It was a great first night for the sixth annual Rochester International Jazz Festival, despite a brief torrential thunderstorm which shut down the outdoor venues temporarily. I arrived downtown at about 5:30 to meet Seth and, somewhat daunted by the line for Esperanza Spalding, we headed over to see Madagascar Slim at the Montage.

Unfortunately, Madagascar Slim was not to be found. Due to a death in the family, he had to pull out of the festival at the last minute. Instead, we were treated to the Jon Ballantyne piano trio who gamely filled in.¹ Ballantyne reminded me of Brad Mehldau: quiet, introspective and exploratory. Unfortunately, this is quite a different kind of jazz from what was expected. Except for Jane, who joined us for the third tune, the crowd slowly faded away until the band was playing to mostly empty tables. Those who remained were enthusiastic, but the overall mood was a little dispiriting.

Despite this, I left feeling that we had seen some good music and I was eager for more. We hoofed it the few blocks to one of the new venues for the RIJF, the Reformation Lutheran Church and the first of the Nordic Jazz Now series of acts, The Peter Asplund Quartet. Well. Now these guys are the real deal. They totally wowed the crowd with their technical virtuosity and incredibly tight interaction. The new venue gets a big thumbs-up as well. A sharp contrast to the muddy acoustics of the Montage, the sound here was top notch.

As we left to meet up with local New Media star, Greg, we were treated to the sight of a rainbow stretching over the Club Pass Tent. This was the good omen we were looking for. We caught a couple of songs by the Shuffle Demons in the big (and getting bigger every year) Tent, then headed over to get a good table at Max of Eastman Place to see 21-year-old vocalist and bassist, Esperanza Spalding.

Honestly, I had my doubts in the first few minutes with her scatty rendition of Autumn Leaves, but about 3/4 of the way through the the tune, either in my head or on the stage, something clicked. All of the pieces came together. Spalding's light Brazilian-style scat singing contrasted nicely with her bass while Leo Genovese on piano and Francisco Mela on drums locked into a groove around her and stayed there throughout the set.

After the show, Greg, Seth, and I put together a brief podcast recap, which I'll post here as soon as Greg makes a link available. I'm totally looking forward to the week ahead.

Tomorrow night's picks:

• Paul Tillotson Love Trio
• Zanussi 5
• free shows in between: Mambo Kings, Shuffle Demons, Los Lonely Boys
• Bob Sneider Trio Jam Session