Telluride Jazz Festival Review and Photos - Day 1 - 8/3/07

Bola has quite the collection of percussionists for accompaniment as the skies clear as on cue with his first song. He does every song in his set in his native language but the groove coming from the stage gets the heads to bobbing and hips to gyrating in the crowd.

Bola Abimbola

Next up on the agenda is the Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio. Dr. Smith is an accomplished musician whose mastery of the Hammond B3 organ has brought him to the same stage as Etta James, George Benson and Gladys Knight. He is very comfortable with his sidekicks as the improvisations are in high gear and is gracious enough to give them a bit of time in the spotlight near mid-set.

His musical tastes run from jazz to funk and plays to all ages of the crowd. The younger generation showed their approval with "Your Momma’s Got A Complex" to the older sect with a variety of lounge music that was more comical than anything. Certainly a good warmup for the next act.

The "Guest of Honor" for this weekend’s festival, John Scofield, graces the stage with keyboard whiz, John Medeski and drummer Adam Deitch.Scofield is one of the most versatile guitarists around today as he plays with a variety of musicians such as Phil Lesh, Warren Haynes as well as Mediski’s other playing partners, Billy Martin and Chris Wood. He has seemed comfortable with any version I have ever had the pleasure to witness in person.

 

This trio starts off with a variety of jams as the field general, Scofield, directs his troops into a musical war of instruments. Medeski and Deitch head off into a keyboard / drum duel before they sit back with grins and watch the boss have his own shining moment stretching the strings on his Ibanez guitar.

Scofield really gets down to business when he places his glasses on top of head and the tempo goes up a few notches as John and Adam also show they are up to the challenge to keep up with the elder statesman.

This set comes to an end too soon with a Stevie Wonder tune as the Mo-Town sound would continue with the last act of the day.

I have never seen Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings before, but some Detroit inspired soul music bouncing off the mountains in Telluride seemed like a fitting end to the first day as the sun finally makes an appearance for the first time.

The Dap Kings warmed up the crowd first before Sharon hit the stage with "Not Going To Cry Anymore" and "How Do I Let A Good Man Down", the first of many relationship / love songs she hit upon today. Sharon shared with the crowd some of the singles off her upcoming album as well as show off some of her many dance moves.

She belted out with a song about the length of time you should stay in a bad relationship with "How Long" as well as the fast moving antics of young men in bed in "Be Easy, Baby". She motioned for Adam Deitch to center stage for a little dance action which brought huge applause and laughter from the crowd.

She ended with a montage of songs from the "Godfather of Funk", James Brown, which included "It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World" as well as imitating some of his dance moves. Nobody can do it like Brown could, but Sharon is certainly one of the most energetic entertainers I have seen in quite a while.