4:30 p.m.: Rochester Area High School Jazz Bands City of Rochester Jazz Street Stage (Free)
5:15 p.m.: Rochester Area High School Jazz Bands City of Rochester Jazz Street Stage (Free)
5:30 p.m.: Ben Riley's Monk Legacy Harro East Ballroom ($20, or Club Pass)
Thelonious Monk's seemingly haphazard phrasing, his sense of time, and his chords full of sweet and sour made him undoubtedly hard to follow. Listen to Monk on subsequent spins and it makes more sense, but he can leave virgin ears downside up. Just imagine if you were his drummer. Ben Riley first heard Monk's "Carolina Moon" with Max Roach on the drums, and he fell in love. Riley was already a noted drummer, playing with Johnny Griffin, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, and Sonny Rollins when Monk first spied him at New York's famed Five Spot in 1964. Soon after Riley got the call to record with Monk at Columbia Records. Riley recorded "It's Monk's Time" without any music or direction from Monk. Soon after he joined Monk's touring band without ever being asked; Monk just assumed he was in. Riley went on to appear on "Straight, No Chaser" and "Monk's Blues," and has gone on to record numerous posthumous odes to the master. This is easily one of the best picks for this year's Jazz Fest in its historic importance and arctic cool. (FD)
6 p.m.: Al Foster Quartet Kilbourn Hall ($25, or Club Pass)
After teaching himself drums at the age of 13, it didn't take long before Al Foster was making a name for himself. As a teenager he was recording with trumpeter Blue Mitchell, and by the time he was in his mid-20s he had climbed to the top of the jazz world in the band of Miles Davis. Over his long career Foster has played with Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, Herbie Hancock, Cannonball Adderley, and a host of others. During a visit to the RIJF a couple of years ago, Foster proved that he still ranks among the first-call drummers in jazz. (RN)
6 p.m.: Denis Parker & Scott Goudie's Rowdy Blues Club Pass Big Tent ($20, or Club Pass)
The dusty trail led Robert Johnson associate Johnny Shines to Vancouver back in the early 1970's. It was there that he met - and took shine to --- a young Newfoundland visual artist/guitarist named Scott Goudie. Goudie was so enamored, he followed Shines back to Alabama to learn from the old man. Along the way he managed to run into and play with John Hammond, Jr., Muddy Waters, and the Iceman, Albert Collins. Back in St. John, Goudie hooked up with guitarist Denis Parker and the pair began performing as Rowdy Blues. Rowdy Blues sticks to the acoustic side of the blues, with Piedmont swagger and a Delta swamp stomp. (FD)
6 p.m.: New Horizons Big Band City of Rochester Jazz Street Stage (Free)
New Horizons Big Band is part of national sensation that began here in Rochester at The Eastman School of Music back in 1991. The concept was spearheaded by then-professor Roy Ernst, who recognized that many seniors might benefit from picking up a musical instrument, or re-discovering a long-ago-lost connection to one. New Horizons is truly a community outfit, where experience or overwhelming proficiency aren't required. Seasoned vets help the new guys and rookies of all ages bring their curiosity and energy, all coming together to create music out of their need for one another. (FD)
6 p.m.: Rachel Z Montage Music Hall ($20, or Club Pass)
The last time Rachel Z played here, it was the 2006 Jazz Fest at Max Of Eastman Place. She opened with "Autumn Leaves," and her cascading notes served the title. It was as beautiful as she is. Z's career was pre-destined; voice lessons at age 2, piano lessons at 7. Even her dollhouse was a miniature Metropolitan Opera House. Opera was in the cards until she heard "Miles Smiles" and started improvising on her own --- and that doesn't fly in opera. She has performed as a member of progressive outfit Steps Ahead, and collaborated outside jazz walls with folks like Peter Gabriel. Z plays in a traditional trio setting mostly, but influences from Hancock to Corea have her less locked down, ready to veer at any moment. (FD)
6:15 p.m.: Amina Figarova Sextet Max of Eastman Place ($20, or Club Pass)
Amina Figarova is a formidable pianist and composer from the Netherlands. Born in Azerbaijan, Figarova studied classical piano at Baku Conservatory before moving to Holland. After studying jazz performance at Rotterdam Conservatory, she got deeper into jazz at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Figarova, who was in New York City on September 11, 2001, released a beautiful album, "September Suite," as a tribute to those lost in the terrorist attacks. Her latest recording, "Come Escape With Me," is filled with harmonically complex original compositions that her talented sextet - consisting of Bart Platteau (flutes), Nico Schepers (trumpet), Kurt van Herck (tenor saxophone), Wiro Mahieu (bass), and Chris Strik (drums) - is more than up to the challenge of playing. (RN)
6:30 p.m.: Downchild Blues Band High Fidelity ($20, or Club Pass)
Donnie "Mr. Downchild" Walsh brought the blues to the Blues Brothers. That's right, Jake and Elwood were conceived when Dan Aykroyd and his Second City homeboys caught Downchild Blues Band at one of the band's residencies in downtown Toronto. Whereas a lot of blues had been co-opted and polished, Downchild --- its name taken from a Sonny Boy Williamson tune --- sticks closer to the bone by dialing up doses of Muddy Waters, B.B. King, and the king of that salacious slow drag and shuffle, Jimmy Reed. Downchild's slide guitar work screams Elmore, and as far as the tin sandwich... well, Little Walter and Sonny Boy are smiling too. Over the band's nearly 40 years of playing the blues, it has accumulated more awards than it has shelf space to accommodate. There ain't a blues festival in Canada these cats don't dominate. Downchild plays in the spirit of second generation slicksters like Roomful of Blues and Little Charlie and the Nightcats, but it leaves the edges on. It's the blues, rare and well done; sizzling on the surface but still bloody on the inside. Deeee-licious. (FD)
6:45 p.m.: Dave Rivello Ensemble Christ Church ($20, or Club Pass)
If you need to find 12 of the top jazz musicians in Rochester fast, no problem - just go to a concert by the Dave Rivello Ensemble. Great musicians flock to Rivello because they know they'll be playing some of the most gorgeous arrangements available anywhere. Trained by the great arranger Bob Brookmeyer, Rivello is a superb writer, arranger, and conductor. No less a jazz orchestra eminence than Maria Schneider has declared Rivello's writing "compelling and beautiful." With adventurous harmonies recalling composers as diverse as Charles Mingus and Igor Stravinsky, Rivello's band can blow you away with dynamics. On the softer side, Rivello is also capable of gorgeous ballads. (RN)
7:15 p.m.: Blue Vipers of Brooklyn City of Rochester Jazz Street Stage (Free)
Blue Vipers of Brooklyn prove that Dixieland ain't just in Dixieland. It rattles and caterwauls in the big boroughs and Tin Pan Alleys, too. Much like the whack we all get from Austin's Asylum Street Spankers, this NYC quintet swings ragged and loose. However, it's a tad more trad, and more focused on standards and standard themes - love, the moon, June, spoon, etc. - than the Spankers' acerbic satire and Beat aesthetic. It's the pep-in-the-step guitar chops and rhythm-driven fun - it practically sounds stolen from The Three Stooges' foley stage - that get the ball rolling. Several residencies in and around the Big Granny Smith as well as frequent performances in Central Park have folks vying for the Vipers. Now it's your turn. (FD)
7:15 p.m.: Ben Riley's Monk Legacy Harro East Ballroom ($20, or Club Pass)
See bio above.
7:30 p.m.: Timo Lassy Band Lutheran Church of Reformation ($20, or Club Pass)
I don't know if it's the midnight sun that allows for endless jam sessions, but there is something about the jazz scene in Finland that spawns musicians with the chops and the spirit of the American jazz scene circa 1958. Saxophonist Timo Lassy has been a member of the Five Corners Quintet, one of the hits of the 2007 RIJF. His excellent album, "The Soul And Jazz Of Timo Lassy," features current members of Five Corners. While Lassy's tone is reminiscent of Grover Washington Jr., his repertoire is more along the lines of Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers. (RN)
8 p.m.: Frank Sinatra Jr. "Sinatra Sings Sinatra," Eastman Theatre ($45-$85)
Frank Jr. sounds just like dad --- that is, classic dad at his best. Not the warble and coo that got steamrolled by horny bobbysoxers when Frank Sr. sang with Tommy Dorsey's Big Band, but that primo, lush sound he employed while singing with Nelson Riddle. Frank Jr. was his father's musical director and conductor from 1988 until his death in 1998. His big band is a grandiose swinging affair, and he employs various cats from his father's camp, including Bill Miller, Frank Sr.'s pianist for more than 50 years. Now it's Frank Jr.'s turn to do it his way, as he focuses on the mic this time around with Terry Woodson waving the baton, as he has done with the current inception of Nelson Riddle's Orchestra. It ain't Nelson and Frank, but, dammit, it's close. (FD)
8:30 p.m.: Spam All Stars Club Pass Big Tent ($20, or Club Pass)
To DJ Le Spam of the Spam Allstars, the turntable is as vital an instrument as the saxophone. The band is the ultimate hybrid, combining Latin, funk, hip-hop, and dub music, played on sax, flute, guitar, bass, and congas, with extra helpings of improvisational electronic sampling and precision turntable work. The resulting sound may be hard to pin down, but so are all the salsa dancers who suddenly seem to materialize around the group at festivals all over the country. (RN)
8:45 p.m.: Dave Rivello Ensemble Christ Church ($20, or Club Pass)
See bio above.
9:15 p.m.: Blue Vipers of Brooklyn City of Rochester Jazz Street Stage (Free)
See bio above.
9:30 p.m.:Timo Lassy Band Lutheran Church of Reformation ($20, or Club Pass)
See bio above.
10 p.m.: Amina Figarova Sextet Max of Eastman Place ($20, or Club Pass)
See bio above.
10 p.m.: Spam All Stars Club Pass Big Tent ($20, or Club Pass)
See bio above.
10 p.m.: Rachel Z Montage Music Hall ($20, or Club Pass)
See bio above.
10 p.m.: Al Foster Quartet Kilbourn Hall ($25, or Club Pass)
See bio above.
10 p.m.:Downchild Blues Band High Fidelity ($20, or Club Pass)
See bio above.
10:30 p.m.: Jazz Session w/Bob Sneider Trio Rochester Plaza Hotel (Free)
You'd better arrive early if you want any chance at a seat at the Bob Sneider Trio's exceedingly popular jam session, held every night at Crowne Plaza's State Street Bar and Grill. Starting at around 10:30 p.m. and getting hotter as the night progresses, the session attracts some of the festival's finest musicians for after-hours jams. Sneider is a world-class jazz guitarist who has superb support from Mike Melito on drums and Phil Flanigan on bass. You never know who will show up. Wynton Marsalis played for an hour after his concert last year. George Benson, Chris Potter, and Eric Alexander are among the many other stars who have sat in with the band. (RN)
For more information, and to buy tickets, click here to visit the RIJF website.