The Indie gone big band Interpol has just announced a Rochester date, Thursday, July 19, at The Harro East Ballroom, 155 Chestnut Street, 454-0230, 8 p.m. Tickets go on sale Saturday, June 2.

The Jazz Fest folks threw a swank party at Max at Eastman Place Friday night, and Netsky and I made the scene. And kids, I got two words for ya: crab Rangoon. And two more: John Nugent. I know these things can be a bit of a circle jerk where politicians and officials rub elbows and chuckle and use disingenuous terms like "patron of the arts" and "rich cultural heritage," but Nugent is the real deal. You really oughta hear this man play. With a trio's support, Nugent honked happy for those digging the scene and those crab Rangoon things

Frank De Blase:Tonight I plan on seeing a bunch o' music, like Esperanza Spalding and Madagascar Slim, and Steps Ahead, and Raul Midon. But if i just wind up seeing King Solomon Burke tonight, I'll be all right....Ron Netsky:I've got my Jazz Festival program all marked up and I'm ready to make downtown Rochester my second home for the next nine days. I've been careful not to schedule any meetings before 10 a.m. next week so that I can catch late concerts and maybe an occasional jam session. There will be plenty of time to sleep the Sunday after the festival;

I started Friday evening with a wonderful show by pianist Geri Allen at Kilbourn Hall. Adding to the pleasure was the fact that the drummer in her trio was, as Allen put it, an icon --- Jimmy Cobb.No matter what Allen played, from Mal Waldron’s beautiful ballad “Soul Eyes” to more up-tempo originals, her technique was never less than extraordinary. I don’t know if I have ever seen a faster and more tasteful right hand in all of jazz.With Cobb on hand, Allen played Charlie Parker’s “Al-Leu-Cha,” a tune Cobb played with Miles Davis. Cobb’s solo was understated and excellent.

Kicked it all off with the Geri Allen Trio at Kilbourn. The music began as a gentle cascade, much like the impending cloudbursts outside. Allen traversed the keys widely as if in search of a melody, despite the fact that there were already at least two cavorting around our ears. About 15 minutes into the first piece (Netsky tells me it was two sewn together) the group began to chop it up a little and really swing. Twenty minutes into it they were still playing and I split for Max to dig Esperanza Spalding.Spalding was just so much fun, weaving

It’s one thing to hear a superb set from a known giant like Randy Brecker; it’s a different, particularly exhilarating feeling to witness a great performance by a relatively unknown singer like Tessa Souter. Judging from the ovations she received at High Fidelity Saturday night, the entire audience felt the same way.And they should have felt special; at one point Souter invited all of us back to her hotel room. That was part of her effortless, funny and flirt-heavy between-song patter. At least I don’t think she was serious. I hope nothing major went on without me.Souter has a way

The Killer was fillerTillotson was the thrillerAt the last nightOutasightJazz Fest routine Brecker bopped toughKilbourn couldn’t get enoughTutuWorked his Montgomery voodooGibbs was the place to be seen Tessa’s takeOn Caravan was jakeThe lady cooedThe lady wooedAs the ghost of Sarah raved Vaughn Goudie’s bopWas a lightning hopLos Lonely weren’t lonelyOr feelin’ so onlyWith the thousands they Texas turned on  But The Love Trio coolsHad ’em howlin’ like foolsThe Worm scoredThe whole room was flooredBy a trio that righteously rules

Fred Hersch has got to be one of the most cerebral pianists in jazz. At Kilbourn Hall Sunday evening he played originals and standards in a manner that suggested a deep analysis of each tune's structure and harmony. His trio, with†John Hebert on bass and Nasheet Waits on drums, played with the precision of a classical ensemble. In fact, when they performed Thelonious Monk's "Work," it came off as a playful contemporary classical piece. Hersch played several songs from his new album, "Night & The Music," including a wonderful take on Irving Berlin's "How Deep is the Ocean." Waits was

Strolled down Gibbs to Urban Transit's funky thunder rolling outta the big tent. These cats lean heavy on the Steely Dan (anybody know where they got that name?), or smooth and funky jams in that vein. I could go for a bit more grit and guitarist Adam Bradley looks like the guy to deliver it as the band gets more and more dialed in.I don't know what it is with the Kilbourn shows so far, but everyone I've seen there seems inclined to peel back the layers real slow. I mean, I ain't complaining, I'm just saying... The Fred Hersch

If anyone had any doubts about whether the word "phenomenon" accurately describes Eldar, they were dispelled Monday night at Max of Eastman Place. His technique was simply supernatural. In fact, at one point during a solo, he was playing so fast that I swear I heard a phantom melody that formed above the music his two hands were playing. I think that is possible; does anyone know?Eldar's trio took off right out of the gate with an absolutely frenzied piece. It only slowed down when Eldar began to play an electric piano with his left hand and the acoustic piano

Mamadou Diabate fleshed out his life-size music box with a whole ensemble this time. It was a little more percussive than last time but still elegant. But as an ensemble it seemed less appropriate in the sit-and-stare affair of Kilbourn as the joyful polyrhythm and cascading notes had fans squirming in their seat just itchin' to dance. Something that hasn't really been tossed into the mix at the fest - Ragtime - came bounding out of Max, and I bounded in. Young piano wiz Eldar was positively infusing some Joplin in his jump and was in full gallop. What a

Damn that John Nugent. I just realized he got me to go to church two days in a row --- and enjoy it. All I can say is, them Lutherans can swing.With members who seemed to be in their 20s, Finland's Five Corners Quintet is a third-generation hard bop ensemble in the style of the first generation's Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers. With roots in considerably different soil, the members of this band are a little like an American early music ensemble covering the hits of the Renaissance. The difference is Five Corners writes its own music in that

Harry Allen played cool and close to the two-tone jazz 'n' cocktails sound you'd expect to hear a little more of at a jazz festival. He and his tight, tight quartet kicked off with "I Get A Kick Out Of You" and fleshed it out nice, avoiding the temptation to turn it inside out. This was utterly classic and slick --- including the weird expression frozen on Allen's mug. This was music for mashers on the make; however, Kilbourn ain't really condusive to seduction.Nancy Kelly certainly knows to amplify her supple voice, and the air around her with dramatic swoops and waves

When Dave Brubeck finished his sixth or seventh tune after playing for an hour and 10 minutes, he announced an intermission. The audience was a bit stunned; the 87-year-old pianist was not finished. By comparison, last Saturday night Jerry Lee Lewis , a mere 71, played for 45 minutes and left the stage.But Brubeck was really into it. He has great memories of Rochester and, as he has in past appearances, talked about how much the Eastman Theatre and the late Eastman School of Music faculty member, Rayburn Wright meant to him. He played beautifully, building his solos and, on

JAZZ BLOGG DAY 6 Both shows I went to last night were so goddamn riveting that they’re all I saw.Maiden voyages, premieres, debuts, first times… there’s a whole list spinning in my memory. I cherish the who, what, why, where, and when the cherry broke in many situations; the lowdown surrounding the first time getting to second base, first concert, where I was when Elvis died are all carved in my brain permanently. Just like last night, when I got to hear Dave Brubeck play “Take Five.” I’ll never forget it.Brubeck and his trio played for nearly two hours. The band

There are still two nights left in the jazz festival, but I think it’s safe to say that Thursday night’s performance of “Congo Square” by Wynton Marsalis and The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Odadaa! will be remembered by those who were there as the high point of this year’s RIJF.For more than 90 minutes Marsalis, the orchestra, and Yacob Addy’s Ghanaian ensemble, Odadaa!, reached peak after peak of musical elation in one of the most dynamic pieces of music I’ve ever heard. (Because co-composer Addy had health issues, his brother Otey Thompson, the featured drummer in Odadaa!, took

There was a time not too long ago that if I saw a band without a drummer, it was incomplete. I used to feel that there were duos, trio, quartets, and so on, but they weren’t bands until somebody was pounding something with sticks. I say this now because 1) I’ve obviously grown up a little and 2) bands like the one backing up singer Catherine Russell can still pack a wallop with just bass, guitar, and piano. Granted, Russell’s freight-train-full-o-soul vocals don’t need much else, nor is there really any room. Her early set was a nice mix of

If Wynton Marsalis and The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Odadaa! provided the festival’s finest Eastman Theatre concert Thursday night, Don Byron’s "Ivey Divey" delivered (in my opinion) the festival’s best performance on the Club Pass at Friday evening’s second show in Kilbourn Hall. No small reason for this was that aside from Byron, an extraordinary clarinetist and saxophonist, the trio also boasted one of the finest young pianists in jazz, Jason Moran, and the great drummer, Billy Hart."Ivey Divey" is the title of Byron’s 2004 album exploring the style of Lester Young, who Byron called “a codifier of

Unlike most Kilbourn acts this week, Don Byron’s Ivey Divey blasted out the gate at a trot. Byron’s flow was flawless on both sax and licorice stick. Pianist Jason Moran was incredible as he formed rhythmic phrases and melodies by not playing the actual notes, but rather by framing them with the notes around them. It was Thelonious Monk’s doing this that first made sense to me. A lot of times it makes about as much sense as Chinese algebra… but I still like to listen.And speaking of Monk, you ever see concert footage of him in later years? The

On the festival’s final night I saw three virtuoso musicians and their groups.During his first set at Montage, bassist Avishai Cohen not only explored every inch of the fingerboard, he added percussion by slapping and tapping, he strummed and played occasional harmonics, and, when he wanted to really accent a note, he struck it extra harshly. Even his bowing work was unusually percussive. Cohen has expanded the vocabulary of the bass and made it an effective lead solo instrument in the process.While most of the tunes his trio played were from his current album, one of the most beautiful ballads,