The Kemah Jazz Festival is this weekend on the Kemah Boardwalk (in front of the hotel where the water fountain is). The best Houston has to offer in (mostly) straight ahead jazz with some out-of-towners. The headliner this year is David "Fathead" Newman, most famous for his association with Ray Charles. Fathead was the guest artist at the first Kemah Jazz Fest and they decided to bring him back for the 10th anniversary. This is simply the best Jazz Festival in the area. Mostly because they actually play jazz. And there a nice brand new sound system this year. I'll be playing with a big band on Sunday at 4:20. It's my first union gig since moving back to Houston.
Damn. I wish I was going to be in town. Guess this is a good chance to plug my friend's jazz festival in Kaslo, British Columbia, although it's really jazz, plus world music (like Brazilian, etc.), and blues. Very eclectic mixture of music. http://www.kaslojazzfest.com/v2/ Headline Performers: Bruce Cockburn, Solo (Canada) Blind Boys of Alabama (USA) David Friesen Trio (USA) VEJI (Canada) The Jensen Five (USA & Canada) Other Main Stage Performers: Swing en 4 (Costa Rica) Djabe (Hungary) Ndidi Onukwulu Band (Canada) Rumba Calzada (Canada) Up Stage Performers: Big Bad Blu (Canada) Friesen Workshop (USA) Los Rastrillos (Mexico) The Monday Night Jazz Band (Canada) The Sarah McGlynn Rich Rabnett Quartet (Canada) Tom & Jerry (Canada) What It Is (Canada) Can't really tell how much fun this is and do it justice. It's on the Canadian Labor Day weekend, which is at the beginning of August, perfect weather up there in the mountains of BC. My old friend, a Texas native and longtime Houstonian, started it after going to the jazz festival at Corpus Christi, nearly 20 years ago. Hard to believe that next August will see the 17th year. Check out the website. The musicians play on a floating stage. It'll sell out (around 3,000 is all they can hold at the site, without it getting too crowded), so mentioning it now is a good idea, if anyone might be thinking of a vacation in the area. Absolutely gorgeous scenery. Hot springs up in the mountains that you can have all to yourself, if you know where to go. (not hard to find out where some are) Lots of vegetarian food, for those into it. Loads of beautiful Canadian babes, which got my buddy up there in the first place. Superb beer and ale, out of kegs, from a local micro-brewery in Nelson, a college town south of Kaslo that is the closest place of any size. Nelson is very nice, and has a lot of art galleries. Anyway, check it out. Worth the trip! PS: Don't miss the party after the end of the last night of the festival. I ended up dancing with 3 girls at a time! Good thing my wife had to stay at home... uh, no, it was a bad thing! BAD Deckard. Not that I did anything with the girls. (search out the hot tubs in the village!)
I don't know about the Rebirth, but the Dirty Dozen tours a lot and is actually booked in Maryland, New Jersey, and Alabama during the festival. Many of the New Orleans musicians who came to Houston in the wake of Katrina have gone back. A few like Chris Cortez and Matt Lemmler have stayed. Matt plays 4 nights a week at Tommy's on Westheimer. The organization that was set up to help New Orleans musicians served its purpose and went away. The festival has usually been a showcase for Houston talent. Friday night is largely showcasing New Orleans artists. Phil Campo and the Loose Change Jazz Band, Chris Cortez, vocalist Cindy Scott (with guitarist Brian Seeger) are all from New Orleans.
