Whew, busy weekend with no blogging or podcasting. The John Scofield show Saturday night was really fantastic. We got to the festival fairly late, walked around a little and got some coffees. We set up our camping chairs and got good seats for the African dance troupe. They were quite enjoyable, and an hour of just drums and dancing flew by quickly. After taking a break, I set up on the other side for Scofield and had a nice seat about 30 feet from the stage. I enjoyed his show even more than I was expecting to. I was a little familiar with his work as a sideman but completely ignorant of his solo work. My (slight) worry was that it would be too “smooth jazz-y” for my tastes. Within 3 minutes, that was no longer a worry. He played good ballsy jazz, not afraid to approach the blues or Hendrix-y guitar rock at times.
Overall, it was a great evening. Just a few things that would be better for the festival: for a thing billed as a “jazz and arts festival”, play jazz on the PA between sets. Using Steely Dan sends a mixed message at best. Also, why were there no Scofield CDs available at the merchandise table? I walked by after the set and would have picked some up, but they weren’t there. The festival should just pick up a few boxes of each in print CD, try to get a returnable deal with the record label, sell what you can and send the rest back. It’s nothing but upside that way – the festival makes more money, the headliners sell more records and gain more fans, the attendees get their horizons broadened.
Those are nits. Conway, SC did themselves proad putting on such a good show.