Irish-style mist. As lawns grew muddy, some fans doffed wet shoes to go barefoot. Nobody went full-Woodstock; things never got that wet.

Summer sun for real Sunday; too real for some who didn’t hydrate enough. Clouds raced past, fast as the Belmont Stakes, then glowed in Mayfield Parrish pastels as the show ended and the wind rose, about the time SPAC shows used to start.

STEP COUNT

Including pit stops and runs for consumables, only 6,123 Saturday when the rain discouraged some ‘twixt-stage migrating, 8,631 Sunday.

AWARDS

Best Vocal: Samara Joy, in a quality field with Alicia Olatuja, Norah Jones and Rachael Price

Best Saxophone: Miguel Zenon

Best Trumpet: Terrence Blanchard

Best Piano: Joey Alexander; runner-up: Harold Nussa-Lopez

Best Guitar: Dave Stryker (Skidmore Jazz Institute Faculty All-Stars)

Best Bass: Stanley Clarke

Best Drums: Oscar Eaton (Terrence Blanchard’s E-Collective) Norah Jones’s straightforward tunes didn’t ask enough of Brian Blade to show his stuff, but he was perfect as usual.

Best Country Music: Norah Jones

Best Audience Ecstasy: Laufey

Best hair: Trumpeter Theo Croker

Who Brought the Funk Award: Cimafunk, Cory Henry, Yussef Dayes, in about this order of get-down

Best Big Band: Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra; the Skidmore Jazz Institute Faculty All-Stars played well, too.

Most Impressive Artistic Growth Since She Last Killed Us: Samara Joy

The Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans Award: The New Orleans Groove Masters

Best Prince Cover: Yussef Dayes

SUGGESTION BOX/FUTURE FILE

Shaking up start times on the two stages some years ago was a good start; now go all the way, and alternate: Artist A finishes on one stage, then Artist B hits a few minutes later on the other. Would mass-migrations be worse than the current dilemma of having to miss parts of some sets to get a taste of everybody’s music? Maybe, but let’s try it.

Since the current staggered-start system spreads out the usage of restrooms and lines for drinks and food; breaks might have to be part of the schedule.

As noted in our post on Saturday’s show, Freihofers has left the building after 27 years as name sponsor, replaced by GE Vernova. Wiki says it’s “formerly GE Power and GE Renewable Energy…an energy equipment manufacturing and services company headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. GE Vernova was formed from the merger and subsequent spin-off of General Electric’s energy businesses in 2024: GE Power, GE Renewable Energy, and GE Digital.”

Danny Melnick, impresario of Absolutely Live Productions, successor to the late, great George Wein as producer of the Saratoga Jazz Festival and co-founder of The Local, a new Hudson Valley venue. Melnick introduces many of the festival acts and announced the new festival sponsorship arrangement on Sunday at SPAC.

So, next year, the festival will be “the  Saratoga Jazz Festival, presented by GE Vernova” – in the style of “the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival presented by Shell” – and is set for June 28-29.

More Sunday photos

Terrence Blanchard

Cory Henry

Miguel Zenon Quartet

Laufey, twice

Stanley Clarke

Part 1

Major change hit the Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival, and not just the weather. On swampy Saturday and sweaty Sunday, huge crowds showed up for the two-stage, 22-act festival. 

In backstage news, Freihofer’s ended its 27-year string as name sponsor, replaced next year (and the following four at least) by GE Vernova.

Cimafunk and fans Saturday on the Main Stage

Onstage and in the house(s): demographic change. The pop magnetism of Lake Street Dive, Laufey and Norah Jones drew many teens-to-40s fans. Lake Street Dive’s soul/R&B closing set Saturday drew recognition shouts even for new tunes. Joy-screaming, hair-ribboned teen-women fans saw Sunday afternoon as a Laufey show with some other stuff wrapped around it, notably Norah Jones who closed with crowd-pleasing pop/jazz/country. However, after Pedrito Martinez’s percussion driven, joy-filled, dance-with-me-onstage explosion on the Charles R. Wood “Jazz Discovery” Stage (hereafter, the Wood), her elegance felt a bit tame on the Amphitheater Stage (hereafter, the Main). See the 2024 Schedule, in the next edition, for playing order.

The other stuff – real jazz – was notably good stuff, from tributes to bygone giants by the Skidmore Jazz Institute Faculty All-Stars to funk blasts by Jussef Dayes and (especially!) Cimafunk and modernist musings by Terrence Blanchard and Helen Sung. Caribbean stars were in the house: conga wizard Pedrito Martinez who led or guested in four sets, pianist Harold Lopez-Nussa with the brilliant guest harmonica virtuoso Gregoire Maret, saxophonist Miguel Zenon, and the unstoppable Cimafunk. Tastes of the blues (Coco Montoya) Afro-pop (Olatuja) and New Orleans (the New Orleans Groove Masters, with three drummers) added spice. 

Two acts featured string quartets, Laufey and Terrence Blanchard; the only big-ish bands were the Skidmore cats and Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra, both strong; 73-year-old bassist Stanley Clarke wowed as a still-exciting veteran and both Samara Joy and Joey Alexander confirmed their promise as young artists firmly and intrepidly in the jazz tradition.

Here’s how it felt. Confession time: Saturday’s rain held me at the Main, so I missed Tia Fuller and Theo Croker altogether and got only a taste of Coco Montoya.

Saturday:

Violinist Sara Caswell’s quartet sounded ethereal, very New York, on the Wood; an hour later, the New Orleans Groove Masters went way earthy on the Main. 

Sara Caswell

Caswell smoothly evoked Jean-Luc Ponty in atmospheric tunes ranging from the serene “Stillness” with eerie guitar harmonics that Carswell embellished to the folkloric “Warren’s Way” and the power-vamp romp of “Benin.” Her bowing always flowed in confident smoothness, so this lone pizzicato number hit hard.

New Orleans Groove Masters Herlin Riley, left; and Shannon Powell

The Groove Masters launched from a second line beat by drummer Jason Marsalis as Herlin Riley and Shannon Powell smacked tambourines up front, chanting “Little Liza Jane” before jumping on their own kits. As these big-name hitters led the groove, pianist David Torkakanowski bridged beats with melody; in Ellis Marsalis’s (Jason’s father) sizzling “Tell Me,” tenor sax man Roderick Paulin quoted ‘Trane’s “A Love Supreme;” otherwise, it was straight New Orleans, and street-parade strong, especially the bluesy “It AIn’t My Fault” and a fervent if schmaltzy “Wonderful World.” 

All the New Orleans Groove Masters – yes, three drummers

Rain blew in for pianist Harold Lopez-Nussa’s survey of Latin dance energy, transmuted into quartet lyricism, on the Wood. Co-star of this set, chromatic harmonica wizard Gregoire Maret charmed in the ballads and charged up light-footed dance tunes.

Harold Nussa-Lopez, piano, and his Quartet

Joey Alexander Trio

Another pianist, festival frequent flyer Joey Alexander on the Main, won my coin toss versus saxophonist Tia Fuller on the Wood. Alexander started his fourth festival set in mellow new tunes framing “Amazing Grace,” his attentive, flexible trio of bassist Kris Funn and drummer Jonathan Barber following his fireworks. The Bonnie Raitt hit “I Can’t Make You Love Me” felt too short, but “Blue” with guest trumpeter Theo Croker stretch-explored “Blue” beautifully. Pedrito Martinez added congas to a mellow, then spirited, swirl.

Joey Alexander and Theo Croker – best hair of the day

Joey Alexander and Pedrito Martinez

Steve Bernstein Millennial Territory Orchestra, and raindrops

Trumpeter (valve and slide) Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra made the rain-parka’ed walk back to the Wood well worth it, wrapping “St. Louis Blues” around Count Basie’s “Rusty Dusty Blues” and Herbie Nichols’ “Who’s Blues” in a droll, driving dust-up adroitly arranged for three reeds, trombone, violin, guitar, bass, drums and Bernstein his own bad self. Delicious.

Steve Bernstein, his own bad self

Dry inside the Main, Yussef Dayes swung drumsticks stout as tree-trunks, leading a gloriously loud funk-fest by his Experience, a brave moniker for any band not led by Jimi Hendrix. Bassist Rocco Palladino (son of bassist Pino P.) won the Gold Earplugs Award (see others, below) in forcefully amped beat blasts.

Yussef Dayes Experience; Dayes at the drums, center stage

Still hanging in the Main, I saw Samara Joy sing the best vocal set of the festival. 

Samara Joy

Her voice foretold stardom, but her growing musical smarts, respect for tradition and shrewd song choices guaranteed it. She sang songs’ emotions, like Ella, like Sara; but freed their sonic potential in spectacular glides through an astonishing range. 

Samara Joy and her expanded band

She charmed AND awed, bravely putting words to Charles Mingus’s tribute to Charlie Parker, updating “You Stepped Out of a Dream” and Monk’s “San Francisco Holiday,” lamenting “I Saw You Today” in wounded poignance and audaciously grafting an original onto Sun Ra’s “How Dreams Come True” into a swinging groove. She skatted through Betty Carter’s “Tight,” sang Jobim’s “No More Blues” in Portuguese and English and earned the festival’s first encore. Behind monogrammed music stands, her expanded band (two reeds, trombone and trumpet plus her piano, bass and drums trio) put a Nelson Riddle spin on “Day by Day.” Altogether wonderful.

Coco Montoya

Only briefly braving the rain, I savored a taste of guitarist-singer Coco Montoya’s blues on the Wood with the spry, wry “Hey Señorita!” Then back to the Main for Cimafunk whose songs, even a Prince cover, mattered less than the energy.

Cimafunk, center

While Dayes stretched funk for all-in jams earlier, Cimafunk made up-tempo muscle music for short attention spans. Singing in constant motion, he was a happy blur. Center stage before two percussionists – one briefly replaced by Pedrito Martinez – horns and rhythm section, he never let a riff wear out its welcome. He also never repeated a dance move in a non-stop, sweaty party that peaked with fans filling the stage. When he urged “Everybody get down!” everybody crouched in happy dozens onstage. See cover shot

Lake Street Dive, from left: James Cornelison; Akie Bermiss, Rachael Price, Mike Calabrese, Bridget Kearney

Lake Street Dive closed strong, audience love encouraging the Berklee-trained soul/R&B band with shout-outs and singalongs even on new tunes from “Good Together.” Band and fans were in the songs together, so three consecutive new tunes – the rocking “Better Not Tell You;” the languid, nicely harmonized “Seats at the Bar;” the big, slow “Get Around” – got the same recognition applause as “Side Pony” or “You’re Still the One.”

Lake Street Dive: Cornelison and Price

This brave move paid off as the band gained confidence behind the elegant, clear-voiced Rachael Price, while keyboardist Akie Bermiss sang lead at times. Harmonies meshed well, especially when they clustered around one mic in acoustic distillations of “Side Pony” and the privacy paean “Neighbor Song.”

OK, I know this is a lot, so feel free to take a pause here to pour a cold one, walk the dog or mow the lawn.

Meanwhile, more photos:

Sara Caswell Quartet

Gregoire Maret, with Harold Nussa-Lopez Quartet

Joey Alexander

Joey Alexander again

Steve Bernstein calls the shots

Samara Joy

A full report on both days of (the last) Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival – words and pictures.

Sunday’s Times Union reported GE Vernova takes over next year as name sponsor, after 27 years under the Freihofer’s banner.

Shown here: the Jussef Dayes Experience, tearing it up on the main stage (of two) Saturday. He’s the drummer, center stage.

Matty Stecks (born Matt Steckler in Schenectady) savored pleasanter weather Thursday at Jazz on Jay than recently at storm-battered Alive at Five. The saxophonist, flute player, composer and bandleader also sailed past a bump in the road when bassist Rich Syracuse had to bow out Thursday morning. 

Matty Stecks and the 518, from left: Mike Lawrence, Bob Halek, Stecks, and Wayne Hawkins

(Deservedly busy) Mike Lawrence filled in more than ably, after a five-minute phone call. “He didn’t know he was playing until this morning,” Stecks explained gratefully. 

Mike Lawrence

The weather welcomed a sizable crowd to Jay Square, though a wind gust toppled a stroller whose young passenger seemed more amused than scared, and collapsed the info and hospitality tent near the end of the 90-plus minute set. The sun shone bright or hid in fast-moving clouds, and a passing freight train early on didn’t distract, as State Street sirens often did in previous locations further south on Jay Street. 

From left: Wayne Hawkins, Matty Stecks, Bob Halek, and Mike Lawrence

The quartet’s first tune cited the weather, Stecks’s vintage “March Nor’Easter” setting a Latin beat under his agile alto sax and everybody confident and strong. The players all know each other well and Stecks has led various bands in playing the all-original repertoire, so he knows what he wants from his players.

Matty Stecks (aka Matt Steckler)

He knows when he gets it, too: “Tearin’ it up, tearin’ it up!”  he exclaimed happily after “Show Some Class,” a happy, top-down blues-cruise perfect for a sunny summer afternoon. 

He switched to soprano sax in “”I’d Know It If I Heard It,” shifting roles a bit from earlier tunes. Here he played only a short intro before pianist Wayne Hawkins stated the melody and elaborated on it with the same imagination he displayed throughout.

Last-minute bassist Lawrence and always-solid drummer Bob Halek, a marvel of calm consistency and drive, got fewer solos than Stecks and Hawkins but earned their applause whenever Stecks cued them to lead.

Early on, they set a pattern: Stecks, intro and first statement and some exploration; Hawkins, more explanation, and plenty of swagger; Lawrence, rhythm and thoughtfulness in equal measure; and Halek – as the slogan of the great New Orleans radio station WWOZ states – the guardian of the groove. Then Stecks would cue a recap and lead both more exploration and a coda. These varied some; “Chrysalis,” a sweet tenor ballad with a repeating-riff coda; “Forgive” a flute feature built on a bossa vamp, “Prince Eleventy” a fun rip whose groove power made its complex beats compelling; and “Listen Linda” surfing on a playful funk beat.

From left: Mike Lawrence, Matty Stecks, Bob Halek, and Wayne Hawkins

After the fade-and-repeat coda of “Listen,” Stecks noted the band likes its endings unscripted, but nothing felt ragged. Everything fit and everybody knew their place and how to listen and bounce with it.

In “Vegas Mode,” a mutation of “East of the Sun,” as Stecks explained, Hawkins most closely echoed the song’s antecedents while Stecks went furthest outside with it, all in a flow of gliding swing. In this, and other late-in-the-set songs, the band swapped riffs in short exchanges, revving and rolling.

After the show, fans trooped into the orange-sheltered bandstand space to congratulate the players. When I asked Stecks about the (unannounced) flute number, he said the original title was “For Kyiv,” but I’d mis-heard that some time ago and listed it as “Forgive” in my review. So he adopted that title, he said, seeking to express something more universal. That expansiveness shone in all his tunes Thursday, and in how his slightly shuffled band played them. Afterwards, Lawrence told me Rich Syracuse was his bass teacher at the late lamented College of St. Rose…

Aromas in stereo greeted fans: barbecue from the Executive Suite at house left, and the Moroccan buffet at Tara Kitchen across Liberty Street from house right. Omnipresent super fan Steve Nover danced nonstop, even in the tricky rhythms of “Prince Eleventy.” When Stecks quizzed the crowd on the song’s title, singer Maggie MacDougall correctly answered, “Because it’s in 11” – that is, bars of eleven quarter notes. She plays Jazz on Jay on Aug. 22 with her Latin combo Bossamba. Jazz on Jay takes July 4th off then resumes July 11 with MC*2.

The Songs (all originals)

March Nor’Easter

Show Some Class

I’d Know It If I Heard It

Chrysalis

Forgive

Prince Eleventy

Listen Linda

Vegas Mode

Nunavit

Free Show in Schenectady, Thursday, June 27; Fourth of 11-show Series

Stecks (nom de jazz of saxophonist/composer Matt Steckler) names this band of regional stars for their shared area code: Wayne Hawkins, keyboards; Rich Syracuse, bass; and Bob Halek, drums. 

Matty Stecks (aka Matt Steckler) Photo provided

Inspired by Chuck Fisher and Charles Stancampiano, Stecks graduated from Schenectady’s Linton HS, then studied music at Wesleyan University, NYU and the New England Conservatory; teachers included Emil Kalled, Conrad Kuchay, Nick Brignola, Marilyn Taggart, Diane Warner, Thomas Chapin, Jerry Bergonzi and Danilo Perez.

Stecks then taught in Boston, New Jersey, at NYU and RPI, in Bennington, at Brandon University in Manitoba; and now at Lenox Memorial Middle and High School. He built bands everywhere, forming Dead Cat Bounce in Boston and Persiflage in New York. Other bands followed – Musical Tramps, SWIPE (Sound Writers in Performative Emergence), Pretzel Stex, Janus Quartet and a trio with Lonnie Plaxico and Yayoi Ikawa.

“I’m in Planet Kniffen with Wayne (Hawkins), I just played a swing dance with Bob (Halek) at WAMC; and Rich (Syracuse) played at my Dad’s retirement party,” said Stecks, son of longtime Union College professor Charles Steckler.

He also curated and played in the Party Horns NYC big-band series at Proctors GE Theatre.

Stecks’s area all-star band the 518 has played in various combinations for five or six years including at Jazz on Jay and for Jazz Appreciation Month at Proctors Robb Alley.

“We’ll play mostly originals, some Wayne Shorter,” says Stecks, longtime fan of the jazz sax giant. They approach playing standards “by trying not to think of the big shoes we have to fill!” And 85 percent of that they play is improvised.

Later in the summer, Stecks leads several bands in area shows. “My biggest will be a fundraiser Sept 21 in Bennington with several bands I’m in… for my 50th birthday.”

Jazz on Jay free concerts are noon to 1:30 p.m. at Jay Square, the new 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.

Concert Preview – Pedrito Martinez at Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival – Both Days

Pedrito Martinez laughed when I suggested he leave his congas onstage throughout Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival Saturday, June 29 and Sunday, June 30. “I’ll be busy,” he replied, playing with Joey Alexander and Cimafunk Saturday, and both with his own group and guesting with Cory Henry on Sunday.

If the star conga player seems to be surrounding audiences at the Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, it’s largely because he grew up surrounded by music.

Pedrito Martinez at Jazz Fest in New Orleans. Michael Hochanadel photo

“The neighborhood where I grew up, Cayo Hueso right in the middle of Habana… a lot of the greatest congeros and top players and musicians are from that neighborhood,” he said by phone last week from his home near the George Washington Bridge. “I used to see all the greatest orchestras rehearsing right in front of my house, across the street. I was surrounded with a lot of music.”

His music school was informal, immersive and effective. “I learned in the street, by myself; I never went to a school of music,” he explained. “It was a completely different way to learn and an unusual way to learn,” he said. “It was beautiful, very spiritual and real.”

Mentors abounded there, and have nurtured his career in Cuba and everywhere he has played since.

“In Cuba I had the great privilege to play with one of the greatest conga players in the whole entire world,” said Martinez humbly, name-checking Frederico Aristides Soto, known as Tata Guines.

Martinez was rehearsing in Havana with another congero great – Francisco Hernandes Mora, known as Pancho Quinto – when Canadian saxophonist and Cuban music enthusiast Jane Bunnett discovered him. “She brought me to Canada for a tour,” expanding both his audience and ambition. After finishing the tour, Martinez decided to stay in New York where he’d played the Knitting Factory with Bunnett’s Afro-Cuban-inspired band. 

After he played with Orlando Puntilla Rios in a documentary film “Calle 54,” doors began to open, first with Cuban superstar saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera, then when he co-founded the band Yerba Buena that recorded two albums.

His next band, that bears his name, formed as a surprise while he was still playing with others.

“I never planned to have a band,” he said. “It was accidental, you know.” When the club Guantanamera opened (8th Avenue between 55th and 56th streets), the owner wanted a band to play all week. “I put the band together, just for fun,” said Martinez. Two blocks from Lincoln Center, “That place became the hang for all the musicians from all over the world,” Martinez marveled, noting many musicians would come in during his band’s late, third set after their own gigs. The night he spotted Quincy Jones, Stevie Winwood, Wynton Marsalis and other stars in the audience, “that’s when I realized something crazy was happening.”

A Beat Happening story in the New Yorker amplified the buzz: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/05/14/beat-happening.

“It was so beautiful, it was so great,” said Martinez. “That particular place opened so many doors for me. I started playing with Paul Simon because of that place.” It also led to his first album: “The Pedrito Martinez Group” (2013). Four more albums have followed; another is nearing completion, set for January release – and he’s guested on dozens more.

Martinez plans to perform songs from “Acertijos,” released earlier this year, and even newer songs slated for the next album.

As the New Yorker story stressed, Martinez thrives on live performing more than recordings, as his long track record here underlines. His Guantanamera residency opened doors leading to SPAC in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2022, also A Place for Jazz (2012); and I caught him at Jazz Fest in New Orleans in 2012.

He collaborated with other artists on most of these, a process powered by respect, in which he seeks long-term collaborations rather than one-shots.

‘The most important thing is to be completely transparent and open-minded, to absorb any kind of opinion or idea from other people,” said Martinez. “I’m always open to hear ideas from different sources” – including Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Garrett, Eddie Palmieri and Jon Batiste.

He shines in these partnerships, both for engaging charismatic energy and his propulsive mastery of many rhythms. Asked if he had drums nearby, he grabbed the practice pad in his New Jersey living room and demonstrated, first a basic clave rumba, then increasingly complex polyrhythms until his sticks conjured a herd of galloping horses. My comparison made him laugh in agreement.

He then excitedly spoke of playing with Cimafunk.

Cimafunk. Photo provided

“I fit perfect with him…the James Brown of Cuba,” said Martinez, “because it’s all about rhythm and dancing and high energy.”

Martinez added, “He always makes sure that the audience gets loud; it’s very dynamic and spectacular with his group” – also with his own.

“I’m going to be performing the music of my latest album (“Acertijos”), definitely,” he promised, also noting he’s deep into recording a follow-up, as yet untitled.

At times, Martinez must marvel at his own rapid rise.

“I came from a very ghetto little neighborhood in the middle of Habana and came to New York, one of the most cosmopolitan cities on the whole entire planet,” Martinez said, his humility sounding genuine, sincere. “I never thought I would have the opportunity to know so many genius artists.” 

Takes one to know one.

Pedrito Martinez plays Saturday at Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival with the Joey Alexander Trio and fellow guest, trumpeter Theo Croker (1:45 p.m.); then with Cimafunk (7 p.m.), and Sunday with Cory Henry (2 p.m.) and his own group (5:35 p.m.)

MORE JAZZ

SPAC’s new “McCormack Jazz Series” brings top acts to the SPA Little Theater this fall and next spring: (bassist/composer) Christian McBride and Ursa Major Oct. 24, 30s-style hot swing stars Dorado Schmitt and Sons with special guests the Hot Club of Saratoga Nov. 22; Latin-jazz giant Alfredo Rodriguez and his Trio Apr. 5; and singer Veronica Swift May 1. 

“Presenting diverse jazz perspectives is an integral part of our mission and vision for year-round programming in the Spa Little Theater,” says Elizabeth Sobol, President and CEO of Saratoga Performing Arts Center in announcing the new series and hailing its originator.

“Jazz has enriched my life and nourished my soul,” says McCormack. You’ve seen him, the cat who looks like John Updike, walking in the aisle at Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival with family and friends.

A tip of the porkpie hat to this super jazz fan. Details and ticket info at http://www.spac.org.

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-Stars Centennial 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.

Stay tuned for a full profile story on Martinez

MORE JAZZ

Not far down the calendar, our area’s biggest jazz noise also serves as launching pad for the nearby Skidmore Jazz Institute Concert Series (June 30-July 11: https://www.skidmore.edu/summerjazz/guest-artists.php), Albany’s Riverfront Jazz Festival (Sept. 14: https://www.albanyevents.org/events/albany-jazz-festival/), and the Lake George Jazz Weekend (Sept. 13-15: https://www.lakegeorge.com/annual-events/jazz-festival/). Too bad the latter two overlap on Sept. 14. Also, A Place for Jazz presents its first show Sept. 6.

One band seems enough for most musicians; not Chandler Travis who brings two to Troy in a two-day, two show visit at opposite ends of River Street.

On Friday, June 21, he leads his longtime Massachusetts coast rock gang the Invincible Casuals in a co-headline bill with Deke Dickerson and the Whippersnappers at the Hangar on the Hudson (675 River St.). Then on Saturday, the Buttercups, another Chandler Travis band, plays a free show outside the River Street Beat Shop (197 River St.).

Right, this takes some explaining.

Chandler Travis, performing at Caffe Lena in April 2017. Michael Hochanadel photo

If the band name Invincible Casuals sounds familiar but different, you’re correct. For decades, the Incredible Casuals made albums, toured and – most famously –  played Sunday shows at the Beachcomber in Wellfleet on Cape Cod. A wry but rocking trio, they make a slyly smart suntanned escapist sound, a kind of New England post-grad Jimmy Buffett thing, but with better songs.

Things changed: founding guitarist Johnny Spampinato joined his bassist elder brother Joey in NRBQ when Big Al Anderson left in 2004. More recently, Travis revived the Casuals idea with original drummer Rikki Bates and Steve “Woo Woo” Wood (member of another Travis band, the Catbirds) in a new version dubbed the Invincible Casuals: Travis, bass; Bates, drums; Wood, guitar. Their first show was a memorial for Casuals guitarist Aaron Spade last September.

Friday’s show by the Invincible Casuals at the Hangar on the Hudson will be the first Casuals show in Troy for at least a decade, a twin-bill with rockabilly blaster Deke Dickerson and his band the Whippersnappers. Show time is 8 p.m., doors at 7:30. $20. 518-272-9740 https://www.thehangaronthehudson.com.

The next afternoon, Saturday at 2, Travis leads his new band the Buttercups in a free show outside (weather permitting) the River Street Beat Shop (197 River St.). Comprising Travis and Bates, the Buttercups, says Travis, is a “noisy duo…hellbent on showing exactly how much is possible with only two peoples…” Assisting in the noise is the remarkably, strangely entertaining Paulette Humanbeing in her only east-coast show this year. A California singer-songwriter as prolific and original as Travis himself, she is, Travis says, “funny, melodic, and peculiar, and she always keeps you on your toes and usually singing along.” 2 p.m. Free. 518-272-0433.