Democrat and Chronicle from Rochester, New York • A19

DemocratandChronicle Page19A The streetlights are shining over the final notes of the 16th annual Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival. Saturday, Day Nine, and people want to know, how was it? We had the South Korean singer Youn Sun Nah, on the night before her two stunning shows at Harro East Ballroom, hanging out at Montage Music Hall and Abilene Bar and Lounge, just being a part of the scene. And Sheryl Crow doing her part to add to the community economic impact by buying two vintage guitars from Bernunzio Uptown Music. And telling the audience at her sold-out show at Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre that Nashville was getting too crowded and this is such a pretty town, love to move to Rochester. OK Sheryl, send us your resume, we may have some openings in February.

All across the week, this jazz fest was much like the others. Musicians standing on the shoulders of those who came before. Songs of the late Gregg Allman, who played the festival last year, came up afew times. Three shows of the pianists Kenny Barron, Benny Green, Cyrus Chestnut and George Cables celebrating the music of Thelonious Monk were standing-room only. The pianist Roberta Picket remembering Marian McPartland, whose connection to the Eastman School of Music was so strong.

Maceo Parker and the Ray Charles Orchestra keeping music alive. The Django Festival All Stars and even the electrified dance- floor groove of Caravan Palace using the Gypsy jazz of Django Reinhardt as a launching pad. The Wee Trio and the Donny McCaslin Group, thinking of David Bowie. Mario Interzone raking through the bones of William S. Burroughs.

Tierney Sutton singing the songs of Sting, even though not dead yet; but jazz can be a forward- thinking genre as well. And on this final night of jazz fest, The John LaBarbera Big Band celebrating what would have been Buddy 100th birthday this year. Kilbourn Hall was standing-room only, 300-plus people, for the first of the two tribute shows to the jazz drumming legend. John LaBarbera stood at the front of the stage, conducting this 16-piece ensemble that he had assembled for this event. Two of the pieces came pretty easily, his brothers Joe on drums and Pat on saxophone.

The brothers grew up in Mount Morris before migrating to other jazzlands; John to Indiana, Joe to California and Pat to Toronto. The first set appeared well-stocked with Mount Morris residents. And John Cipolla, the 98-year-old uncle. all got now, the nephews and said Cipolla, who lives in Nunda. got a good support group in them.

And they play so Beyond the hometown support and relatives, jazz is an easily incestuous music genre anyway. Buffalo native Bobby Militello, who had his own XRIJF gig on Wednesday, was in the front wall of five saxophones. Pianist Harold Danko served with Pat LaBarbera in the Army and the Woody Herman Big Band. And a handful of these musicians, including Pat LaBarbera worked with Rich as well. And John, who during the 1960s worked with Rich as his arranger and songwriter, and who Saturday night directed the group through a handful of songs representative of that era.

No which featured Pat on the original recording. And a piece recorded while John was in London recording his second album with Rich; written by John a fan of the Sherlock Holmes stories, is a tribute to sidekick Dr. John Watson, and here featured Eastman School of Music professor Clay Jenkins on trumpet. John also wrote a celebration of the Irish countryside, but Rich at me very when John told him the title was drawn from a Holmes story. And there was a Duke Ellington piece that Ellington played maybe twice in his career, but still had that mysterious Ellington quality to it.

1 which Joe had to play for Rich to learn, because Rich know how to read music. George with Charlie piercing trumpet opening of the familiar melody. And with Lon Gormley on the bass trombone, rare in the jazz LaBarbera explained. Rich often asked for unusual and more instruments than might be necessary to get the composition across, which explains why at one point the saxophonists abandoned their instruments for flutes Saturday night. Rich knew how to make a few extra bucks.

contracts called for 20 percent extra for each LaBarbera ex- plained. jazz haiku Those who remember opening lost doors, chasing ghosts of music past The Top 10 As the jazz fest has expanded, become impossible to grasp the full range of music and culture that can be experienced over nine days. The personal lists assembled by anyone who dove deeply into these nine days is likely 100 percent different than my favorite shows of the 16th annual event: 10, King Crimson at Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre. Six: the number of people who afterward said to me something like, was the best show of the festival, Yes, this complex fusion of rock and jazz was quite provocative, and clearly satisfying to its fans. And, as I wrote in the review, are few miracles more exhilarating than a rock band running like a fine-tuned piece of I was sitting next to jazz pianist Gap Mangione during the show but, stupidly, neglected to ask what he thought of this cacophony.

bet that would have made for a pretty good paragraph. 9, Dakha Brakha first show, The Big Tent. Unexpectedly theatrical in black and red traditional Ukrainian garments, Dak- ha Brakha is a bearded bald man and three women in black fur hats 1 1 2 feet tall. The music was astonishingly powerful, percussion-driven folk music performed at breakneck speed, with a smattering of accordions, ukulele, cello and some native instruments, and the angel- to-wraith wailing of the women woven throughout. The piece simulating the sounds of birds was one of the single-most memorable moments of the festival.

8, Yggdrasil first set, Lutheran Church of the Reformation. Highlighted by Kristian New Age Glacier piano and singer exotic sound is what might be expected of a group named for a gargantuan tree of Norse mythology, filtered through a set of islands, considered a birdwatch- paradise, sitting midway between Norway and I wrote about this one. first set was either insane, or inspired. Although the two are not necessarily exclusive. Blak ignored the piano keys and went straight for the guts, pulling on his strings as not so much sang as emoted, her hands tracing the words around her like a silent- film actress This was not folk music, it was prog And many people who went to show the following night thought it was even better.

7, Klabbes Bank second show, Lutheran Church of the Reformation. Three horns and sax- ophones, backed by bass, drums and keyboards. And seemingly all six Swedish musicians working electronics effects of some kind. Some people quickly left, as always seems to happen at these Nordic Jazz Now events of calm-to-chaos. But most hung in there.

And by the end of the concert, the audience roared into a standing ovation. Klabbes Bank, I wrote, successfully assembled a hybrid of musician and As was the case with Shabaka the Ancestors, some people I spoke to hated this show, others though it was one of the best things seen. 6, Shabaka the Ancestors first show at Harro East Ballroom. The crowd seemed confused, was Afro-Caribbean that they could not dance I wrote. this was some kind of cerebral, avant-garde Afro- groove.

You needed to be there for the entire 60 minutes, of which the first 57 minutes was one complex piece of upward-spiraling rhythms and spoken By the end of the show, the powerful message was clear: We cannot trust our leaders, not when they ignore so much hunger in the world. 5, Mario Inter- zone first show at The Little Theatre. Interzone just talk the William Burroughs talk, it walks the William Burroughs Iwrote of this urban, cosmopolitan jazz combo of trumpet, drum and bass. damn if the Austrian trio sound like Mug- wumps being milked for their hallucinogenic Mugwumps appear in Beat writer most-famous novel, Naked Lunch. And In- terzone is a fictional territory recurring throughout stories and novels, a place where is The band delights in questioning what is truth, a debate which it noted is particularly relevant today.

4, Billy Childs Quartet first show, Kilbourn Hall. Opening with I wrote in the review, dramatically whipping his hands across the keyboard, as though he was testing all 88. Now how you open a jazz number. This is what professional critics must call Real Jazz The pianist and his group of drums, bass and sax were working with pretty much the same tools as the Neil Cowley Trio, producing the completely different music yet with the same propulsive intensity. 3, Neil Cowley Trio second show, Christ Church.

From the review: sound went from enormous to delicate piano. Fainter hearts drifted from the pews, but largely the crowd of several hundred remained in place, hypnotized by a instruments of this world piano, upright bass and drums creating a shattering, apocalyptic 2, Youn Sun Nah first show at Harro East Ballroom. From the opening ballads, such in an achingly quiet and beautiful manner, Nah exploded into vocal pyrotechnics leading to a snarling take on Tom Full of that met the expectations of anyone who saw her jazz fest debut a few years ago. And people who were at both shows this time said the second one was even better. 1, Jack Broadbent second set at Montage Music Hall.

Broadbent wins the mythical best-of-show championship over Youn Sun Nah because he is also the discovery of the fest. As I wrote afterward, The young English slide-guitar bluesman has it all. The songs, the gruff- to-caterwauling voice, the out-of-the-mainstream look, and a guitar style best described as ruthless stage persona is perfect for a late- night, intimate room, where his wry sense of humor and suggestions of living on the edge go a long way to engaging the Gannett.com Final day: LaBarberas celebrate Rich; Top 10 JEFF SPEVAK JAMIE PHOTOGRAPHER The Majestics perform at Harro East on Saturday, the last night of the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival. JAMIE PHOTOGRAPHER Joe LaBarbera plays drums with the John LaBarbera Big Band at Kilburn Hall. Jordan Hernandez performed at annual International Jazz Festival when he was in his high wind ensemble, he took Samantha Major to the event on one of their first dates, and last year, he asked her to marry him at Chris performance in front of roughly 2,000 people.

Asking Major to become a Hernandez on the same stage he walked across for his high school graduation was nerve- wrecking for the Hilton native, but Jordan said orchestrating the special proposal was his way of giving a little bit of himself to her, so she could know where he came from. Iacona (the executive director and co-producer) really stuck his neck out there for me and opened an opportunity for me to be able to he said. really have any idea that any- thing was going on, and Chris Botti came right down and gave me the mic. It was pretty The audience at Kodak Hall at the Eastman Theater cheered and hooted as Jordan got down on one knee. Six months later, the pair of teachers, both 27, were married in Florida.

Since then, the couple has enjoyed a honeymoon globetrotting to Amsterdam, South Africa and England. been a Godsend in my life. been a Jordan said. been my greatest supporter, together we made some very cool harmonies in our Although they reside in Delray Beach, Florida, the distance stop the two from making it back to Jazz Fest for this year. Fest just represents romance and our relationship coming together, so we really find it to be Samantha said.

back here to see his family and kind of reminisce about what happened here a year From dates and an engagement to walking down East Avenue as a married couple, Samantha said Jazz Fest always brings back happy, romantic memo- ries. The first time she arrived in Rochester to meet family, she attended Jazz Fest. Samantha said her husband wanted to show her the things he loved growing up like the great mac and cheese food truck. relationship ties back to Jazz Fest, so a really cool connotation Jordan said. The pair made the drive up this year, and they expect to continue doing so for many more to come.

definitely going to be something that we experience and our kids experience. Maybe even be performing on one of the stages like I did a couple years Jordan said. like a full circle, but a circle still going, I want to be too about it, but just walking by the Eastman Theatre gave me kind of a rush of Couple returns to site of 2016 proposal DICK PROVIDED BY XEROX ROCHESTER INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL Jordan Hernandez pops the question to Samantha Major, with Chris Botti holding the microphone for the 2,000 people listening to the wedding proposal, during the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival last year. ALEANNA SIACON DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE.