The weather in Telluride has not exactly favored this weekend's festivals. Telluride Jazz Celebration has had rain, lightning, wind. Those elements have caused program changes for the Telluride Balloon Festival as well. But people seemed to be enjoying the Jazz over the weekend, and some...
[click "Play" button to hear Susan's interview with Bill Frisell]
2009 Telluride Jazz Celebration, June 5-7
No doubt about it. Telluride Jazz Celebration impresario Paul Machado is really good at his job. His choice of Bill Frisell as the 2009 Guest of Honor was inspired, perfect for a time when the chips are down, when substance trumps style every day. Soft spoken – literally, I had to ask him to speak up more than once in our interview – and self-effacing and shy, Frisell is a man you might miss at a party; that is until he straps on his ax. Ax in hand, this "Clark Kent" quickly morphs into a Superman, arguably, quietly, the most brilliant and distinct voice to come down the pike in jazz guitar since Wes Montgomery, not coincidently one of Bill's idols. Ax in hand, the man is on fire. Bill claims performance is his drug of choice. It transforms him, allowing him to do things he would not do in real life. Performance brings out his inner Woody Allen.
[click "Play" button to hear Susan talk with Lizz Wright]
Chanteuse/songwriter Lizz Wright was only 25 when she first visited town, a guest of the 29th annual Telluride Jazz Celebration. At the time, the soulful young charmer was already brushing shoulders with song stylists such as Cassandra Wilson and Anita Baker, Nina Simone and Abbey Lincoln. The buzz among critics was that stars such as Norah Jones and Diana Krall had better get a firm grip on their crowns: Lizz was waiting in the wings.
The sheer beauty and quiet serenity of the lady, the full-bodied texture and musky warmth of her gospel-trained contralto, the conversational way she phrased her lyrics, had the crowd eating out of her hand. This was no aural window dressing. Lizz was – and is – the real deal.
[click "Play" button to hear Eileen Burns' conversation with Balloonmeister, Peter Procopio]
by Eileen Burns
photo credit: Steve Cieciuch
Up, up and away: The 26th annual Telluride Balloon Festival flies this weekend, June 6th and 7th, with daily launches from Telluride's Town Park. Balloonmeister Peter Procopio and 15 of his colleagues will begin inflating their multi-colored hot air balloons at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Weather permitting, balloon pilots will launch around 7 a.m. and fly towards the Valley Floor, or wherever the wind may take them. “We’ve all had dreams of drifting along with the breeze,” stated Procopio. Although staying within the valley and keeping below 12,000 feet is challenging for the crew, Procopio admits that flying in Telluride is worth the effort. “The people are so inviting and the town is so beautiful, we look forward to coming back each year,” he explained.
A highlight of the festival is the main street Telluride Balloon Glo. To get a closer look at the beautiful designs of the participating balloons, you’ll want to gather with the locals on Colorado Avenue, Saturday evening, around 8:45 p.m. When the burners are lit, not only do the balloons light up the street, they also light up the beautiful historic buildings. It’s a sight to remember.
[click "Play" button to hear Susan's conversation with Paul Machado]
Paul Machado took over the helm of the Telluride Jazz Celebration in 1991 reconfiguring the event with aplomb and extending the venue to include local clubs and the Mountain Village. The depth and breadth of his stellar programming and the mountain setting add up to a musical weekend second to none in the world.[click "Play" button to hear Ozomatli's Ulises Bella]
Telluride Jazz Celebration's impresario Paul Machado programs for cultural diversity, including everything from mainstream to mariachi. This year, booking one act alone, he could have covered all his bases.
Ozomatli plays a notorious mash of hip hop and salsa, dancehall and cumbia, samba and funk, merengue and comparsa, East L.A. r&b and New Orleans second line, Jamaican reggae, Indian raga and rock.
Ozomatli. The name comes from the Nahuatl word for the Aztec astrological symbol of the monkey, also a god of dance, fire, the new harvest – and music.
[click "Play" button to listen to Judy Kohin]
The Ah Haa School for the Arts in Telluride was founded in 1990 by professional book artist Daniel Tucker to provide the community with arts and crafts enrichment education – only art was just part of a larger vision.[click "Play" button to listen to Susan's conversation with Daniel Tucker]
On Thursday, June 4, 5 – 7 p.m., Telluride's Ah Haa School for the Arts celebrates its founder, naming its new gallery at the old Depot after the visionary Daniel Tucker.
Daniel is intuitive and a book artist, whose work is assured a place in history. The company he founded with partner Claire Owen in 1975, Turtle Island Press, has titles in the collections of major museums/ institutions including New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art; The New York Public Library; The Library of Congress; The Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, Germany; and London's Victoria and Albert Museum.
[click "Play" button to hear Susan's interview with Christian Scott]
At the 33rd annual Telluride Jazz Celebration, audiences get to come face to face with the future of the genre: young trumpeter Christian Scott. The past is a given.
At the turn of the 20th century, jazz – or "jass" – referred to the kind of music created by obscure black musicians and played in brothels. The word itself was slang for making love.
At early light, jazz was simply a synthesis of Western harmonic language and forms combined with the rhythms and melodic inflections of Africa. In the 60s, the genre waxed emotional, screaming, moaning and piercing the ear with atonality. The 70s was schizophrenic: The decade witnessed a revival, a return to traditional concepts like Big Band. Newness came from a fusion with rock and the modal themes and drone effects of Eastern religion. In the 80s, the jazz train gained speed with a stronger emphasis on Afro-Latino sounds, especially Brazilian. And so on..
