Bootlegged Tapes and More on the Rochester International Jazz Festival
The jazz festival is a week way, so start planning your schedule.
Welcome, readers!
We’re a week away from the Rochester International Jazz Festival, and it’s time to start thinking about the schedule. Whether you’re looking out for unknown talent or artists of legendary status, I hope you’ll check out Rochester Overture’s coverage.
When I interviewed John Nugent about the festival’s concerts celebrating the two big jazz centennials this year – Miles Davis and John Coltrane – I expected him to give me the usual quotes about how important both musicians were, both in the larger jazz world and for him personally. But instead, he told me something unexpected: that he had a hand in getting never-before-heard historical documentation of Coltrane’s playing out into the world. His old Woody Herman bandmate, Frank Tiberi, had bootleg-recorded John Coltrane out in the wild (aka, clubs), and those tapes were finally going to be released in September. And even more, the 97-year-old Tiberi would be in Rochester to play on the Joe Lovano Coltrane at 100 concert.
But there was also a story in that the only direct connection to one of the celebrated legends will be here on the festival’s opening night, but not at the jazz festival.
And, both concerts are happening on the same night, June 19, which is also Juneteenth.
Those are the kinds of stories that Rochester deserves to know about, and that I’m proud to tell.
Here are the latest articles:
Converging Centennials: Rochester Celebrates Miles Davis and John Coltrane at 100
It’s Not Who You Know: The Rochester International Jazz Festival’s Culture of Discovery
Other coverage:
CITY has a couple of great articles previewing jazz festival artists: one on guitarist Bill Frisell, who has graced our festival ten times prior to this year, by the wonderful Gary Craig, and another on Cécile McLorin Salvant by Justin Murphy.
I heard Cécile McLorin Salvant last summer at the Newport Jazz Festival, and I can say without hesitation that she’s worth the admission to hear. I was fortunate to photograph her there. She’s also collaborated with saxophonist Alexa Tarantino, who is performing at the festival on Saturday, June 20. You can read about Alexa in Rochester Overture next week.
Greg Bell is also working ahead, already posting his recommended concerts per night on his JazzRochester site.
Thank you for reading!
Anna Reguero, Editor and Founder of Rochester Overture