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| Banda Magda |
On a gorgeous evening, with a cloudless sky above, throngs
of Atlantans swarmed over the rolling hills of beautiful Piedmont Park to
participate in this year’s Atlanta Jazz Festival. The grass lawns, so carefully
designed by Fredrick Law Olmsted and sons many decades before, offers the
perfect vantage for the mass of spectators that come to listen to the
music. The venue offers three stages, operating
at times simultaneously, where artists were performing to grateful crowds. The
main stage was set in the Meadow just outside the tenth street entrance off
Monroe. The International stage is placed just South Lake Clara Meer in a
hollow off Oak Hill. The stage featuring local talent was located northeast along
the path closer to the Park Drive entrance.
The park was teeming with visitors who strolled, sat on
blankets, pitched tents or sat on folding chairs, all there to enjoy the park,
the excitement and the music that makes up the Atlanta Jazz Festival. The
Festival is one of the largest free open air festivals in the country and it is
a major event for the City of Atlanta.
This year’s music was a cornucopia of aural delights and our
hats should go off to the organizers, generous sponsors and volunteers that
make this mammoth event happen so smoothly.
I arrived at about 6 pm and made my way to the International
stage where the group Banda Magda was performing to an attentive crowd. Banda
Magda hails from New York by way of Athens, Greece. The lead singer/composer is a pixie like character Magda Giannikou who
captivated the crowd with here impish energy and sweet vocals. She sang
predominantly in French and the music was an amalgam of Latin, Brazilian,
French Pop, and world music. At times she reminded me of the Polish singer
Basia (Trezetrzelewski) who had a successful
career as a Latin-inflected, jazz crossover artist in the late eighties. While Ms. Magda’s voice does not compare to the
three-octave range of Basia, she did show an impressive ability to stir the
crowd, both with her syncopated accordion playing and the easy sway of her fluent
French lyrics. The band is an international affair with Argentinean guitarist Ignacio Hernandez, who
donned a tiger mask for Ms. Magda’s telling of a fairy tale inspired song, hand
drummer and Tabla player Marcelo Woloski, Japanese percussionist Keita Ogawa and multi-instrumentalist
and electric bassist fellow Greek, Petros Klampanis.
Making my way across the park, it was astonishing how many
people had come to this event. Many of the people just parked themselves along
the many pathways or fields, content enough to listen from a distance to the
sounds emanating from the various stages.
I came to the main meadow, the site of the main stage, and was amazed at
the vast sea of humanity that had set up camp to enjoy the festivities. Despite
the throngs at no time was the crowd so overwhelming as to be oppressive and
you could move easily from venue to venue. People were uniformly in festive but
respectful spirits.
The stage was setting up for the next act drummer Otis Brown
III’s Quintet. Unfortunately I didn’t arrive early enough to see talented saxophonist
Marcus Strickland’s group who made up one of the preceding act. The sun was
shining, but it was dry and seasonable as a single hawk circled surveying the
mass of humanity from above. Mr. Brown
is a powerful drummer who has worked with some many of jazz’s elite including the
trumpeter/composer Terrence Blanchard, the saxophonist Oliver Lake and singer Kurt
Elling. He has also collaborated with Grammy award winning pianist/composer Robert
Glasper ,the new lion of crossover neo-soul/rap/jazz , who was featured on Mr.
Brown’s latest release.
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| Terry Brewer ,Marquis Hill, John Ellis, Alan Hampton and Otis Brown II |
On this evening Mr. Brown was joined by the trumpeter Marquis
Hall, the masterful saxophonist John Ellis, bassist Alan Hampton and pianist
and B3 player Terry Brewer. The group started
the set with “The Way (Truth & Life)” from Mr. Brown’s latest release The Thought of You, which featured the tight dual horn playing of
Mr. Hall and Mr. Ellis in the Blue Note tradition. I am an unabashed fan of Mr.
Ellis’s playing and he didn’t disappoint with some fine soloing that was
measured but spot on. Mr. Hall is a effusive player with a strong sound and a
clear tone. Mr. Brewer offered some interesting albeit brief solos and Mr.
Brown and bassist Hampton laid down the bottom.
The group played Herbie Hancock’s
“ I Have A Dream: which Mr. Brown later spoke of as an
anthem for him of the continued struggles facing Black people in this country.
Mr. Brown introduced Ms. Christie De Shield to the stage where she sang ”Your Still the One,” a song sang on Mr. Brown’s
album by Gretchen Parlato. Ms. De
Shield’s does not have the wispy quality of Ms. Parlato’s, but she had no
trouble using her own instrument to great effect.
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| Alfredo Rodriguez, Peter Slavov and Henry Cole |
I decided to return to the International stage for a chance
to see the great Cuban piano sensation Alfredo Rodriguez. Mr. Rodriguez was
famously plucked from Cuba through the efforts of the great musician/ arranger
Quincy Jones, who once he heard the energetic player, moved heaven and earth to
see him get into the United States. Mr.
Rodriguez was already in full swing when I got to the International Stage,
joined by his trio of Henry Cole on Drums and Peter Slavov on bass.
The crowd was mesmerized by the kinetic Cuban. One of the
things you cannot fake in a live performance is enthusiasm and joy and Mr. Rodriguez
has ample supply of both of these precious commodities. Originally trained as a
classical pianist he was given a copy of Keith Jarrett’s famous
The Koln Concert record and as he has
said it changed his life.
There is doubt that Mr. Rodriguez is a prodigious talent
and he showed he could dazzle with spectacular runs, pounding percussive
dynamics and a sensitive side that brought the grateful crowd to their feet by
virtue of its pure aesthetic, despite having some technical difficulties with the piano.
He is a joy to behold.
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| Alfredo Rodriguez |
To be able to see this kind of talent for free in the
spectacular surroundings of Piedmont Park is a true treat not to be missed.
Today’s venue will feature among others Arturo O’Farrill’s marvelous Latin Jazz
band, the fantastic Dianne Shurr, guitar wizard Stanley Jordan’s Trio and the
iconic Pharoah Sanders with guitarist extraordinaire Kurt Rosenwinkel . If you’re in Atlanta don’t
miss this opportunity to see these great artists.
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