I know I've been beyond lax in my posting, but get ready for flurry.

Tonight was the first night of the seventh annual Rochester International Jazz Festival and, man, it was a great start.

After work, I met up with Greg, Seth, and Jane as per usual. Not quite so usual was the addition of Christine to our roving gang, and nearly unprecedented was skipping out on the first Kilbourn Hall performance. Instead, we headed to the Harro East ballroom to hear Ben Riley's Monk Legacy Septet. There, we were treated to the smooth and polished sound of this ensemble of jazz veterans. It was a strong beginning.

The highlight of the night came at the next venue, the Reformation Lutheran Church, which is again hosting the Nordic Jazz Now series. Last year, the Five Corners Quintet drew rave reviews and this year, one of that quintet's member, saxophonist Timo Lassy returned with his own quintet, an African and Latin flavored group, and simply blew us away with tunes like “African Rumble” and “Sweet Spot.” The whole band was amazing, but in addition to Lassy, pianist Georgios Kontrafouris definitely stood out.

The Big Tent was the next stop to hear mad jazz alchemists, DJ Le Spam & the Spam All-stars. They were an interesting change of pace, with their hip-hop- and house-influenced jazz. Those who felt the urge mostly migrated to one corner of the tent to form what must be the closest thing to a mosh pit as you are likely to see at a jazz festival.

Dodging the raindrops, we headed to Montage to hear Rachel Z. I was skeptical at first when, in her introduction, she said the group would be exploring some “deep jazz” interpretations of popular rock songs. It sounded like a ripoff of the Bad Plus to me, but the group soon won me over. While the Bad Plus have a tendency to noodle around, the three players intertwining with each other, Rachel Z's cascading piano lines were the focus with the bass and drums acting more as a catalyst, driving her on. And they were relentless, too. The crowd showed their appreciation and Rachel Z threatened to take us all to Brazil with her for her next gig.

I wimped out on the after hours fun, hoping to save my energy for Day 2. One day down, eight to go!