Photos/Writer: Rudy Lu
The final day of the 40th Lake George Jazz Festival started with a set dedicated to the late Paul Pines, one of the founders of the Festival and its curator. Paul passed away 6 years ago and was truly a Renaissance man. He had multiple jobs and careers. Among them sailor, jazz club owner, poet, author and psychotherapist. As the owner of the Tin Palace, a club that was located in the East Village in NYC, he had immersed himself into the lower Manhattan jazz community. He was able to tap those connections when he started curating this festival 40 years ago.
Paul’s memory was reflected during the entire festival. A giant poster portrait of him consisting of a 1000 photos taken over the years of the festival, as a mosaic into his image. The background is a continuous ribbon of the various bands that have played here during its 40 year history.
To honor Paul’s memory, the festival opened with a performance by Daniel Kelly’s quartet with special guest poet David Gonzalez. Daniel is the successor to Paul and is an accomplished pianist in his own right. Kelly’s music along with the dramatic readings by Gonzalez helped create of picture of other aspects of Paul’s life. To get the urban aspect of Paul’s life, the band played lots of funky music, while David dramatically recited his poetry. The work brings stories of our earth and our cultures to life. Jesse Lewis’ work on guitar synth and the driving rhythm section of Ike Sturm and Jared Schonig were featured in much of the work. Nicole Zuraitis came back from the evening before and guest sang.
Multi Award winning Bassist Linda May Han Oh played late afternoon, with her all star quintet. The band featured Sara Serpa (vocals), Fabian Almazan (piano), Greg Ward (saxophone) and Obed Calvaire (drums). Featured compositions included “Halo” which musically paints the emotions and world of live music production. In contrast with “Circles”, a composition inspired by the feeling of confusion during Covid.
Closing the series was the trio of Danilo Perez (piano), John Pattituci(bass) and Adam Cruz (drums). All of these musicians received equal billings. The performance showed it was rightfully so. Much of the music originated from Danilo Perez’s 2015 project “Children of the Light”. The music was tone poems of the African American experience, “Moonlight on Congo Square”, “Sunburn and Mosquito”, “Children of the Light” and “African Wave”. There were dedications to Angela Davis and Toni Morrison with an overall pleading for peace and understanding.
So ended the 40th Lake George Jazz Festival. Autumn 2025 should be even better as the festival is on sound financial footing and the village has pledged to build a new improved shed over the stage. The festival is always the 2nd weekend after Labor Day. I am truly looking forward to next year.
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