Newport Jazz Festival is August 7-8, live feed planned

Looks like I'll miss the Newport Jazz Festival for the 52nd year in a row. Too bad.

This year's edition, in Newport, Rhode Island August 7-8, will have folks like Wynton Marsalis, Dave Brubeck, Ahmad Jamal and the Chick Corea Freedom Band with Roy Haynes. Great lineup.

Jazz impresario George Wein started the festival in 1954, Wein is still around and promoting though he's about 900 years old.

But the Festival is probably the largest jazz gathering in the United States. Just check out the honor roll of folks who released albums from their live Newport sets:

- Duke Ellington

- John Coltrane

- Count Basie

- David Brubeck

- Ray Charles

- Muddy Waters

- Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday and Carmen McRae

- Nina Simone

Half of Rahsaan Roland Kirk's Volunteered Slavery album was from a live Newport set and ... well, you get the idea. Too numerous to mention. If your favorite jazz musician is of any significance, he's played Newport.

Back in the earlier days of the festival, the Voice of America carried Newport live, giving households their annual jazz fix.

It was in 1956 that a tired-sounding Duke Ellington and his band lit the stage up. An oldie from their songbook, Diminuendo and Crescendo In Blue, featured Paul Gonsalves on tenor sax, and before his 27-chorus, six-and-a-half minute solo was over the audience got crazy. If you listen to the live portions of that album you can hear Duke trying to quell the audience before a riot broke out.

Here's what I wrote a year ago about that solo:

"It's one of those moments that every human being should experience. It's crunch time, and you're called to perform at something -- a job, dealing with family, facing the outside world. And you're performing at a level that you didn't know you had and you don't remember how you did it. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar described one of those moments during the closing seconds of a playoff game when he was at the baseline, in the corner, those seconds ticking away. Abdul-Jabbar said time just slowed down for him, kind of like you're watching the world in slow motion. A teammate got him the ball, Kareem put up the hook shot, it went right in, and immediately the world went back to real time. I'm sure it was that kind of moment for Duke Ellington and his band."

Enough history. But here's the good news. If you can't make it to Newport, check out the NPR site this year. They plan a live Internet feed so you can listen to at least some of the music, real-time.

I know where I'm going to be this weekend: In front of the computer, speakers blaring, listening to some great jazz.

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Happy Father's Day!

Horace Silver's "Song For My Father."

It's your day, Dad. Enjoy it.

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Jam Session, Reloaded to explore music at several levels

I've been threatening to do this for some time.

As if a fella doesn't have enough blogs going around, I just had to introduce a new one. What you are now reading is the latest of the Reloaded line, The Jam Session Reloaded.

There's a good reason for this.

I am a person with many interests, as you can probably figure. I'm a news junkie. I can get a little outspoken in discussing politics. Really strange news captures my attention. And yeah, I've been known to disassemble a computer or three, and I've reprogrammed more than a few.

A quick way to determine one's passion is to ask yourself: What is it you'd rather do than eat? Of course, if your passion is eating, then you may want to try a different benchmark.

None of these aforementioned pursuits have ever stood in the way of a good meal. OK, I may scarf something down real fast while ripping into the guts of a computer, but you know what I mean.

When it comes to music, though, it's a whole different matter. To me, listening to a good live performance will make me forget I'm hungry. And if I'm in the middle of it all, playing that music, then that's going to trump any stomach growling any time.

So there it is.

Credentials: I started enjoying music as soon as I became aware of it. Started playing harmonica, got proficient, began playing in public in the mid-1980s. First got paid doing this in 1986. Added some flute to my arsenal; that's still under development. Played in a number of bands, led some, recorded a couple of times (none of the results are in print), played probably a few thousand live sessions in venues ranging from living rooms and front porches to festivals, from bars to churches. Attacked genres as diverse as jazz, bluegrass, blues, folk, rock, country, even Mexican folk songs and Slovenian polkas (which is a story in itself). And loved every minute of it all.

But this blog isn't about me. I'll share a personal anecdote every now and again, maybe plug a project I'm working on, but that's not what this is about.

I'm working this from several levels. To the layman, I'll relate some of the wonderful sounds I've heard. To the accomplished professional, I'll discuss some of the finer points of the creative process, of musicianship. So if there are times I get a little too technical for the layman, just bear with me. I'll get over it shortly.

The jam session is starting. Be there.

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