Best of Show... Day One

It was a real day to remember, this first day of JazzFest 2006.

The weather was gorgeous; just enough high clouds to keep things cool for most of the day while it warmed up in the afternoon so it was cheerful and playful and crazy like JazzFest oughta be.

The music, all day, was amazing, and to the good will of all, the crowds were pretty darn heavy (though I haven't heard any official reports).

I caught the Coolbone Brass Band (a particularly New Orleans phenomenon, a brass band rap group) and the Loyola Jazz Ensemble to start the morning and htat was followed by sets from guitarist Anders Osborne on the big stage and the incredible young pianist Jonathan Batiste in the Jazz Tent.

I took a break in the cool of the racetrack paddock stage where a friend of mine, Chuck Siler, was interviewing Bruce "Sunpie" Barnes and then I went and caught the last song of a Keb Mo set at the insanely crowded large stage. Keb's closing tune, "She Just Wants To Dance" is one of my favorites (and not JUST because it reminds me of my daughter) and it made me sad to have missed his set (though not sad enough to have missed Chuck and Sunpie to catch it)... and THAT is one of the central elements of JazzFest; it is enlightening to see (and hear) what you miss as much as what you see.

The key to JazzFest, as opposed to every other concert or festival I have ever been at, is the incredible diversity and abundance, a true feast of riches that you can't possibly fully consume. The surprise of JazzFest (which a lot of people who just hang out at the big stage and look for the big acts miss) is finding something you didn't know about (or didn't know enough about) as well as discovering what great thing you missed while you were experiencing the great thing you saw.

I missed, for example... Keb Mo, Cowboy Mouth (whom I absolutely love), James Rivers, Charmaine Neville, Topsey Chapman, and Dr. John (with guitarist John Fohl), and that whole time I was busy with more than I could hardly stand with everything I've mentioned, plus an incredible set by Bob Dylan and, as the audio post demonstrates... the best of the day (for me at least) the powerful, eclectic, brilliant and incredibly poetic Ani DiFranco (and her accompanists on vibes and double bass). I've always been a big fan of Ani, both for her music and for the courage and creativity she showed starting and succeeding with her own record company (something I am still trying to do), but to see her play with the kind of joyous creative power that she revealed in front of this crowd on this day... it was very moving.

Top all that off with about three pounds of crawfish at a party I got dragged to aafterwards... It was a glorious day!

And so... it starts all over again this morning.