Jazz Fest - My Day 3 - This post is brought to you by Red Bull

Sadly this was another show that took convincing to leave the house, but I knew I'd regret not going to see the legendary Paquito D'Rivera. So I tracked down some of his music online and after the first bar no more convincing was needed. One would think it shouldn't take so much convincing to get me out to see phenomenal jazz for free, but once I'm home it's hard to pry me out again. Also, in this case, I'm not a huge fan of the alto sax. I am, however, a big fan of latin jazz and it only seemed right that after seeing Arturo Sandoval last year I should see his buddy Paquito.

I had no real desire to see Occhipinti but still caught about 1/2 a song (10 minutes) and rather enjoyed what I heard. Not sure I would have wanted to see the whole hour. I was lucky enough to catch a pretty smokin' drum solo accompanied by latin piano riffs though. This drummer (Dafnis Prieto - love that name) looked about 12 years old and played with the energy of one. Even the sax player was visably impressed - tossing his head back in laughter by the things young Mr. Prieto was doing.

By then I was looking forward to Paquito. I figured if he put on half the show that Arturo did last year it would be phenomenal. My mistake for having such high expectations. They were obviously very good musicians (the guy has 8 Grammys) but it wasn't exceptional. Paquito himself is quite the charmer and jokester so that was fun, and I did enjoy his playing. As I mentioned alto sax is not one of my favourite instruments but his tones were really nice and warm. That is until he brought out the soprano - definitely not my favourite instrument. Again, they're VERY GOOD - it just wasn't doing it for me. The smattering of sound issues didn't help matters either. Paquito also seemed very irritated by it. Then once the weedly solos and high notes for the sake of high notes started I knew I was done. I guess it comes down to the fact that I was hoping for more of the Cuba sound and it was more straight ahead jazz which I suppose I've been leaning away from as I get older because even though it's always different, it's still the same.

I then headed over to the Commodore to try to catch a bit of Ivan Neville. Turns out I didn't have to rush. I got there during intermission and the crowd was sparse and remained so and the change-over ended up taking 45 minutes!!! If it wasn't for the fact that I ran into a friend I would have left before they even took the stage. I'm glad I caught a bit of them but I could just as easily have taken a miss. Another case of Really Good Musicians, but the music was samey-samey. Perhaps it's because my funk-education comes from hours and hours of Tower of Power but I just couldn't get into their groove. A person I work with also happened to be there and felt the same way - he left after 4 songs. That was 2.5 songs longer than me. At least I got to see my friend which was really nice. He did end up staying longer so hopefully we can get a report from him as to the rest of the show.

(no pictures this time - my seat at Paquito was directly in front of the doors and Centre staff)

Jazz Fest - Day 2

There was no need to convince myself to get out and see the show I had planned for tonight - Tango Paradiso and Pink Martini. I've been anticipating this one for a month - ever since I first checked out Pink Martini online. I had planned for a while now to go see Tango Paradiso. Turns out they were opening for this band I'd never heard of (the aforementioned Pink Martini) so of course I went to this mystery band's website to check them out. Now I can't get enough of them.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I didn't end up going to any of my planned shows yesterday. After the lovely day of sun, gardening and sushi I was just too tired to check out Cat Empire. Turned out to be fortuitous as they weren't allowing in passholders. So I caught up on some much needed sleep and ended up doing some housey type stuff during the day today.

Tango Paradiso was good, but didn't keep me in their thrall. There were definite highlights though. They did a fabulous tango version of Ellington's Caravan which pleased me to bits. One of my dirty little jazz secrets is that I collect versions of Caravan. One of my favourites is by Medeski, Martin & Wood and the strangest is a tie between Chicago and The Carpenters. But I digress. They also premiered Doug Schmidt's "Four Season's North" which was lovely. Sadly Doug wasn't playing his accordion I once held hostage at my house for a year (and have some lovely photos of) but he was playing a very beautiful very old Bandonion (like a button accordion only squarer). I think I have that right - when he "introduced" it he said "think band-onion". And hey, I've finally found out how to pronounce Budge Schachte's last name (shaktee).




As for Pink Martini... how can you not love a band who's instrumentation includes a classical harp and spoons. Seriously, if I ever decided to run away and join a band - it would be a band exactly like Pink Martini. They play with the exhuberance that once made jazz illegal. That beautiful, primal joy that comes from somewhere deep and naughty. All the while singing in portuguese, japanese, french, spanish, croatian, and english. Just a tad bit talented, that group. My only complaint is with Coastal's habit of scheduling bands at The Centre when they ought to be in The Commodore where people can dance.



To end my evening my dear friend won over sleep again and we met up at O'Doul's for a bit of Tony Foster and note-comparing. She had gone to see ESQ at Ironworks. In her words "It was astonishingly beautiful. They just gelled...Wow... I can't wait for the fucking album." And trust me, this gal knows what she's talking about.

Happy Not Quite Birthday Shannon

My friend Shannon got two presents from me today.
1. A lovely patio garden. (or at least a good chunk of it anyway)
2. Me starting this blog.
She'd had enough of me on myspace because she couldn't comment without becoming a member. Fair enough.

Here's a photo essay of our day:


beautiful rose garden by one of the nursery's we went to


the saddest dog I've ever seen








before


after


I've decided to start a new trend - backseat gardening


Shannon's not allowed to play with my camera anymore


world peace forum


world peace forum parade down Burrard - some flavour of protest I believe




On a completely unrelated topic:
This KILLS me.
I'm not even going to try to describe it as I couldn't possibly do it justice.

Happy Jazz Fest - Day 1

Day 0 - Jazz Fest Opening "Gala" (and I use that term lightly). It's best I not say anything on this subject. I just shake my head in dismay and hope they've learned their lesson.

Day 1 - Got home from work and DID NOT feel like going out. The plan was Esbjorn Svensson Trio (EST) then a couple of songs by Seu Jorge (pronounced Say-Oo Jorjay with soft j's) (the dude who played Bowie cover tunes in Portuguese in Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) then off to O'Doul's to hang with friends and hopefully be joined by a dear dear dear friend once her film shoot wrapped.

What happened was...I ended up scarfing down some food and half a can of RedBull with blueberry juice & vodka. That helped a bit. I also gave myself a bit of a time break by deciding I could miss half of EST. So I dragged myself down to The Centre and caught the last 2.5 songs by EST - keep in mind these were approximately 15 minute songs. I was so glad I didn't bale altogether. They were just as amazing as when I saw them a few years ago. Part standard trio, part electronica trance - and they'd move in and out of that feel two or three times in a song. Incredibly lulling and invigorating at the same time.

*

By then it was about 9:30 and I was feeling more awake (especially after that set) and had no problem staying for a bit of Seu Jorge. That, and the fact that I had got a text message from my friend saying she wouldn't be done til about midnight, so I had some time to kill because as much as I wanted sleep, she's MUCH more imporant.

OH. MY. GOD. It's rare that I've been to a concert so good. Not just in the performance but in what they did to the crowd. It's the first time I've ever seen an entire audience at the very conservative Centre on their feet dancing. At first there were just a few "loge parties", but then it just spread. Those boys had a way of stirring up the crowd. I can't really describe the music other than saying it was heavily tinged with Brazilian Carinval type percussion. As a lovely treat he "took it down a bit" and played (solo) his unbelievable renditions of the Bowie tunes Rebel Rebel and Ziggy Stardust (I think) as well as one I didn't recognize. He didn't let us rest for long though - the band rejoined and we were on our feet again. As they took their bows and can-canned off the stage arm in arm there was no way we were letting them go. They returned for two encores before The Centre raised their lights signalling for us that it was time to go. I think the band would have been happy to play all night. It was their first visit to Vancouver and I very much doubt that it will be their last.

*

But the night was not yet over for me! I called my friend, who was not yet done work and sounding very tired, and told her I was just on my way to O'Doul's. Mike Allen was just taking the stage when I got there and my other friends where well into their evening and having a blast. I'm not sure who everyone was that jammed with Mike. I think Adam Thomas was on bass (save for a brief song where Rene Worst took over while Adam crooned for us - what a lovely surprise there) and the always fabulous and smiling Bruno Hubert was on piano. Not sure who was on drums but we got a few tunes from the wonderful and intense Morgan Childs. A trumpet player I don't know sat in for a couple and Bruno Vansina from the Belgian band Flat Earth Society sat in on alto sax for half the night, which was nice because I had been planning on seeing them in Gastown (saturday). As a bonus, part way into the evening my friend showed up - having decided that I too was more important than sleep (YAY!). I even got to tell Seu Jorge what a wonderful time I had at his show and that I was now a new fan for life. He clasped both my hands, bowed and thanked me graciously. *swoon*

So all in all - fabulous first day!



*Yes, all of the photos will be fuzzy. I can't possibly get clear ones with my camera and lack of photo creds so I've decided to go "abstract".