Reader Offers His View Of Spring Jazz Festival

To The Editor:
This spring’s Cape May Jazz Festival was another spectacular affair with many inspiring performers and activities being presented. To those readers who have never attended, I would like to offer a glimpse of what it’s like. The festival is nothing like the average concert put on by a star performer in an auditorium. More like a giant pep rally for performers and audience, it is staged in many bars around Cape May; a ticket holder can walk freely from venue to venue. Walking in at the middle of a great set, seeing performers you’ve never seen before, is a truly exciting experience. The audience and their reactions are an important part of the scene.
The element of surprise is key to the festival. You never know what gems you’re likely to uncover, because so many of the performers are not stars, in the sense that they do not receive a lot of media attention.
The singer Shemekia Copeland opened on Saturday night with an electric blues band of considerable power. It’s interesting that, her father being a Texas guitar player, she would produce a band, which had, to my ears, the flavor of the Southern rock group, the Allman Brothers. The group had the same instrumentation of two guitars, bass, drums, and B-3 organ.
One of her guitar players was a true workhorse, providing most of the musical structure, despite the presence of the keyboard. He was a true scholar of the blues, delivering one traditional figure after another. Shemekia has a great voice, and a heartwarming personality. At one point she walked into the audience, and sang several choruses without the mike, displaying the quality and power of her voice.
The guitarist B.D. Lenz presented powerful, exuberant jazz rock. His style displayed a stunning sense of rythm, and a highly developed concept of melody. There was not a doubt about where the down beat was in this music- all of his figures were delivered with power and definition. His quintet delivered many rehearsed intro’s and outro’s, which added punch to the music, and displayed a nice sense of social interaction amongst the players.
At the Sunday jam, the highlight for me was the “Young Lions Jazz Quintet.” It was amazing how well these kids could play, all being around 15-16 years old. They had plenty of talent, but it was also clear that they had received much education, and were already deeply cultivated in the very complex tradition of mainstream jazz.
The Cape May Jazz Festival is an inspiring event, one which we are grateful to have here in South Jersey. Thanks go to Woody Woodland and Carol Stone for the time, effort and knowledge that they bring to the festival.
NORM SPURGEON
South Dennis