Hey all. Wanted to take a brief moment to gab about the upcomming Seabreeze Jazz Festival taking place this weekend in Destin Florida. Well to be more specific Watercolor resort near SanDestin. This is the 6th annual fest and this years line up is fantastic. Brian Culbertson, Boney James, Peter White, Greg Adams, Kim Waters,Chuck Loeb and local group Jones & Company. The 1200 seat outdoor theater is situated right on the Gulf of Mexicos white sand beaches and emerald green waters. Weather will be clear with temps in the 70's. So I will be getting the cooler filled, the film for the camera and some sunscreen and will let y'all know how it turns out. BTW, this fest takes place each spring in April, so if you can't make this years show plan on comming here next year. Check out www.seabreezejazzfestival.com for info. Take care and now it's Festival time. Jim.

Hey, Jim....I'll be there!!!

Yep...can't wait till 5:00 this afternoon! I'm getting in my car and driving over there tonight!

Hey, weren't we supposed to meet at the Acoustic Alchemy show last year? I think someone told me you were called off on some job or something. Oh, well, second chance!!

Hope to see ya there! Looks like the weather will be just gorgeous!!

Boney James performs tonight at the Jacksonville Jazz Festival, and Peter White performs tomorrow. I absolutely can't believe we don't have Kim Waters and Brian Culbertson!! So close . . .

Boney just tore it up last night in Jacksonville..it was quite a juxtaposition to have Tower of Power and Boney adjacent to each other, straightup no frills Oalkand funk into high gloss LA Smooth Jazz but Boney was more "low gloss" than I have ever seen him..he was having fun, I think Jacksonville audiences bring that out in musicians because we are not "sophisticated and relaxed"..I see people other places and they are subdued and boring, they come here and they tear it up.

My angels were watching big time too..I had no media credentials and I work for a competing company..so I was standing by the fence and one of the security people walked up to me and said "go on in and have a seat"..so I plopped myself right in front of the stage!

The funny thing is that the radio sponsor is Clear Channel..which has an Urban A/C station and two Country stations..so the country station broadcast booth was beside the stage and there were a lot of people fron the country station, staff and contest winners..sitting in the front section (they were the ones that had on high waist jeans and belt buckles the size of a fist or larger..and ya know what..they were having fun.
This guy in his 60s that was all decked out for line dance night at the Crazy Horse saloon was doing the Shag (a dance you do to 60s oldies) with his wife..so here was a country guy doing an oldies dance to Boney james..and lovin it. Thats why I think we really underestimate the amount of people who enjoy this music when they hear it!

I was there for the Friday evening performances, too, Shannon. Maysa was great! What an incredible voice . . . I never realized just how incredible (she threw in a little opera) until seeing her perform live!

What's made the Jazz Festival particularly exciting for me this year is that it envelopes all of downtown Jacksonville. Yesterday, my wife and I enjoyed taking the trolley from Metro Park over to the Ritz and the Landing to enjoy a few performances there. It's been more of a cultural experience.

Peter White's performance was great as I expected. He said that he's wanted to play the Jacksonville Jazz Festival "all of his life". I thought something else he said was right on point. He said (and I paraphase), "Jazz is the only music that brings people of different types together." He's so right . . . people of different races and age groups mingled, sharing something they enjoy in common.

Then, of course, the crowd was absolutely taken by the performances of Ramsey Lewis and Nancy Wilson. For me, their performances were a little less enjoyable. I'm more attuned to Contemporary and Smooth Jazz -- primarly from the mid-70's forward.

Hey . . something else . . . I thought 101.5 DJ Naim Rashid's shot at the new Smooth Jazz station was a low blow. He said (and again, I paraphrase), "We have some new jazz competition in town -- the new Smooth Jazz station. We're gonna show them how jazz is really played."
Obviously, his comments were rooted in a desire to promote the Clear Channels stations. But, in process, he informed anyone who's been living under a rock that there's a new Smooth Jazz that plays jazz 24/7 -- not just from 9-12 on Sunday morning's as 101.5 does!! So . . Thanks, Naim!!

Well, today we'll park at Metro Park, take the trolley over to the Landing to see Pieces of a Dream, then back for Tony Bennett.

This has truly been the most memorable Jazz Fest for me!

Oh . . I comedian Mark Curry from the TV show, 'Hangin' with Mr. Cooper' at Metro Park. I guess everyone knows that the best place to be is in Jacksonville!!

I HOPE you caught Pieces of a Dream with Gerald Veasley at the landing!! What an awsome live band and what an incredible crowd. Redman's Elastic band was stunning..sounded like Coreas Elektrik band meets 21st century progressive..but the sound mixing was awful! Thats OK, my hearing is shot anyway.

I felt like saying to Naim.."yeah..well the smooth jazz station competition is owned by a human being, not a corporation, and I hope you don't get sick, injured, or have a family concern that takes you away from work because your company will give your job to another person before you can say another word in that Barry White voice! (so there!)" But hey..he was indirectly promoting them. I mentioned to the artists I got to talk to or email that the station existed and none of them had heard about it so I take it the station wasn't present there (except for one of their future employees ) I was beating Naim in the Sunday AM ratings for at least 5 years so I guess I could show him how it is played too..I listen to Gospel Traxx on V 1015 on sunday AM then switch back to 105.

Oh and I just loved the way Nick Marino, mr Jazz Police for the local paper, managed to not just put down the Smooth/Contemporary artists but take shots at their fans too..he made some snide comment about the crowd enjoying Boney (implying that we were all dumb as stumps) then said Peter White perfomed and received "golf crowd applause". I saw standing ovations and loud clapping and some good ol' J'ville hootin and hollerin but perhaps I was hallucinating???

So, anybody..how was Seabreeze??

I did, indeed, see Pieces of a Dream! Their performance was phenomenal. If I didn't witness it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe that any fingers could sprint across a keyboard as nimbly and with as much command as James Lloyd did. The saxophonist performed on an equal par. Did you catch the note he held for what must have been a minute or more on the soprano sax? He left me thinking, "Kenny who?!?" [Kenny G].
I thought they were worthy of a Metro Park performance (even before seeing them), but the intimacy of the Landing worked well for the interplay between the band and the crowd!

Tony Bennett's performance was a crowd pleaser, as well. The guy got a standing ovation for walking out on stage. He's certainly not smooth jazz, but I just had to see the legend! For 76, or for any age, his voice is vibrant and powerful.

It's been a great jazz fest . . . I can't wait for next year.

Well here it is Monday the 14th and I am flat wore out from this weekends Seabreeze Jazz Festival at Watercolor Resort near Destin Florida. At this moment I'm reviewing the 3 hours of video I shot and will be going over the 8 rolls of film. For those of you that couldn't attend the photos will be posted on the Festivals web site in a few days. What a great venue, this comment was heard from both the artists and audience. The weather was fantastic and the music even better. Locals Jones & Company kicked things off on Saturday at noon with a good show and were well received. Then it was on to Kim Waters. Kim's off stage demeanor is very subdued, but on stage he really got the crowd moving in their seats and on their feet. There was a slight glitch, after 3 songs they were told that their time had expired and their portion of the show was over. Stage manager was on Eastern time and forgot that this part of Florida is on central time. So after a few minutes things got straightened out and Kim went back on stage for another 45 minutes. Then it was on to the Greg Adams band. What a show. They played a little bit of everything. From latin to old school and then to contemporary jazz. The horns were so tight it wasn't funny. The whole set was a blast. Greg was kind enough to offer his time to the local H.S. jazz students with a Jazz Clinic at the school friday morning prior to the festival. He enjoyed the area so much that he stayed an extra couple of days and plans to be back for next year. Then to round out Saturday's line-up was crowd favorite Brian Culbertson. Brian had been staying at the resort for a few days and really fell in love with the place. I was setting up for the show on Saturday and who goes riding by on a bicycle in shorts and shirt but Brian. Unrecognized by the crowd he heads to the artists dressing room and dining area. I chatted with him briefly about his impression of the fest. Brian said it was one of his favorite shows to perform at and will definitely be there next year. I think he might even purchase a vacation home here, he enjoys the area so much. Well bach to the show, following Greg Adams it was Brians turn to tear it up. He just doesn't take the stage but prowls around the wings like a Tiger about to pounce, and then he does just that and the band flat kicked ass. The audience would not let him off the stage. With a new CD out in a few weeks they were all excited to hear the new music and the band didn't disapoint, playing a couple of tunes from it. There was nothing Smooth about it, they took control from the first note and just kept on kicking it. Well I need to re-group and will be back tomorrow with Sunday's review. BTW Donna I do remember that we were supposed to meet up at the Spryo Grya show at Baytown Wharf but as luck would have it I just started a new job, two people got sick so I got called in to work. Sorry bout that but I gots to pay the bills and so. Be sure to plan on next years show, it WILL sell out in a hurry. Peace to all. Jim.