Jazz Concerts
Grover Washinton, Jr., Ramsey Lewis, Diane Reeves and other greats performed.
An interesting article about local fans of the festival here: http://thehudsonindependent.com/the-40th-anniversary-of-an-annual-outing-for-longtime-friends/
I saw Chick Corea at the Blue several times, this was the first time.
Dave Weckl played drums, who I saw play with Garcia in 1976.
In 1977 I met Chick Corea while traveling home from the University of Vermont where I attended summer music school that year. The Vermont Jazz Festival took place in Burlington around the end of the summer and Chick was flying home with his band on the same flight from Burlington as some of us music students. We spoke with the band, mentioning our summer as music students at UV. They were incredibly nice to us, even letting us listen to recordings on headphones from their tape machine of their performance at the festival. We even introduced Chick to our folks (who had come to pick us up at the airport) when we touched down in NYC. Below are some of my photos from that chance encounter.
The original configuration of Jazz is Dead, with the all-star cast of Cobham, Herring, Johnson and Lavitz. I really like Jimmy Herring especially, and probably enjoyed his live guitar work with former members of the Grateful Dead (and as guest with DMB) as much as anyone else that’s stepped into that slot.
Joe Sample, the great pianist and founding member of the Jazz Crusaders, had recently released an excellent album with singer Lalah Hathaway, called “The Song Lives on .“ The theater is an intimate venue in downtown Philadelphia. Joe is an all-time favorite of mine, his great work with the Crusaders as well as much fine music thereafter.
I have a longstanding appreciation for both of these artists, big time. Their work together, like the “One on One” album, is pretty classic.
The three named acts appeared separately. Amazing to see Joe Sample as always.
Al Green headlined the show.
Return to Forever closed the show with a performance in the main ampitheatre in the evening. This was just a really special thing - mind boggling really - to see Chick Corea, Stanley Clark, Al DiMeola and Lenny White playing together on the SPAC stage.
It was an interesting and unusual experience attending a show at the Little Theatre inside Saratoga State Park. I had discovered Sachal’s music originally at one of the jazz festivals at SPAC, and now took the chance to see Sachal and his band at a small venue, the the first of several times.
Taj Mahal, who I listened to in College and saw on several other occassions, played as part of the lineup on this day.
This particular year’s event honored the all-time great saxophone player Frank Wess.
This was a great show, Henry Butler quite impressive. I just don’t have the date confirmed.
Sachal is a wonderful jazz singer with an interesting background who I first saw at the Saratoga Jazz Festival in 2006.
