Ominous clouds, bouts of rain and a little mud weren’t enough to slow down the 39th Annual this past weekend in the festival capitol of Colorado. Produced by the local non-profit, the Telluride Society for Jazz, the weekend was a family-friendly affair with a focus on music education and local talent in addition to a top-notch lineup of jazz and funk greats. Headliners included Ernie Watts, Maceo Parker, the M&M’s, Eddie Roberts’ West Coast Sounds, Bill Frisell Trio and more.
Days and nights were filled with plenty of offerings to keep festival-goers engaged. There were morning yoga classes, clinics put on by some of the most renowned guests the festival had to offer (like an open workshop with guest of honor saxophonist Ernie Watts), a kids tent lush with hula-hoops and facepaint and late night parties at venues across town for the night owls. Free daily performances at the Wilkinson Public Library and early showings on the historic main stage in Town Park showcased talented youth ensembles, from the local Telluride Student All-Stars Jazz Ensemble to the Durango-based Stillwater Foundation All-Stars.
By the time evening hit, attendees were treated to an hour of free tastings to prime them for the headlining acts. Friday’s focus was on local Colorado spirits while Saturday transitioned to wine. Eager lines for souvenir tasting cups stretched across the venue prior to each tasting, but the small scale and considerate attitude of the festival allowed the free-for-alls to go off without a hitch.
The sleeper highlight of the festival was one of its first acts on Friday, the Jonathan Scales Fourchestra. Despite a misleading name, the band is actually a trio led by the soft-spoken Scales on custom steel pans and the virtuosic playing of bassist Cody Wright. Taking a math-fusion approach to an instrument typically associated with music from the Caribbean, the compositions Scales played on the steel pans were eye-opening—from “channeling his inner Bela Fleck” on speedy bluegrass-inspired numbers to recreating Seal’s nineties hit “Kiss From a Rose.”
A soulful set from the Nth Power, driven by the backbeat of drummer Nikki Glaspie and the falsetto of guitarist Nick Cassarino, battled the first (of many) raindrops of the weekend. The band embraced the situation, breaking into the fitting track “Holy Rain” and continuing their set unaffected.
Friday nightap headliner was the Bill Frisell Trio. The jazz guitar great was joined by bassist Tony Scherr and drummer Kenny Wollesen, forming a tight-knit trio on stage that rarely broke eye contact with each other. Their 90-minute set was a pleasant, non-stop journey that would spontaneously drift into psychedelic space then back into familiar melodies like the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life” and the classic Disney jingle “When You Wish Upon a Star.”
Saturday saw an early set from the charismatic Hammond B3 specialist Joey DeFrancesco, who had to enlist the help of drummer Xavier Breaker (Ernie Watts Quartet) due to a last minute flight cancellation. For a band that had met ten minutes before their set, the fluidity and chemistry between members was impressive.
Eddie Roberts’ West Coast Sounds was next. Best known as the guitarist of sophisticated UK funksters The New Mastersounds, Roberts’ hand-picked band stepped into new territory with the addition of New Orleans drummer Jermal Watson and a horn section. Halfway through the set Roberts brought out guest trumpet player Jennifer Hartswick, but the real magic would happen on Sunday afternoon when the two would reunite for Hartswick’s own impromptu super jam (that also featured the likes of John Medeski, Kim Dawson, and more).
Guest of honor Ernie Watts, whom the main stage was named in honor of all weekend, brought with him one of the more traditional bands of the festival, complete with a baby grand piano and upright bass to complement his saxophone. Watts’ talent was on full display, as was that of his band, as he’d walk around stage and force each musician to improvise with him phrase for phrase during a free-form set.
The night didn’t stay jazzy for long, as Saturday’s headliner was the funk legend Maceo Parker (of James Brown and Parliament-Funkadelic fame). In a comedic gesture, Parker came on stage to proclaim his set would be two percent jazz, played a thirty second traditional number, then broke into unrelenting funk for the rest of the set. Maceo’s band of funk legends (including a subdued Dennis Chambers behind the kit) played the set of the weekend, burning through an anthology of covers like Parliamentap “P.Funk (Wants to Get Funked Up),” James Brown’s “Papa’s Gotta Brand New Bag,” and his own solo hit “Pass the Peas.” Throughout the night, Parker would periodically scream “We love you!” to the crowd. Itap safe to say the feeling was mutual.
Sunday was the themed New Orleans Day, complete with a second line parade through Main Street led by the Soul Rebels and an afternoon full of Crescent City funk on the main stage. The Front Range act Euforquestra opened the day with an eclectic set that jumped between reggae, world beat and straight-ahead groove. Guest vocalist Kim Dawson was a standout, especially when channeling Robert Plant as she belted “Whole Lotta Love” to close the set.
Jennifer Hartswick’s Super Jam brought an ensemble cast of musicians to the stage for soul classics likes Bill Wither’s “Ain’t No Sunshine” and Stevie Wonder’s “Living For the City”, followed by the eight-piece brass brand and New Orleans’ staple the Soul Rebels.
The skies parted on Sunday just in time for the festival closer, the M&M’s. The supergroup consists of Galactic rhythm section Stanton Moore and Rob Mercurio, jazz heavyweight John Medeski (Medeski, Martin & Wood) on keys and blues veteran Papa Mali on guitar and lead vocals. While the swampy funk created by such an accomplished foundation was something to behold, it was the backing vocals and percussion of Margie Perez and Monica McIntyre, the Femme & M’s, that stole the show. Parading around stage with a cowbell and tambourine, the ladies filled out the band’s sound and offered stellar choruses on the Who’s “Eminence Front,” the Tom Tom Club’s “Genius of Love” and Jimmy Cliff’s reggae anthem “The Harder They Come.”
The M&M’s ended a double encore with the “sacred” New Orleans tune “(Big Chief Like Plenty of) Fire Water,” during which Medeski got extra ambitious and the song ended with the loyalists that remained in the crowd still singing in harmony as the band cut out. It was a fitting end to yet another beautiful weekend festival in Telluride, a quiet mountain town now synonymous with just that.
