My long-suffering family is glad to have my attention again after ten days of jazz-festing with only one brief break, so I'll make this a quick post, the last one about the 6th Edition of the Rochester International Jazz Festival. The theme today is: awesome.

1. The artists. They were awesome.
2. The weather. It was awesomely awesome.
3. The fans. Awesome.
4. New venues. Awesome.
5. Meeting new friends. Awesome.

OK, so here are the specifics:

• Hanging out all week with Seth, Greg, and Jane was a blast. We fed off of each other's energy and enthusiasm--not only in the appreciation of the music, but in our desire to share our experiences with others through blogging. Meeting Jason Crane at the end of the festival was also a highlight. I've almost finished going through all of Jason's podcasts and interviews from the festival. If you haven't checked them out yet, you owe it to yourself to check them out. It's a great way to savor the RIJF experience a little longer.


• If there were any disappointments for me this year, it had only to do with the artists that I didn't see: Matt Wilson, 5 Corners, Bill Frisell, Andy Milne, and particularly Wynton Marsalis, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, and Odadda! performing Congo Square.


• I know that the RIJF blesses us with a great diversity of acts every year, but the 6th edition seemed to have an especially broad variety of acts. Or maybe it's just that the acts I enjoyed most were varied. Midaircondo, Zapp String Quartet, Jason Moran Trio, Zanussi 5, Mamadou Diabate, Soul Rebels, Omar Sosa, and Avishai Cohen were all standout acts and performances. Choosing among them or even choosing a top three, is like an exercise in absurdity. The variety of the shows and the size of the audiences also provides a stiff rebuke to the self-appointed defenders of jazz purity.


• Hooray for the Club Pass! Mine had paid for itself in the first weekend. I'd heard some complaints that Club Pass holders were unable to get into some venues. Honestly, I don't have a lot of sympathy for this line of thinking. The shows were clearly advertised as fist-come-first-served for all listeners. The sad/happy truth is the festival has become so popular that, if there is a show you are absolutely set on seeing, you need to arrive at the venue at least 30 minutes before showtime. Some highly anticipated acts (Lalo, Eldar, Frisell, etc.) required more lead-time, a lesson even we ‘old-timers’ were reminded of when we arrived 40 minutes early to see Avashai Cohen and were stuck standing against the wall.


• On the other hand, venue directors could have done a better job of alerting hopeful fans that their spot in line was in jeopardy of missing the cut. Doing a quick count on the excessively long lines and passing the word that, “Yes, you people wrapped around the corner onto Main St., you might not find a chair waiting for you by the time you get to the door,” would have gone a long way toward easing the despair of many who found themselves locked out too late to make it into an alternative venue.


• Speaking of alternative venues: Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mssrs. Iacona and Nugent, for adding another ‘mid-zone’ venue--and a spectacular one at that: the Nordic Jazz Now series at the Reformation Lutheran Church. You only have to read my posts from the past couple of weeks to see how much I personally appreciated the acts and the space.


• Contrary to what we said in the Jazz Session RIJF podcast #9, I have pang of regret at missing out on the final jam session at the Crowne Plaza. Yes, Avashai Cohen was a fitting and proper way to end the festival, but I can't help it. There must have been more. And yes, I do regret missing Mordecai Lipschutz' traditional swan song, which every year always brings the crowd to its feet at the Crowne Plaza in one final, cathartic, communal celebration of the wonder of jazz in Rochester.