Summer’s almost over, but you can savor one last three- day weekend with a couple of jumping festivals in the mountains.
Vail’s 11th Annual Labor Day Weekend Party showcases a handful of mainstream jazz’s top names, with several returnees from previous years. The charismatic singer Kurt Elling has deservedly evolved into a major jazz festival draw, due in no small part to his crowd-pleasing repertoire, ranging from covers of John Coltrane and the ’60s rock group The Zombies to his collaborative compositions with longtime pianist Laurence Hobgood.
Elling and his trio are scheduled for several performances throughout the weekend, as is tasteful guitarist Russell Malone, vibraphonist Stefon Harris, pianist Renee Rosnes, drummer Joe La Barbera, and trumpeter Jaremy Pelt, who just released the progressive-minded “Identity” disc, on the Maxjazz label.
All of the Vail performances, running Friday through Monday, are held in the Centennial Ballroom of the Vail Cascade Resort and Spa. Many of the artists perform in a jam-session atmosphere, and if you’ve been holding out for one pure jazz celebration this summer, you can’t do much better. Tickets and lodging are available at 800-VAILJAZZ.
The Jazz Aspen Snowmass Labor Day Festival in Snowmass Town Park isn’t as jazz-centric as the June JAS lineup, but there are a few crowd-pleasing acts that know something about swing, including Willie Nelson on Sept. 4. (He recently told me he’s preparing to go to work on a new collection of songs from the Great American Songbook.)
Saxophonist Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe precedes Nelson on Sunday, gutbucket jam band Galactic appears Friday, and trumpeter Terence Blanchard performs Saturday. They’re scheduled in addition to headliners Widespread Panic (who I’m told can improvise), John Fogerty, Maxi Priest and the Loggins and Messina. Call 866-JAS-TIXX for information.
Masterly remaster
How many times have you sprung for a “remastered” version of a favorite jazz recording that you already owned?
Sometimes it’s rewarding – but more often than not it seems that all I really did was buy the same music again with the addition of inferior versions that the artist or producer didn’t deem worthy of release in the first place.
So I have become skeptical of these projects. Unless there’s really something new and revelatory there, why bother?
That said, if you look back fondly on a particular Pat Metheny album released in 1985, you really should bother.
“Song X: Twentieth Anniversary” (Nonesuch) updates the once-in-a-lifetime creative collision between guitarist Metheny, at the time a revered young lion, and the (then as now) iconoclastic saxophonist Ornette Coleman. Fans of the soothing side of Metheny’s music were certainly as confused as avant-garde Coleman devotees. The meeting (and ensuing tour) was the sort of successful experiment you don’t see any more. And that’s a shame.
The original album was exciting and more than a little disorienting, with odd, lighthearted melodies punctuated by intense patches of dissonance, all effortlessly propelled by drummers Jack DeJohnette and Denardo Coleman. Metheny’s new mix brings greater clarity to the statements of the players, particularly Ornette, whose ingenious solos are easier to follow.
But the best news about this reissue is the bonus material: six new songs and a 15-second song fragment (no alternate takes) that sound as vital as anything on the original album.
Metheny knows the worth of this previously unissued material. That’s why he leads off the disc with the “new” stuff instead of tacking it on at the end.
This is a rare case of a very good album made great in a newly packaged form.
Set list
The Keystone Wine, Jazz and Art Festival continues today with Anthony James Baker, Laura Newman and Dotsero. … Hear the Antwon Owens Quintet at Dazzle tomorrow. …The Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey (there’s no Jacob Fred in the band, by the way) plays Dulcinea’s 100th Monkey on Thursday and the Fox Theatre on Friday. … The Big Swing Trio performs at Sambuca Friday and Saturday.
Bret Saunders’ column on jazz appears every other Sunday in A&E. Saunders is host of the “KBCO Morning Show,” 5:30-10 a.m. weekdays at 97.3-FM.
