Festivals are always tough because there are bound to be conflicts. It's no different when the festival happens to be taking place at venues across a neighborhood and not just a massive field. On Saturday night between the hours of 5pm and 1am on Sunday morning, there was jazz raging all over Williamsburg, Brooklyn and I dropped into National Sawdust and Music Hall of Williamsburg to catch some of the action.
At 7:30, Vijay Iyer plus 1 took to the intimate stage at National Sawdust and the trio +1, or a quartet as you might say, began their deeply satisfying lyrical jazz that balanced wonderfully between piano and trumpet led tunes that shines with star power. Passing the rhythms between stand-up bass and Tyshawn Sorey on drums, the two were interwoven throughout the set as their delicate grooves helped set up Iyer for his dazzling strokes on the keys that elevated the whole night with his precise, yet freeing, wizardry that sent the crowd soaring. Making the core elements of hard and post-bop fit into their own phrasing and delightful suites was immensely pleasing and a wonderful way to start the evening.
Next up, I had to decide on skipping Arooj Aftab in favor of Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn who carried the torch at National Sawdust as their took over for their stunning ambient and spoken word performance that was nothing short of brilliant. As Zahn switched off between twinkling piano lines and grounding bass rhythms, Richard let her mesmerizing voice take command over the crowd as she reached deep within and led us through a spiritual journey that remarked on some of her more recent difficulties in life, but with an attitude and impression that love and the powers of music can be healing forces and by the time they got to "Traditions," a stand-out from last year's Quiet in a World Full of Noise, the entire room was hanging on every word coming from that angelic voice. On stage, Richard was a force as well, standing in a dripping silver gown with matching shoes and toenails to match, she was a divine figure that seemed to have descended from the cosmos to lead us on such a special journey of spiritual and atmospheric jazz that was a real highlight of the marathon.
Over at Music Hall of Williamsburg, the collective known as SML took to one of the bigger stages of the festival and dug deep into their mercurial grooves and complex rhythms that burrowed together for something truly fascinating. Knotty arrangements had the bass, saxophone, and guitar melting together for some dense, yet digestible grooves that kept wrapping themselves up and into each other while synth player and live sampler Jeremiah Chiu stood behind his boards like a mad engineer, twisting and turning his knobs with the slightest of touches as he watched his work come to life all while drummer Booker Stardrum lived up to his name and more. Hitting us with incredible fills and rolls, the crowd was all in and began to lose it to the movements being inspired onstage. Watching the group reflect on what one another was crafting was another joy and to see them react in real time to the madness while finding pockets to join into was sensational.
Ending the night at Music Hall meant that I also skipped the legendary Sun Ra Arkestra at Brooklyn Bowl, but it was worth it to be against the stage for Makaya McCraven, this year's festival artist in residence, as he and another slew of all stars including Brandee Younger on harp and Josh Johnson coming back after his set with SML to sit in on saxophone once again was another excellent treat. Coasting through their rhapsodic melodies, the electric guitar work of Matt Gold lead the group while McCraven dazzled away behind his kit, keeping the night fresh and full of life with each of his emphatic fills. Vibraphone and trumpet added into the mix as well as the group shuffled their rhythms on stage to give us some real head spinning moments that were full of life and unbridled energy. It was an explosive set with constant affirmation being tossed around by those on stage and watching them relish in their own joy as well as witnessing the creative process of those around them was another awe-inspiring moment.
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