Sunday, August 14, 2005

Jazz and Blues

Just got back from the San Jose Jazz Festival, which is the biggest free jazz festival in the world. Hung out at the salsa stage and saw/heard Cubanacan, Quimbombo and Candela. They were all pretty good, but I think I liked Quimbombo's funky, eclectic style best. It's not for everyone--they threw in some hip-hop R&B vocals, some rapping, some jazz on one bridge, and other stuff into the salsa mix, but I kinda liked that. Like a rougher, more fragmented Los Van Van sound. I like it when folks try new stuff. Oh, and the lead singer was kinda cute. ;-) The conga player for Candela was off the hook though, and did a lil' solo right before we left that was pretty fierce.

It was good to dance again, especially after seeing Rize last night and getting all crunk about Krump (see, I know the difference!). I even threw in a little Krump action (or at least I tried to) during a merengue song, since that's about the most Krump you can get in terms of music at a jazz festival, methinks.

In other news, I'm saddened to hear about the Greek airliner that crashed, killing 121 people. I know that flying is still supposed to be the safest way to travel, but whenever there are airline catastrophes they just seem so big. Tragedies like this put things into perspective: enjoy life while you can, be thankful of your blessings, I say.

Peace,
Rona

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

dude!! you were there?! i passed by it on sunday afternoon! didn't get a chance to see any of the performers but i did stare in awe at the giant, inflatable, heineken bottle. mmm... heine. anyway, it's refreshing to know that some jazz i free, unlike the SF jazz fest that requires at least $30 for every friggin show... any other good, cheap jazz around here???

Rona Fernandez said...

Hm, nothing cheap as far as I know. Although if you have a student ID you can get in for half-price at any show at Yoshi's, which is a decent deal.

The North Beach Jazz festival might be free as well; not sure when it happens though.

Yeah, the SJ Jazz festival was fun. We didn't get to troop around much but it's always good to hang out outside and listen to good live music.

R.