Sonoma, Calif. – Aspen had better watch its back – musically speaking, at least.
This town of 10,000 gave Glitter Gulch a run for its money over Memorial Day weekend as a four-day jazz festival took over the historic community 40 miles north of San Francisco.
The festival, in its second year, was put on by Jim Horowitz, the impresario behind the Jazz Aspen Snowmass festivals that have been a popular draw in late June and Labor Day weekend for about 15 years.
The event offered a diverse lineup, including Denver’s Dianne Reeves, B.B. King, Herbie Hancock, the Spanish Harlem Orchestra and Natalie Cole. There is plenty outside the festival grounds to draw a crowd as well, including a charming downtown and a surrounding countryside of rolling hills covered by vineyards and California live oak.
“The biggest difference” between the Colorado and Sonoma festivals, Horowitz said, “is there is a deeper serious music audience” in northern California.
Access to the sprawling region with a population of nearly 8 million gives the festival plenty of music lovers willing to make the short trek to Sonoma, a far easier task than driving from Colorado’s metro areas to Aspen or Snowmass. Horowitz estimated half of his audience was coming to the festival from the area.
The event kicked off Thursday night with longtime San Francisco-area musician Steve Miller, whose pedigree is more blues and rock than jazz. After working through a couple of his rock hits, he turned to the blues and then offered up Eden Ahbez’s “Nature Boy” as a firm connection with a jazz crowd.
Friday offered a strong jazz set from Grammy winner Reeves, who lived up to her reputation for being an even more dynamic performer live than on disc. Backed by a tight trio, she delivered a smoky, soulful performance that included some banter about her time spent with George Clooney while appearing in his film “Good Night, and Good Luck.” She offered a lament for New Orleans with Duke Ellington’s “Solitude” and closed out with a nod to Motown with “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me).”
The king of the blues did not disappoint, though on his 80th- birthday tour he has slowed down. He knocked off some blistering blues runs even while telling the audience he had “bad knees, bad back and the head ain’t much good either.” While King remained seated and sometimes did more talking than playing, he and his band had much of the crowd on its feet.
A highlight Saturday was the blistering salsa outfit Spanish Harlem Orchestra, and it shook the huge tent – the same one used in Colorado – and got the largely middle-aged crowd up and dancing.
More disappointing artistically was Cole’s Saturday headlining show that veered into a set of mushy pop tunes leavened by occasional forays into the material of her late father, Nat “King” Cole. While she has an impressive set of pipes, songs such as “Fever” and “Smile” were not adventurous.
The festival closed Sunday night with Rickie Lee Jones, who was her eccentric self, first playing solo piano and then running through new and old material with a three-piece band. Hancock capped the evening, bringing along an unusual array of guests that included bluesman Keb’ Mo’ and drummer Sheila E.
Staff writer Edward P. Smith can be reached at 303-820-1767 or esmith@denverpost.com.
