The beautiful weather led me to spend much of Saturday browsing the outdoor free venues. Ben and Kari joined in on the fun as we started off with the Newark High School Jazz Band, followed by blues guitar of Scott Goudie on the Jazz St. stage. We took our time hanging out on Jazz St. chatting with Jane and Seth as well as Seth's converts to the jazz scene: Christine, Will, and Sally.

Ben unfortunately ran out of steam before the Shuffle Demons took the stage, so he and Kari went out for ice cream, while I caught up with Jane in the Robert Mondavi Festival Tent to catch the last third of the gypsy-jazz guitar of the Stephane Wrembel Trio. Both Wrembel on guitar and Rochester native Jared Engel on bass were blisteringly creative, but I was particularly impressed with percussionist David Langlois and his washboard kit. Every year, the big tent seems to host some lesser-known yet heavy-duty talent that brings the crowd to its feet. Wrembel was the first instance of this that I've witnessed this year.

After Wrembel, we caught back up with Seth and wandered over to catch the tail end of the homegrown-and-poised-for-national-breakout Afro-Cuban jazz of The Mambo Kings on the East Ave/Chesnut St. stage. We joined a sizable crowd who clearly appreciated what they were hearing and we decided to hang out for the Los Lonely Boys show that would open at 9:00. We only caught the first few songs of this hot, up-and-coming and clearly talented “Texican” rock band, but the lasting impression I'm left with is the crowd, which Seth described as Mardis-Gars-in-New-Orleans dense. It was nearly impossible for us to exit the crowd in time to make the next show on our list.

Thankfully, our efforts were well-rewarded as we arrived just in time for the Zanussi 5, Saturday's edition of the Nordic Now Jazz series at The Reformation Lutheran Church. While Peter Asplund's quartet on Friday night was mind-blowingly talented and entertaining, the Zanussi 5 were mind-blowingly mind-blowing.

I won't say it was a religious experience, but I left the church not fully comprehending what it was that I had just heard. There was the music itself, in which a near cacophony of atmoshperic sounds would suddenly gel into a tight and satisfying groove (reminding me a bit of one of the 2006 festival's big Nordic acts, e.s.t.), and then there were the sounds that were actually being emitted from the instruments. The bass player and drummer made more or less the sounds you would typically expect, but the remaining band members provoked moments of confusion. First, there was the baritone saxophone that would occasionally sound like an alto sax (while I stared at the alto sax player, wondering why his fingers weren't moving). Meanwhile, the alto sax player (who sometimes used his left knee as a mute) was making popping noises that sounded like some kind of musical bubble wrap. Last, but not least, were the inhuman banshee noises coming from the bell of the tenor sax. After a full set of this kind of wonderment, they to wowed the crowd further with an encore that included a sweetly-rendered old Cuban-style jazz tune (one that I should have been able to identify) and was topped off by a driving, insanely-paced klezmer piece that echoed in my head for hours afterward.

We topped the night off with a trip to the after-hours jam session, where Seth and I hooked up with Greg to record our second podcast in two nights. The first of our thoroughly unprofessional, three-guys-in-a-bar-talking series of podcasts is already available at Jazz@Rochester for your listening pleasure. Be sure to also check out Greg's moblogging podcasts as well as the expanding repertoire of reportage over at Jason Crane's podcasting blog.

Day Three's expected highlights: totally up in the air. Tonight the whim will guide me as there are a variety of acts for which I hold roughly equivalent levels of interest.