Peggy's Place
Wall Street Jazz Festival
 August 6, 2007
Our Wall Street Jazz Festival was Saturday August 4th in Uptown Kingston, and I must say, it was my favorite one so far. We have the infrastructure in place after 4 years, and the festival is beginning to run itself, flowing evenly and smoothly. Kudos John Bilotti and crew!
The weather was perfection (again, that’s the 4th year in a row, good karma, I guess!), the people of the community (and beyond) showed up in droves, and the music was wonderful. It really was a magical evening, a dreamy kind of event. Or maybe it’s just my dream come true; many people expressed their pleasure and thanks.
Between this festival and the Homer Jazz Fest that I just did in Alaska, I am seeing that the concept of the homegrown, grass roots, community jazz festival really works; people love it, are not overwhelmed by it, and gradually we introduce the folks to players they may not have already known about, while keeping the local players in the mix. I love the non ho-hum nature of it, presenting the unexpected, keeping the theme of women leaders, and especially the total absence of commerciality. For me it was a family event, with my daughter Sarka and her friends helping (immeasurably!), and good friends dotted all throughout the sweet crowd. People stayed until the very end, at about 11PM, and danced (without being encouraged, that’s a first) to Estrella Salsa & Samba, my band plus Virginia Mayhew and Rebecca Coupe Franks, and minus Pete O’Brien, replaced for this gig with Tomas Martin Lopez on timbales, and David Beauchamp on congas. I decided to present some of my more sensitive music at the beginning of the set, even though I could feel the eagerness of the dancers to party down. It worked perfectly, and was heard and appreciated, and then we got down to the business of salsa, no samba that night!
The sets before mine were all wonderful and I must say, the programming worked out elegantly: beginning at 5PM with the wonderful pianist Lee Shaw and her trio (Rich Syracuse and Jeff Siegel), they play together a lot and it shows -- a total pleasure to hear her music, as always. The crowd began to build during this set, and kept building right to the end.
Then Nina Sheldon presented a set with Hugh Brodie (Chris Sullivan and Michael Thompson), and that was neat too; an audience-pleasing set, kinda bluesy and fun.
After that Rebecca Coupe Franks and her band (Ken McGloin, Andy Eulau and Tani Tabbal)presented a funky, crossover kind of set, that really got the people going. What a perfect placement for this music, and she really sounds great! And is writing great music! She sang, but she had laryngitis, oh well.
Virginia Mayhew (with Kenny Wessel, Ed Schuller, and Victor Jones) presented a wonderful, thoughtful, straight ahead set, with neat twists and turns. Virginia is so poised and dignified onstage, and plays so well, it was really a pleasure to have her.
For my part, I loved having Virginia and Rebecca onstage with me, and they did a great job with my stuff - I am finding the internet VERY handy for getting the music to my bands, sending pdf charts around, and hoping for the best, because this time there really was no chance of a rehearsal. The evening ended with the audience shouting More! More!
All in all, it feels like our festival has taken on a life of its own, and I am feeling very proud of it; community service, music service, women musicians service, however I think of it, we have a success, and I am already booking next year’s festival. Don’t ask, it’s a secret…
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