The 9th Annual Wall Street Jazz Festival in Kingston, N.Y. | Aug. 31st-Sept. 1st, 2012
Jeff ‘Tain Watts
Labor
Day weekend, August 31-September 1, Uptown Kingston, presenting this
year’s festival opens on Friday, August 31, at 8:00 p.m. with “The Art
of the Duo.” Held at BackStage Productions, a renovated
nineteenth-century vaudeville house on Wall Street, this unique format
will present four renowned jazz artists performing in various duo
combinations. And at just $15 it has to be one of the top music bargains
of this, or any, year.
Known for her stellar work with
composer-arranger Maria Schneider’s orchestra and her own cutting-edge
recordings, Ingrid Jensen has received international acclaim as one of
the most gifted trumpeters in the world of jazz. San Francisco native,
and now NYC resident, trombonist-singer Natalie Cressman paints from a
rich jazz palette deftly blended with elements of Cuban, Brazilian,
Indian, and African musics. There are pianists who sing and singers who
accompany themselves on the piano, but in the entire history of the jazz
only a tiny handful of singer-pianists have done both at the
superlative level of the doubly brilliant Dena DeRose.
Henderson, and Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts, among many others, completes the foursome.
Then
the next evening, Saturday, September 1, will feature a free,
four-hour, literally traffic-stopping concert right at the corner of
Wall and North Front Streets. (In the event of rain, the whole thing
moves indoors to BackStage Productions.)
This exhilarating
evening opens at 6:00 with the uniquely expressive vocal instrument of
Chris McNulty. Bluesy, swinging, and spontaneously creative, Chris’s art
pushes the limits and leaps beyond the boundaries of vocal jazz.
Guitarist Paul Bollenbeck and bassist Ugonna Okegwo, two accomplished
players who share Chris’ broad outlook, will accompany her on this
musical journey.
At 7:00 Natalie Cressman returns, this time with
her own band. A rising jazz star and, at 20, already a veteran of the
Bay Area jazz, salsa, and world music scenes, Natalie has melded her
diverse musical experiences into the personal, yet appealing, musical
vision that she displays on her debut CD, Unfolding, an August 2012
release. Back on at 8:00, Ingrid Jensen has earned, worldwide, the
adulation of audiences, the praise of critics, and the high regard of
her fellow musicians, including two true giants of her instrument. The
late Art Farmer praised Ingrid’s “feeling, swing, drive, taste, grace, ”
while Clark Terry has declared, “I’m proud to refer to her as a protégé
of mine.”
Finally at 9:00 they’ll be dancing in the street as
the festival’s perennial closing act, the all-star Estrella Salsa Band,
takes the stage. Led by pianist Peggy Stern, the all-star cast features
two past Wall Street Festival favorites, alto saxophonist Sue Terry and
baritone saxophonist Claire Daly.