Jazz fest impressions, part 1 - Friday

Preservation Hall Jazz Band

Well, the first day of the 2006 US Bank St. Louis Jazz and Heritage Festival is over and done, and so, in lieu of a formal review, here are a few semi-random impressions of Friday's show:

* Being the very first band to perform at an event like this is, in some ways, a thankless job. Warming up a crowd from a standing start can be tough duty, especially in an outdoor venue where people are milling around and conversing. This year, the first slot went to Denise Thimes, and despite the slight handicap of playing to an audience that was just arriving and settling in, she turned in a very polished sounding set of muisc. Thimes' experience as an actress stood her in good stead as she commanded attention from the large Emerson Stage, and her backing trio - Tony Simmons on keyboard, John King on bass and Kevin Kellly on drums - was equally fine.

* The Preservation Hall Jazz Band turned in an enjoyable, if unchallenging, set, dominated mostly by familiar standards like "Basin Street Blues" and "After You've Gone'. The group gave a nod to the host city with a version of "St. Louis Blues" and ended their show with a crowd-pleasing version of "When The Saints Go Marching In" that featured the the trombonist, saxophonists and trumpet player walking off stage and leading audience members in a second-line style procession. The current lineup is certainly adept enough at traditional New Orleans and swing styles, but you could also hear some stray modernisms creeping in here and there, especially from the pianist, who would have sounded right at home in a bebop ensemble, and the bassist, who even quoted the head of "Straight No Chaser" in one solo.

* Dr. John closed the evening with what I assume is more or less his standard set for these sort of outings. He played several songs from his new CD devoted to the works of songwriter Johnny Mercer (whose last name the Dr. Doctor pronounced "Moisa") and a number of favorites from his back catalog, including an extended "I Walk On Gilded Splinters," a very nice version of "Back To New Orleans" that cranked up the Latin influence to take on almost a salsa feel, and a funkified, B-3 driven version of "It Don't Mean A Thing" in which he stood over the organ and delivered some sizzling blues licks as casually as a man standing at his kitchen counter making a sandwich. .

The inevitable "Right Place, Wrong Time" came midway through the set, with his other big hit "Such A Night" serving as the encore number. Dr. John's band, the Lower 911, is a tight three-piece, with drummer Herman Ernest the standout of the bunch. It would have been nice to have heard them with a horn section and maybe a supplemental percussionist, but give the current realities of touring economics, I can understand why the group is formulated to be lean and mean.

* Given that there's some overlap between sets on the various stages, I missed the sets by Carol Schmidt and Friends and Lamar Harris, though my esteemed colleague Terry Perkins caught a good chunk of Harris' set and seemed to have enjoyed it very much.

* The Festival organizers have done their usual good job with the logistical and production aspects of the event, and the sound quality was mostly very good, with two exceptions: the wireless mics on the Preservation Hall Jazz Band's brass and reed players seemed to fade in and out a bit at times, and the upper end of Dr. John's piano didn't always cut through the mix as much as one might have hoped.

All in all, it was a fun evening of music, and though I have no hard numbers at all, the attendance looked to be up from last year. With good weather forecast for tomorrow, the conditions for a good overall turnout would seem to be in place (especially when compared to the inferno-like weather on the Saturday of last year's fest). Tickets are available at the gate, so if you've a mind to come on down, getting in should be no problem. Otherwise, check back with StLJN in 24 hours or so for a report on Saturday's proceedings.

UPDATE - 6/25/06, 12:30 a.m.: Terry Perkins' review for the Post-Dispatch of Friday's show is now online. Read it here, compare and contrast, and dig the crazy Rashomon effect!