Reviews > Shows

New York City Winter Jazzfest, New York, NY, 1/8 – 1/9/2010

New York City’s Winter Jazzfest took over the chilly West Village on the second weekend of 2010. Now in its sixth year, the festival featured 55 bands for a price of $25 (for one day, $30 for both) for an all-clubs, all-night ticket at venues such as Le Poisson Rouge, Sullivan Hall, the Bitter End, Kenny’s Castaways and Zinc Bar. Approximately 1,200 attendees on Friday night and around 2,500 on Saturday buzzed around Bleeker Street, looking for their fix at the end of a saxophone solo.

On Saturday night at Le Poisson Rouge, the festival’s flagship venue this year, the Vijay Iyer’s trio, with Stephan Crump on bass and Marcus Gilmore on drums, played a sweet cover of M.I.A.’s “Galang.” Jenny Scheinman on the violin and Jason Moran on keyboard played beautiful, gospel-folk music. But the spotlight of the night was stolen by Bitches Brew Revisited, a funky septet led by cornet player Graham Haynes, drummer Cindy Blackman and guitarist James Blood Ulmer.

This group featured a tremendous amount of talent: Haynes emanated Miles Davis throughout the evening. Ulmer did his best John McLaughlin impression, tastefully shredding away. On the original Bitches Brew LP, two drummers were used simultaneously but on this night, Blackman was a monster behind the kit, leaving no need for a second drummer.

Suddenly the scene took on a younger, more jamband type crowd, with fans coming out in anticipation of the Marco Benevento Trio. Playing tracks off 2009’s Me Not Me, including “Call Home” amongst others, Benevento showcased his ability to bridge the gap between jazz and rock with scholarly intensity and perfectly timed shifts in tempo.