You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - 7 Favorite Destination Jazz Festivals - #37

Episode Date: October 16, 2018

Today, Peter and Adam discuss their favorite destination jazz fests. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hey, Adam. What's up, Peter? How do you spell a Montreau? Is that M-O-N-T-R-E-Z-X? I'm Adam Anas. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear a podcast. Daily Jazz Advice, coming at you.

Coming at you from Montreau. No, not really. One more question. I know I haven't asked since last week. Is it Adam Manless? Manis? It's Adam Ennis. Adam.

Adam Annas. Adam Annas. Adam Annas. It's Adam Annas. You know what's funny since we were joking about that because the listener was like, you need to pronounce it your name better. I get so much of that in the world.

Every time I go to a hotel, a check-in, like, hey, what is the reservation under? Peter Martin. Oh, Peter Barton? Peter Garten. Really? Yeah. Peter Martin.

That's so easy. Martin, Martin. Martin. Is that really more popular than Martin? Yeah. Peter Farton? No. Yeah, no, it's Adam.

Space. Manus. Manus. Yeah, yeah. You can leave that much space. Well, we got a podcast to do, so you can't leave that much space. All right, what are we talking about today? Today we're talking about our seven favorite destination jazz festivals.

Seven favorite destination. Oh, okay, this is a funny thing. So does this mean like a destination wedding? Yeah. I've never heard it called this. This is like your crappy friend invites you to go to their wedding and you have to like pay for a $1,200 plane ticket and your own hotel and your own suit. Wow, you sound a little bitter. What did you do last weekend?

I went to the Rochester Jazz Festival on pay for it. I'm just kidding. Well, I think the, well, but no, when you go to the destination wedding and you got to pay for everything for your crappy friend, you don't mind doing it because you get a little free vacation out of it. You do get a little free. It's when the destination is, hang with your boys, you know. Yeah, when the destination is like Columbia, Missouri wedding, that's not a destination wedding.

That's an endpoint. Well, it is a destination wedding for someone from, say, like, Raytown, Missouri. Right. So it's a big city. Big shout out to Columbia and Raytown. What's up? Actually, I like Columbia. I don't know Raytown.

Where's where you time? I just made it up. Okay. I think it was the fictional town from Mama's family. Ah, right. I love Columbia, actually. I don't know why I dogged them out. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, we've insulted several, so let's charge ahead. Seven favorite. What do we have first? Montreau. Oh. Is the first. Oh, boy, that really came out of left field. Or should we call this Montreux? Monre. Well, now, have you seen the Netflix documentary that just came out about Quincy Jones? No, but I hear it's awesome. It's awesome. I watched it the other night.

It's two hours and one minute. I'm very proud because I started watching it. My wife and I at about 8.30 p.m. And she was like, yeah, and she's like, you are not going to make it. And I did. But it was so good. It's called Quincy, which is, you know, his name. Everybody's talking about it.

There's a lot of footage from Montreau. That's what made me think of it also. You know, because he had a very close connection with Claude Nobs, who was the founder of the festival. Or I believe he was the founder. I mean, since I've been going there, he found it. He found it down the street. I just call him Claude. Claude.

Well, he's passed away now. But he, you know, was super close with a lot of big time folks like Quincy Jones, Miles Davis, and, you know. I mean, the thing is, like, it's the Montreux Jazz Festival, and it's in this rich, rich resort town, beautiful on the lake there. I guess that's Lake Geneva, although it could be something else. Lach de Swiss. And it's this great festival. Like, the way, what it's been. become, and really it's been like this for a while, is a lot of non-jazz, like a lot of jazz festivals.

Yeah, most of the festivals on this list, actually. We're not going to degrade or debate any of that. We'll do that as a separate episode, seven reasons we hate jazz festivals now. Seven reasons jazz festivals aren't jazz festivals. Right. No, but it's, but I mean, you know, they've always been able to afford to have some incredible group. I mean, they pretty much stick to really creative non-jazz stuff, though. I have to say, I remember I saw Prince there when you were playing. And they've got a pretty big venue, but it's not, I mean, for somebody like Prince or, you know, I don't know if they've had the Rolling Stones, but they could certainly have had some things like that. It's such a

status thing to go there, I think, for certain acts. And, but yeah, I mean, it's just, it's a great thing. A lot of great folks, really interesting venues. It's definitely a destination thing for Europe. I don't know, like probably some Americans. It looks beautiful too. Yeah. Yeah, it's a great location. All right. So for number two, we have a little festival called the New Orleans Jazz Fest. Oh, hello, Nola. Where you at? Where you at? Now, you lived down there for a while. Was this one of those things, did you play when you were living there?

Or was this like a pain in your butt when all the tourists would come to town? No, no, no. It was pretty cool because for about, what, three or four years, we were living right by the fairgrounds. The location for it is the fairgrounds where the horse racing places. So we used to live in mid-city. I mean, like, right, like you could walk a couple of places. So that was a little bit of drag because everyone was parking and, you know, all up on your house and stuff. But it was really excited.

You could hear the music from some of the same. stages from our house. That's great. And yeah, they're really good about local musicians. You will play. I mean, unless you are just totally incompetent. You will play something every year. I mean, they're very good about it. And usually, I mean, like most of the pro players, so to speak, and there's a lot of good players in New Orleans, you're pretty much doing gigs out there. And then there's a lot of other things at clubs and concert halls. But you're doing a bunch of gigs. It's a big time of year. It's a big fun time. It's a big money-making time. It's, they really, I think, include the, you know, Quint Davis, who's kind of like the clawed knobs of, you know, he founded the festival.

Well, really George Ween found the festival, but with Quint Davis. And, of course, Quint, like, you know, is from an old school New Orleans family. His father, like, designed the Superdome and a bunch of stuff. But he's really, like, a tuned in, like, he grew up around New Orleans music and knows it and is, like, a huge proponent of it and always make sure to have the right people. And they've certainly gone to the, you know, having all. sorts of, you know, sting out there. I mean, they've, like, had some huge acts there, and they've got these big stages, but he'll always do something like have, you know, like the Meeters reunion band, you know, go on after the Rolling Stones for the final Sunday

thing, you know, and it'll be packed. And, you know, they've done grateful debt. They've done a lot of different things that they've gotten some flack for, but it's still like, it's a unique thing. The food, the location, the people. I mean, it's a very special place. That's great. Yeah. Well, that takes us to number three, which is the Rochester Jazz Festival in Rochester, New York. Yes. That's a great little festival up there. Yeah, I've played that one. It's a great little town, and the great thing about that festival is everything is so tight, you know, by the university.

And there's so many great little venues, like, kind of tucked away throughout. It's great, like, jam sessions happening all over town, as there are with all these festivals. But, man, that is one not to sleep on. It's not probably maybe as, like, prestigious some of these, but it's a lot of good stuff going on. That's a great festival. I've done that had a lot of fun there, too. The people that put that on, that I'm not even sure who they are,

but they really get it right. That's what it always, you know, a lot of times it'll be like kind of the festival producer or some often a board or a nonprofit organization like New Orleans is the way it's run. Yeah, yeah. But like if those people get it and it's produced right, you know, you can't go wrong with it pretty much.

And Rochester does, I think, a fantastic job. And they get some great, great lineups. And really is a jazz festival. It's a real jazz festival, yeah. And I think we were talking about we kind of put that on there as representative of, you might not think of Rochester or New York as a destination, but that festival, if you're a jazz lover, that's definitely worth going to. And maybe a little bit more approachable and affordable to go stay in a nice hotel.

If you're just going to enjoy great music, you can't do any better than that. If you want to go and enjoy great jazz, like Rolling Stones aren't playing there. No, no. But a lot of really great jazz music. But the top jazz groups are going to be there. All right. So what we got for number four? Number four, let's see.

I got kind of sidetracked over here because I was still trying to look up the name of that lake in Montreau. Actually, Google Maps is showing it as Lake Lemont. Lake Lemont. But Geneva's on that. I always called that Lake Geneva. And they didn't rename it because of me. Oh, well, there you go. They'll hear it.

The more you know. Yeah, the more you know, the more you don't. Okay, so next we have, what are you doing? You checking your, you check something? I'm also looking up the lake, man. Oh, you are? You're trying to verify? Yeah.

You know, forgive, don't forget. Trust, but verify. I love all those things. Okay, next we have, oh, North Sea Jazz Festival. Now, this is a big festival. And this one I kind of have mixed feelings about because, you know, I'll tell you, the first time I went to the North Sea Jazzville was in 1991 playing with Betty Carter. Wow. Pulled up to the hotel.

We were late. We had to go kind of like straight to the venue, which was right sort of by the hotel. And this is back when it was still in the Hague, Den Haag, where it's moved now to Rotterdam. But we pulled up to the hotel. I get out of the cab. It's me and Greg Hutchinson, Dwayne Burner. I remember just three of us. And open the door.

And there's a gentleman, older gentleman. older gentleman sitting in front of the hotel. The weather's beautiful. He's got a white hat on and a white suit. And he's like, hey there. Like greeting us. I mean, he's just sitting there. He's just saying hello.

Cap Calloway. Okay? How about we throw it back to that era, buddy? That's pretty great, man. Yeah. So I got to, that was, that's the one time I met him. I think he passed away shortly thereafter. Did you stop and chat with him for a while?

We had a gig to go to. So we were like, yeah. But that was kind of my entree. I mean, I remember seeing a bunch of people that year, played the gig. and I've gone back a lot. And, you know, it's moved now, so I have a lot, like a lot of folks, a lot of fond memories of the original location because there was the hotel there,

the Bel Air, and then the venue, which was kind of like a Congress Center, almost like a convention center, which was a little weird, but like interesting venues in there. And then the hotel, all the musicians would stay there. Jam sessions to like 6 a.m. It's awesome. Yeah. I mean, it was, it was a real special thing.

Now it's still cool, but it's a little bit spread out around Rotterdam, which is still close by. That's great, man. Yeah. So that takes us to number five, and this is a festival that you actually just got back from. That's the Monterey Jazz Festival. Okay, Monterey Jazz Festival. Now, there's the whole package.

It's a destination. It's a big time destination. It's a big, what is that, Carmel? The big Tiny Pines or Torrey Pines? Torrey Pines is there, I think, or is that in Florida? 3,700 miles away. You didn't play golf at the festival? I did not.

No, we were actually staying on a different golf course. All the musicians stayed at a hotel that's on. Torrey Pines? No. What does it matter? There's some famous golf, I mean, like really, really. Pebble Beach? Pebble Beach!

Yeah. Come on, buddy. Pebble Beach. Come on, buddy, me, man. I don't know. But no, it's just such a beautiful part of, it's such a crate. I mean, it's Bay Area, but it looks like totally different than San Francisco. Santa Cruz is close.

I mean, it's just like its own little thing tucked away. It's got the aquarium there, but the festival is just, now this is the oldest continually running. festival. I was going to say 1958. Yeah, 1950. Now, I think that Newport, which is going to probably be on our list in a minute, might have been like 55 or 54

even, but they stopped for like 10 years. You know, Monterey has been continuous. Jimmy Lyons started the festival. I'm just looking at the lineup in 1958 was Billy Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Harry James, Jerry Mulligan, Mill Jackson, Art Farmer. I mean, this is like

Max Roach. And tickets, 24 cents. Yeah, exactly. Probably. Beer, 50 cents. Right. No, but I mean, this festival, the grounds, the weather, it's always a little chillier than you think, but they've got these cool. And I don't know that much about the history of it, like back then what it was like.

It might have just been a one stage thing. But they've got, like, kind of an arena stage, they call it, which is like, it's like, it's like New Orleans. It's sort of a fairgrounds area. They've got, you know, food vendors and like some other vendors, but it's manageable. It's not like New Orleans, it's just, like, huge. I'm on the Monterey, Wikipedia. page right now. There's some funny lineups like 2006.

Yeah. Oscar Peterson Trio with Hank Jones and Clint Eastwood. Nice. I saw Clint Eastwood there this year. Did you really? Yeah. Yeah. He, well, he was nice until he fell off the, the, the, whatever, his brain, you know, a couple, not, I mean, yeah, yeah. Got a little politically. Yeah. Yeah. Well, he was, he's been, he's big in that, he was like mayor of Carmel or something for years. He was, yeah. He's a huge jazz fan. His son is a very good jazz bassist. And yeah, I mean, it's a, it's a super interesting place. And I think that they just do it amazing. Tim Jackson and his staff, I mean, the volunteers at the Monterey Jazz Festival,

I've never seen for any organization more dedicated, joyful, skillful, and just like, they're so great there. I'm always like thanking all of them when I'm leaving there for such a wonderful experience. I mean, they have a core staff as well that's working throughout the year. I mean, it's a big festival. but they really rely on the volunteers and they do such a wonderful job. I mean, and the way to do it there,

if anyone wants to make it their destination, if you can swing it, there's a very small airport, the Monterey Airport, that is like five minutes from the festival and from the different hotels and from down, I mean, literally, it's a teeny airport. One of those ones you walk out,

you walk outside down the stairs, and like if you have somebody picking you up there, like three minutes later, you're in the car and do it that way. They don't have a lot of flights, but if you can swing it, you get the whole experience. Because San Francisco is a little ways away.

I mean, it's probably two hours driving with no traffic, but you go through San Jose and all that craziness there, Silicon Valley. I mean, it's a busy area. But Monterey is just a beautiful little world unto its own. That's great, man. Well, that brings us to number six, and that is, as you were saying, the famous Newport Jazz Festival. Newport, yeah.

Now, this is cool. We put these against each other because I think there's a little bit of, like, Newport, where the oldest, the original jazz festival. George Lee, right? The most, I think these are the two most prestigious American ones for sure. Right. I think so. I mean, I think New Orleans definitely has its thing because it's big, but it's not as old, you know. It's not as old. It's like 69, 70 or something like that. Yeah. These have those iconic moments. Yeah. In Newport especially, you know, obviously the famous Duke Ellington.

Yeah. You know, bringing people back in with Paul Gonzalez solo for 20 minutes or whatever it was, you know. Yeah, so Newport probably has every other festival for recording. So I'm thinking of that one. And then wasn't there the Miles Monk live at Newport? Where it was like both, not together, but both of them against, I mean, not against, but 56 or 58 or something. I don't know. But there's been some great live recordings at Newport. Monterey, there probably have been, but there's a great documentary about Montere. I don't know if it's still available, 40th anniversary or something. But, yeah, Newport is great.

I mean, there you've got that incredible, beautiful area right by the water, the Atlantic. You've got all those incredible, the biggest mansions in the world lined up on that street. I forget the neighborhood leading up to it. And it's in a fort. You know, it's like a big old stone fort and some really cool outdoor stages. You got to be careful about the weather up there because it's in August and about 30% of the time I play there. We got rained out. But that's an outdoor venue for you.

You know, Monterey is like never rains up there. Interesting history to this festival. I would recommend reading up on this. I'm just like kind of like skimming the history of it. It's moved to New York City at some point. That's right. That's when it was kind of shut down. Yeah.

Yeah. That was in the 80s, right? It was in the 80s. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right. All right, so number seven is the Umbria Jazz Festival. Umbria Jazz Festival. Ombria Jazz Festival. Okay, we've opened to that one, but not at the same time, I believe, right? I don't think so. Yeah. What did you think of that? Man, that's a beautiful part of the world, isn't it? Yeah. So that's mostly in Perugia. Wait, did you, the summer or the winter?

Orvieto is the winter Umbria. I did the Ovieta. Orietta. That's my favorite one. It's the smaller, it's the same people. Yeah. Same region, but, you know, Peruio. is a bigger summer festival, cool too, but Orvieto is usually between, I think it's like Christmas and New Year's, maybe right until after New Year's. And it's a very special thing. And that's like a true destination festival for Italians. And I mean, I think from all over Europe and some

Americans too. I mean, it's big time. But especially like Italians from Rome and Milan and stuff love coming there. Because the restaurants in that little town are amazing. The venues are cool. You're right there. The musicians with the fans. The fans are with the musicians. Yeah, honestly, if you get a chance to go to any jazz festival in Italy, even if it's just like, you know, the Roberto Rino trio playing. Is that your typical Italian name? That's just what I was just coming up with it off the top. You'll hear it.

But, you know, the food is a major selling point. Do you remember any of the gigs, actually? No, I don't, actually. I just remember falling over myself trying to get the dinner afterwards. Yeah, though, the food there, I mean, you go play in these cool venues and then you go to dinner at like 11 o'clock after, which goes to like 3 a.m. It's a special lifestyle thing for sure.

It really is. Yeah. Well, this was fun, man. I like talking about all these. Yeah, you want to go to? Let's take a trip together, man. I really do kind of, we should do our podcast on the road at one of these festivals.

Well, you want to go to Reno in January? Yeah, maybe. Yeah. We'll see you there. So, yeah, no, I think it would be fun. But this would, now, this is a sort of breaking news. Are we allowed to do that or should we wait for tomorrow? No, you got it.

Okay. So breaking news even to you. We are, playing around with the idea of a live event next year. We are. Yes. I didn't tell you that. You did not tell me this, man. I didn't tell you we were going to do a podcast in January, and yet here we are. Here we are. You know, nine months later.

All right, so tell me all about it. Well, I can tell you all about it. I'm just, that's the first part. Am I going to be there? You're going to be there. You're invited, and are you available to help organize it? I mean, I feel like you're going to have to fill me in on some deets. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you're going to co-host it with me, and it's going to be much as this podcast, but it's going to be a live version. Oh, nice. Yeah. I mean, we're not going to do.

Well, we may do the podcast, but we may do some other things. You know, I always hate it when my podcast do live version, so I can't wait to do that to our fans. That's good. There we go. Well, until tomorrow. You'll hear it.