I've been a bit tardy in posting about the second half of festival week, so here it all is in one blast:

Wednesday I met Greg for the David Murray and his Black Saint Quartet. As John Nugent noted in his introduction, Murray is a true student of jazz, and you could hear it in his performance. His music drew from a variety of influences, yet was grounded in solid jazz.

While Greg took in the All-Star Jam Session at the Eastman Theater, I trekked over to the Harro East Ballroom to catch up with Seth and see the Wild Magnolias. They did their best to rev up the crowd with their NOLA party attitude and feather costumes, but as the show went on, the crowd thinned out.

Knowing that we wanted to head over to the Plaza Hotel Jam Session early enough to get a good seat, but not wanting to get there too early, we decided to grab a drink at the recently opened Abilene Bar and Lounge. As such things go, we were having too much fun to make it over to State Street in a timely fashion so we ended up standing next to Greg and Jane as a steady stream of jazz all stars (including many of the All Stars that played at Eastman earlier.) Clearly this was the night to stay out late at the after hours as Jeremy Pelt, Eric Alexander, Peter Bernstein, Kenny Washington, Steve Wilson, and crowd favorite Jake Shimabukuro all sat in. If you had to pick one night to stay out late for the jam session, this would have been the night (but, really, why limit yourself?).

Thursday night was a quick one for me. Local legend Joe Locke at the Kilbourn, where the crowd (deservedly) gave him all the love he could stand. Then it was more Nordic jazz with Beady Belle. Actually, it was more of a soul/r&b/funk/jazz kind of thing, akin to the Stephanie McKay show I saw earlier in the week. Beady Belle definitely wasn't as hard-edged as McKay and not quite as engaging, but there was a darkness underlying the soulful melodies that, even while they got your head bobbing and foot tapping, was still a bit unsettling. A bit like Portishead, maybe, only not quite so much. Anyway, I headed home for bed shortly afterward, to recuperate for the final two nights.

Friday night began a little late for me, but I still was able to meet up with Greg on jazz street. Our indecision coupled with a desire for food that was not served from an outdoor stall prompted us to grab a couple of sandwiches from Java's and snag a table on the sidewalk, where we were able to ear some of the local acts on the Jazz St. stage.

Finally, we stretched our legs and headed toward Alexander to catch some of the Skatelites before heading back to join Jane in line at the Montage. Jane, trooper that she is, had been waiting first in line for hours. Thankfully, we got prime seating up close to see Billy's Band, who was more or less a Russian Tom Waits cover band. Not that this is a bad thing. The show was a blast, easily one of the festival highlights. We wound up the night at Abilene listening to reggae in the peaceful back patio area.

Saturday I got another late start, but I only ad two items on my agenda: Medeski Martin and Wood and the Bob Sneider jam session. MMW was fun, but unfortunately not as fun as they were when I had seen them earlier in the year; however, the after hours jam session made up for it as Bob, Mike Melito, and Phil Flanigan brought the festival to a close in style, complete with the traditional Mordecai Lipshutz swan song.

Another great festival. Final thoughts to come in the next few days. Meanwhile, check out Greg's wrapup and his plenitude of links to other jazz commentators and fans.