I took in a lot of great jazz over the weekend thanks to the Iowa City Jazz Festival. I was working, reviewing some of the sets for CorridorBuzz.com (including Friday, Saturday and Sunday). The festival headliners were all excellent: Medeski, Martin & Wood on Friday, John Scofield on Saturday and Joshua Redman on Sunday. I got what I expected from MMW and Scofield -- funky, groove-based jazz -- but was pleasantly surprised by Redman. You can't rest on the phenom thing for too long, so I knew he had the goods, but I've never been moved by his music on record. Live, he was electric, playing with passion and enthusiasm. He played accompanied by just bass and drums, so there was no chance to lay out, no break, no rest. He brought it for about 80 minutes with little more than the time between songs and the occasional drum or bass solo to even get a breath.

The event is something to look forward to all year, as we don't get a lot of big name live jazz here in Iowa City very often. There is a very talented group of players in the area, thanks in part to the great jazz programs at the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa just up the road in Cedar Falls, so we do have the opportunity to hear live jazz (though not as often as we should). As for big draws, however, we now must wait until November when Brad Mehldau comes to the UI's Hancher Auditorium, assuming that damage from the devastating flooding over the past several weeks can be repaired in time.

Photos by Loren Keller.

Labels: jazz, music