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Concert Report: San Jose Jazz Festival

It seemed more crowded this year than last year, which is probably a good sign. I went with a friend and we walked around more than last time, so we got to see a bunch of different things. First we walked past what seemed like pretty standard salsa music by (I think) Ritmo y Armonia. We then made it to the Blues stage, where we saw most of the set by The Johnny Cozmik Band (although I think they may have changed their name). They were pretty proficient, and I think they played a few Stevie Ray Vaughan songs (at least, that is where I know them from...) and some other recognizable things. Good, straightforward blues. We then heard a little traditional Cuban music from Ire on our way to see Joe Locke's Storytelling featuring Mark Ledford. That turned out to be very disappointing, weak jazz. We then went and listened to Liza Silva & Brazilian, which was pretty good. The crowds at the smaller stages seemed much more into things, which was good. We also ran into someone we knew, which is really strange to me out here, but nice. We then went to check out the Dena DeRose Trio, but the club it was in (I think it was the only indoors location) was packed. The little we heard seemed pretty good, though. We finished off listening to Papo Vasquez's Pirates & Troubadours for a while, which was pretty decent, had some crazy trombone action, but not quite spectacular enough to keep us there any longer. It was a fun time, got to hear some different things, but was really tiring. So I'm not going back for the jam session tonight. I'm probably going to miss out on something pretty neat, though...