I kicked things off Sunday night swingin' like a punch-drunk palooka with The Jack Allen Big Band in the Big Tent. This group is one big wall of suave brass, and Allen makes it move. I think it's all in the reeds --- the saxes to be specific. Allen's charts blend them the way Glenn Miller used to do before that unfortunate and highly unpublicized incident at a French bordello (English Channel, my ass). Allen's body was one big baton as he conducted the band through gorgeous standards like "That's All" and "Don't Get Around Much Anymore." And at 84 the cat is no slouch on the trumpet, as he took a few solo spots to blow brilliant and ballsy and blue. I love this band.

The Jazz Fest bigwigs are relatively savvy on the what-for, the why-is, and the when-by when it comes to logistics. However, I think they might have underestimated Abilene as a venue, and the music as a series. Crowds have been huge, and the place has been packed tight. Who would've though rabble rousers like Christine Ohlman and Rebel Montez would draw such a huge crowd at a jazz festival?

Well, the crowd was packed in like lemmings for Ohlman's first set in the steamy Abilene tent. Dressed entirely in leopard print (swoon) and high heels (swoon, swoon) and a sky-high beehive --- if this lady's hair was a clock, it was high noon --- Ohlman wowed the screaming crowd not by ripping it up or serving up a good ol' throwdown in 4/4 time for her opening number. No, she opened with Otis Redding's "That's How Strong My Love Is." She sang smokey and cool, and paused between songs to give thanks and share some of the songs' back stories, including the one about Aretha Franklin's big sister Irma and her version of "Take A Little Piece Of My Heart" done years before Janis. Ohlman rocked the joint front to back and would have blown the doors off had, there been any.

On Monday I'll be heading to Robin McKelle at Xerox, checking out one of Trombone Shorty's many shows of the festival at the Big Tent, and taking in Bassekou Koyate & Ngoni Ba in Kilbourn.