The Lake George Jazz Weekend is one of the oldest jazz festivals in the country. It is also one of two remaining jazz festivals in the country that are completely free. This year’s festival ran from the evening of 9/18 to the late afternoon of 9/20. The main acts played at Shephard Park ampitheater for 9/18-9/19 and were moved to the Lake George Junior/Senior High rain site for 9/20. The party continued into friday night with jazz played by small combos throughout the village’s bars and restaurants. Players included Rich Syracuse, Hot Club of Saratoga, Scott Hopkins, Chad McLoughlin and Keith Pray. For those up Saturday morning, Dylan Perillo and Brad Prose continued the party at the Hello Sunshine Bagel & Bistro. Lake George Arts Project Executive Tanya Tobias entertained attendees with a tour of the new stage which includes a new green room, rehearsal spaces in the walkout basement.
June 18
Opening night featured the sounds of Jody Redhage Farber with her Confluence Project. Fellow band members include her brothers her husband trombonist Alan Ferber, her brother in law Mark Ferber, saxophonist Lucas Pino and pianist Helen Sung. Their captivating mix of jazz, classical and Brazilian music could serve as background music or an intense listening experience for the audience.
Day One Gallery
June 19
Jerome Jennings
Early Saturday afternoon featured drummer/looper Jerome Jennings and his band including DJ Oochild on his first gig with the band! He easily integrated his sound with the rest of the band. Miki Hiyama on piano, Malik McLaurine-bass and Neeta Raanan on saxophone. The hybridization of postbop jazz with hiphop is the mission of this band, It succeeded in many ways but failed to get the audience to get up and dance.
Jerome Jennings & Ill Influence Gallery
Manuel Valera & the New Cuban Express
Manuel Valera & the New Cuban Express made their first appearance in over 10 years. Cuban grooves based on the traditional rhythms of bolero, son, danzon and rumba. Abrupt changes in rhythm and chords were handled with ease by his band composed of Troy Roberts- saxophone, Diego Hernandez-trumpet, Julian Miltenberger-drums, Paul Reyes -bass , Samuel Torres -percussion and Manuel Valera on piano.
New Cuban Express Gallery
Shayna Steele
Vocalist Shayna Steele brought a dynamic hard rocking style to the stage with a band that would not let her down. She proclaimed ” I don’t stick to one style, I get bored” and proceeded to use her multi octave voice to demonstrate . Her show stopping performance was matched by Al Street-guitar, Matt Clohesy-bass, Ross Pederson-drums and Mike Ricchiuti on piano. The performance was the climax before a brief break for dinner.
Shayna Steele Gallery
Kneebody
The innovative creative group Kneebody closed the day.The band’s origins are from both coasts. Their music is complex composition, improvisation , imagination of what is possible and filled with energy.
The band is primarily the brainchild of wunderkind keyboardist Adam Benjamin. Trumpeter Shane Endsley , Saxophonist Ben Wendel and bass guitarist drummer Nate Wood all contributed to the complexity and somehow made some musicial sense of the mathematical concepts. The playlist primarily consisted of material from “Reach”(Groundup Music). Their backcatalog can be found on Ropeadope, Greenleaf, Motema, Edition and Brainfeeder Music.
Kneebody Gallery
June 20
The uncooperative weather forced the remaining day with its three bands into the Lake George Sr/Jr High School auditorium. The festival had last been moved indoors in 2014. The non techie sound system was somewhat different than that of the Park. Only audiophiles could discern the difference in the sound, athough it still was pleasant. Kudos to Ryan Nilsen & Viking Audio for handling the challenge.
Paul Winter Concert
The optimistic positive music of the Paul Winter Consort made for a cheerful postive opening. Paul Winter brought his quartet of musicians with him as well as the many sounds of nature. It was ironic that this debut was held inside a school auditorium rather than the Cathedral of St.John (NYC)or outdoor stage. Included in his eclectic ensemble are Henrique Eisenmann(piano-Brazil), Peter Slavov(bass-Bulgaria),Bertram Lehman (German-percussion).
Paul’s sense of serendipity was frequently explained. He related the sound of a woodthrush to Bach’s compositions, the sounds of a whale and the howlings of wolves to communications within a species and outside a species. Henrique expressed the sounds of woman residing in the Amazon, washing clothes in a stream in the composition “Washing Women”.
Audience participation ended the set with the audience invited to howl like wolves.
Paul Winter Consort Gallery
Ekep Nkwelle
Ekep Nkwelle is a up and coming jazz vocalist. She has just released her debut recording on Blue Note. She was accompanied by the Luther Allison Trio, who are stars in their own right. Luther Allison – piano, Anwar Marshall -drums and Jonathan Muir Cotton-bass provided the accompaniment and sometimes separate but same performance. Nkwelle shared that her musical inspirations started in the Pentecostal Church and she was further influenced by the spiritual jazz of John Coltrane/Pharoah Sanders. Her debut album reflects those influences.
The makeshift stage by necessity challenged the intent of the performance. The piano was situated in front of the stage at ground level with negligible lighting. Ekep quickly improvised by sitting and standing at that level to make the performance more intimate. Making the performance a duet between her and Luther.
The whole performance had a kind of spirituality that was unique to this performance. It felt like we were attending church.
Ekep Nkwelle gallery
Miguel Zenon
Grammy winning SaxophonistMiguel Zenon closed the festival. He incorporates the folk music of his native Puerto Rico with contemporary jazz to make his unique sound. The themes of peace, community and celebration unified his set. Luis Perdomo-piano along with Hans Glawischnig, bass and Henry Cole-bass.
This end of the festival was bittersweet. The sweetness lies in the fact that another festival is being planned for 2027.
Thanks to musical director Dan Kelly for curating the musical variety and executive director Tanya Tobias for making the festival run smoothly.And of course all the volunteers, sponsors and vendors that make this such a great weekend experience.
Miguel Zenon Gallery
