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Curacao North Sea Jazz Festival: Curacao, August 31-September 1, 2012
World Trade Center
Curacao
August 31-September 1
The Caribbean island of Curacao can claim, after three years, that its jazz festival is a success. It sells out tickets and brings people to the island, which depends so heavily on tourism. More music lovers should look into the festival, as much for its exotic ambiance as for the opportunity to see jazz, pop and R&B stars in a welcoming venue.
The event is produced by the same folks who run the amazing North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Curacao is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, hence the connection, and the North Sea name being kept for branding purposes. Over two nights, on three stages, people enjoy some fine music, even though it's far from a true "jazz" festival. There's always a lot of Latino flavoring in the acts and has as much pop and R&B as it does the art form of jazz. In the daytime hours, the incredible beauty of the beaches, the land, the attractions—even the people—can be relished. Hotels are lavish, the food varied, interesting and good.
In 2012, jazz fans could be satisfied with
James Farm
band / ensemble / orchestrab.2009
Joshua Redman
saxophoneb.1969
Matt Penman
bass
Eric Harland
drumsb.1976
Aaron Parks
pianob.1983
Dizzy Gillespie
trumpet1917 - 1993
Joe Sample
piano1939 - 2014
Randy Crawford
vocalsb.1952
Guitar burner
Carlos Santana
guitarb.1947
Paquito D'Rivera
clarinetb.1948
Also there was
Allen Toussaint
piano and vocals1938 - 2015
Don Braden
saxophone, tenorb.1963
Marc Ribot
guitarb.1954
Buddy Guy
guitar, electricb.1936
The band covered tunes like "St. James Infirmary" "Summertime" and "Blues in the Night," sometimes segueing one into another. Toussaint compositions were sprinkled in during a very pleasing and inspired show.
A special treat was the appearance of Joshua Redman, who came in from the wings to play a duet with Toussaint, "Day Dream." It was touching. Redman doesn't play many standard ballads, what with his searching and groundbreaking work with other bands. But what a reminder of how rich and expressive his tenor can be, with a sensual sound that touches people. Like his dad, the late
Dewey Redman
saxophone, tenorb.1931
Toussaint, dressed in pants the color of the Blue Curacao liqueur, played the piano as hip and cool as ever. He's influenced many cats over the years and it was a pleasure to hear him still at it and strong in his seventies.
Santana's band was as high powered as ever. Plenty of rhythms crossing and driving the music, and two horns to accentuate various musical passages. The first part of his long set included covering some of his radio hits from years gone by, and some newer ones that younger people know. In some respects, it was Santana as entertainer, not as artist. That's his right. He has both qualities. But as the night wore on, he shifted gears and gave music lovers the right dose of his signature moaning, expressive voice on guitar. "Europa" was bliss, as he wrung all the emotion out of the well-known melody, but the arrangement then changed—refreshingly—to a more rhythmic style before coming back around.
From there, while arrangements were tight (and smoking), Santana went on more daring jaunts, improvising and showing why he's one of the more memorable guitarists in rock music. At one point he wailed over
Mongo Santamaria
percussion1917 - 2003
John Coltrane
saxophone1926 - 1967
The Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band is a powerful group and was in good form. At first, it covered some of the great bebop compositions associated with trumpeter Gillespie, who was one of its main architects. The great
Jimmy Heath
saxophone, tenor1926 - 2020
When guest leader D'Rivera came to the stage things changed somewhat, as the music was dominated by his compositions and had a more distinct Latin feel.
Pernell Saturnino
percussionD'Rivera played with his septet the following night. The music included things from classical composers like Mozart and Chopin, arranged in a Latin jazz vein. The result was highly charged music, incorporating the telltale rhythms, supplied by Saturnino. It was heavily arranged and executed to perfection. The improvisations came from the soloists, like D'Rivera and
Diego Urcola
trumpetb.1965
James Farm has been playing for a few years now, developing, tweaking and changing the tunes somewhat over time. Its self-titled 2011 Nonesuch debut is superb, but hearing the quartet live is a great journey. Its members know each other so well, they are in tune with every nuance and can follow one another if things extend or a direction changes. Redman is one of the true modern greats on his instrument, his sound so strong and his ideas so creative. Penman is solid as a rock and plays patterns that both augment and push the music. Harland has the ability to be incredibly intense or as soft as a floating butterfly. He's always musical and in touch with what's going on around him. Parks always digs in and provides a cascade of interesting lines and stories. Hard to say what he might come up with next in terms of color and texture, but it's always something good that sometimes even raises the brows of his mates.
They do all-original music, and blazed their way through Redman's "If By Air and "Polliwog," Parks' "Unravel" and "Chronos," Harland's "I-10" and Penman's "1981."
Joe Sample still plays fine piano, whether it's jazz or dipping into the pop stream that he occupies some of his time. The pianist and his group played jazz to warm up for the appearance of Randy Crawford, a singer who drew a huge crowd for the indoor stage (the other two are outdoors in the warm island air). She possessed a voice that was kind of soft and gentle, with a bright style and good timing. She got across a certain joy to her listeners, clearly knew how to negotiate the twists of a tune, and worked totally in synch with Sample. Swing, soul and pop, they handled it all with good taste.
"Happiness is a Thing Called Joe" was swinging, "Tell Me More" a sultry blues and "A Rainy Night in Georgia" a warm recollection. "One Day I'll Fly Away" was a crowd pleaser. Crawford is a good listen.
India.Arie invests herself into each and every song. She uses her strong, lush voice as an instrument of emotion. She writes some great songs that usually have a lesson or explain an experience. This woman isn't in it just to be on stage. As a result, her songs are touching. There's also a sense of power.
With only a quartet of musicians behind her, and two backup singers, she closed the festival with a convincing set of music. One gem was "Blackbird," a popular
The Beatles
band / ensemble / orchestraIt would be remiss to mention that the festival also had some individual concerts during the week to raise the buzz for the festival. Most important was a performance by singer
Gregory Porter
vocalsb.1971
Porter's standing as a jazz singer is rightfully rising. He turned in a fantastic performance in Curacao, with his outstanding band. Porter had a lot of soul in his delivery, but swung like mad, with great time and feeling, like on "Black Nile." He also sang a ballad like "Skylark" with convincing passion and uplifting reverence, his baritone voice ringing true with each phrase. He was a dynamic performer who grabbed the attention and held it.
"Be Good"—also the title to his latest album on Motéma Records—was a masterpiece of good musical taste. The melody and its appealing changes were stirring. The lyric was a delightful difference from what is usually heard in a waltz ballad. Add the charm of his voice and the result is something special. On the opposite end of that, but equally special, was "1960 What?" This was a very intense, driving account of racial unrest in Detroit (that could be easily applied to other cities) in the 1960s. It was spellbinding, as he sang with spirit and intensity. It is probably the best song of this type since
Billie Holiday
vocals1915 - 1959
Porter also had a fine touring band. Saxophonist
Yosuke Sato
saxophoneThe North Sea Jazz people have forged a fine event in the land far away from their home base. It made for a delectable weekend.
Photo Credit
R.J. DeLuke
Tags
Curacao North Sea Jazz Festival
Live Reviews
R.J. DeLuke
James Farm
Joshua Redman
Matt Penman
Eric Harland
Aaron Parks
Dizzy Gillespie
Joe Sample
Randy Crawford
Carlos Santana
Paquito D'Rivera
Allen Toussaint
Don Braden
Marc Ribot
Buddy Guy
Dewey Redman
Mongo Santamaria
John Coltrane
Jimmy Heath
Pernell Saturnino
Diego Urcola
Beatles
Gregory Porter
Billie Holiday
Yosuke Sato
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