Review of a live jazz performance

This is a review of the Exit Jazz Festival that was held at Cape May in New Jersey for a period of threedays, running from the 7th to the 9th of November, 2014. It is a festival that often takes place on a yearly basis. This edition was filled with the typical variations regarding the style of the diversity in music. Here, we will only talk about and mention a few performances. Some of which are not mentioned include Monty Alexander’s performance together with Rene Marie, as well as pianists Nigel Hall and Johnny ONeal in different shows (Ephland). It took three days; from a Friday night to a Sunday afternoon of jazz performances and thus was a great experience.
Three shows that put the event on the going emerged as predominantly remarkable. The jazz-laden cookers spearheaded the event, Jonathan Batiste together with his band, as well as the Trio of Aaron Parks. Opening the event in Cape May on the stage were the Cookers. The Cookers presented themselves in a return act with a lot of strength in every position they stood (Ephland). At the forefront of the four performers, there was Billy Harper handling the saxophone of tenor, Donald Harrison handling the alto saxophone, the founder of the group David Weiss, and Eddie Henderson with the trumpet. They were supported by the naturally powerful section of rhythm of McBee Cecil on bass, George Cables on the piano and Billy Hart on the drums. In the combined sounds, there were many voices, although Hart particularly was very surprising, and brought menace. Hart was everywhere in his set, very effervescent and flamboyant than this assessor has ever seen in the many years of his presence in the industry (Ephland). Arrays of tunes were played, several of them as an ensemble in voicings that were out-styled. From the look of things and how everything was happening, some of the voicings required deep listening. You could see the horns moving from the front of the stage towards the wings; the soloing persons were as well involved in the performance.
They went on playing a little of tunes from their recent CD known as “ Time And Time Again”. The tunes included very interesting charts that held two-chord frames; with a melody that was dirge-like that slow-cooked in explosive singles from Harper, Cables and Weiss. ” Croquet Ballet,” by Harper was a slow cooker, along with driving singles from Cables and Harrison. Cables verse to Mulgrew Miller, known as ” Farewell Mulgrew,” got played in tribute to a good talent and friend. With blazing singles that came from Harper and Henderson, known as ” The Core” , by Freddie Hubbard, at last showcased the group playing its name (Ephland). This is a cooker of the1960s that revealed, in a solo fashion, the Harts swinging firepower of snap-to-it combustion.
Whereas the Cookers signified the opening of Exit Jazz Festival strong, post-bop backup appeared; consisting of Stay Human and Jon Batiste. They presented a more advanced and also more engaging and touching set of performances. Batiste together with his company established a rather larger, more energetic crowd within the hall. Among the things that made the show lively was that everything about Batiste was unpredictable (Ephland). His method used to lead included musical intervals of stopping-on-a-dime where songs were often interchanged. Featured artists were rotated as it seemed like an unplanned act. The leader of the instrumentals had a confident and commanding, presence whether at the bench of the piano or any other part. This made Batiste’s performance appear the most appealing of the evening.
Works Cited
Ephland, John. Exit 0 Jazz Festival: Music All Over The Map. 25 November 2014. 4 December 2014 .