When winter turns to spring, that’s the time for the First Energy Berks Jazz Festival to kick-off.  This festival is a huge draw for smooth and contemporary jazz lovers and pulls in, on average, 45,000 from across the country and across the globe to Reading, PA for the two week duration of the festival. 

This is the start of the festival season and one of the best festivals of the year.  If you don’t believe that, read on.  You’ll change your mind. 

If you’ve attended the First Energy Berks Jazz Festival before, you know the kind of musical talent they host.  Just when you think that it can’t possibly get any better than the previous year, John Ernesto one ups himself and assembles another A-list set of musicians.  This year’s line-up included: Diane Reeves, Joe Sample, Pieces of a Dream, Gerald Albright & Kirk Whalum, the legendary Ramsey Lewis, David Benoit (with the Reading Pops), Kevin Mahogany, Kyle Eastwood, Mulgrew Miller, Kurt Elling, Christian McBride, Jimmy Bruno, Bob Mintzer, John Swana, Steve Smith, Joe McBride & The Texas Rhythm Club, Chieli Minucci & Special EFX, Kenny Blake, Gerald Veasley, Rick Braun, Richard Elliott, Shilts, Chuck Mangione, Carl Filipiak, Najee, Larry Carlton, Richard Smith, Freddie Ravel, Kim Waters, Steve Oliver, Michael Paolo, Robert Cray Band, Brian Culbertson, Eric Darius, Paul Jackson Jr., and Bonafide.  Whew!  And that doesn’t even include the talented line-up from the not one, but three super sensational tribute shows, which played to sold-out audiences during the festival.

Joe Sample opened Friday night’s festivities with his trio, which included Adam Nussbaum on drums and Nick Sample (yes, that is his son) on bass.  As well as being a great musician, Joe is quite the storyteller and told various stories surrounding the songs on his set list.  We learned the origins of “X Marks the Spot” and Marie Laveau, the New Orleans voodoo priestess.  Joe Samples’ set list that night was a mix of straight-ahead and contemporary jazz.  Some of the songs he played included “The Texas Two Step,” “Spellbound,” “One on One,” and “Stormy Weather.”   Diva Diane Reeves followed, opening her set with “The 12th of Never.”  She very skillfully weaved her introductions into the melody of her first song.  She told us of how she won her 4th Grammy with “One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)” sung for the movie “Good Night & Good Luck,” and how much she enjoyed working with George Clooney on that project. 

We happened to be in the hotel lobby when Pieces of a Dream (POAD) arrived before the start of their show.  Imagine our surprise (and elation) when we checked out the guy playing bass that night – none other than Scott Ambush.   

Whenever POAD plays this festival, it’s like a homecoming for them.   They are very much a part of the Philadelphia and Pennsylvania music scene, and a staple of the Berks jazz community.  It was a sold out, standing room only show.   There was a wonderful vibe going on during this show – one of ease and familiarity between the band and the audience that you could sense immediately.  POAD played a lot of their early material (“Nicky’s Smile” and “Love’s Silhouette”) plus songs from their just released new CD, Pillow Talk (“Pillow Talk,” “Wake Up Call,” “Sailing,” “Forward Motion,” “Those Three Words,” “Your Love,” and “House Arrest”).  As we knew it would be, the new music was phenomenal – even better than imagined.  The band is James Lloyd (keys), Sherrie Mitchell (keys), Eddie Bacchus (sax), Curtis Harmon (drums), Scott Ambush (bass), and Ramona Dunlap (vocals).  These are not only great musicians, but great performers as well.  Many times throughout their performance, they would incorporate riffs from other familiar songs into their music.  They would engage in some playful call and response with each other, and they gave us some great solos.  James Lloyd even played his keyboards from the opposite side of them while blindfolded!

When two great sax players like Gerald Albright and Kirk Whalum join forces and perform together, you just know that you’re in for a treat.  Both sax men have a mutual admiration and respect for the late great Grover Washington, Jr., and they showed it by opening their set with a song for him, “Grover Worked and Underpaid.”  They each played some of their hits, including “Ascension” (Whalum), ““Bermuda Nights” (Albright), “Whip Appeal” (Whalum) and “My, My, My” (Albright).   They brought the house down when Kirk played the cover of the Boys 2 Men song “I’ll Make Love to You.”  

This festival was particularly exciting because we got to see the legendary Ramsey Lewis in concert for the first time.   For jazz lovers, Ramsey Lewis is jazz royalty.  He played selections from his latest CD, a gospel record entitled With One Voice, as well as other gospel tunes, including his encore, the classic “Wade in the Water.”  He was backed by the other members of his trio, Leon Joyce on drums and percussion and Larry Kohut on bass.  This was a piano show, and the second half of the show was David Benoit, both playing with and conducting the Reading Pops.  He also brought along the members of his trio, Jamey Tate (drums) and David Hughes (bass).  For anyone familiar with David Benoit, his love of orchestration and conducting is well-known.   There was a wonderful mix of upbeat, funky tunes, (“Linus & Lucy” and “ReBach”) and introspective pieces (“Letter to Evan” and “9/11”).  Then David took over the baton to conduct while Ramsey Lewis resumed his place at the piano.  What followed was an unbelievable revamped version of “The In Crowd.”  Watching Ramsey on the keys and David conducting the Reading Pops made you feel like all of the stars and planets were in alignment.  All was right with the world at that moment.

One of the things I’ve always enjoyed about this festival are the one of a kind shows that you’ll only see at Berks.  This year, Jason Miles put together another stellar musical ensemble to play the music of Marvin Gaye and Motown. Featured players included Jay Beckenstein, Peter White, Nick Colionne, Candy Dulfer, Bobby Caldwell, Kevin Mahogany, Cesare Camargo Mariano, singer Mike Mattison, and two very talented, but unfamiliar (to us) musicians – vocalist Guida De Palma, and trumpeter Dominick Farinacci.  This top notch group was backed by Jason on keys, DJ Logic on turntables, Sherrod Barnes on guitar, Gene Lake on drums, Bashiri Johnson on percussion, and Jonathan Maron on bass.  This group of musicians interpreted songs that we all know and love into something new and refreshing.  It was great rediscovering this music, heard in a new way by such talented players.  Some of my favorite interpretations were “Let’s Get It On,” which featured Dominick on trumpet, Nick Colionne on “Ohh Baby Baby,” and Peter White on “Keeps Me Hanging On.”

The following weekend, the first show on the agenda was the Richard Elliott and Rick Braun show on Friday night.  The show featured a surprise guest – sax man Shilts (DTTB), who is about to release his latest solo project, Headboppin’ on his new label home, ARTizen Music.  Long-time Richard and Rick fans were not disappointed.  They played most of the songs their fans know and love; plus, we were treated to some new music from Shilts’ CD.  These players were backed by longtime band members Dwight Sills on guitar, Ron Reinhart on keys, Nate Phillips on bass, and Rayford Griffin, who gave us an amazing 10-minute drum solo.

Najee performed to an eager crowd.  People just love to hear him on the flute as well as the saxophone.  He performed some of his signature songs, including “Najee’s Theme” and “Noah’s Ark.”  Alex Bugnon was a special guest who sat in for a couple of tunes with Najee.

One of the pleasant surprises was the Gerald Veasley and Kurt Elling show, which was held at Gerald’s place – The Jazz Base, located in the Sheraton Reading Hotel.  We know Gerald Veasley, but Kurt Elling was unfamiliar to us. We enjoyed his performance immensely.  He’s a jazz singer with a true gift of vocalese, and he’s very entertaining.  His voice is a wonderful instrument. 

The next show attended was the Richard Smith and Freddie Ravel show with special guest Kim Waters.  Each artist got to play some of their own tunes (“Sunny Side Up” – Freddie, “First Kiss” – Richard, and “Waterfall” – Kim) and then joined each other on stage for more.  Their show ended and Larry Carlton and the Sapphire Blue Band began.  For Larry, this was a family affair.  Joining him on the bass was his son Travis.  Larry and the band pulled no punches.  They opened their set with a bang, playing a couple of high energy songs to get the crowd going.  He also played tunes from his new CD, Firewire, as well as some classic Larry Carlton (“Minute by Minute,” “Smiles,”  “Sleepwalking” and “Deep Into It.”  Everyone who knows Larry Carlton’s music knows that his heart lies in the blues genre, but he graced us with a straight-ahead tune, “Tenor Madness,” which featured every member of his horn section.

The second Jason Miles production was the star-studded Ivan Lins Tribute.  This tribute was a little different because Ivan was there for it, playing his own music accompanied by a host of talented musicians from both here and Brazil.  Because the focus was on Brazilian music, there was lots of percussion.  Mike Mattison sang “It’s You,” accompanied by Candy Dulfer on sax.  Brenda Russell, who is an old friend of Ivan, sang “Nocturne” and “You Move Me To This,” accompanied by Rick Braun.  One of the highlights in this show was bass player Will Lee singing “She Walks This Earth” with Brenda Russell on back-up and Candy Dulfer accompanying.  Jason produced two major shows for the festival this year.  We can only wonder what he has in store for next year.

To say that The Triad show was amazing is an understatement.   Three musicians – Steve Oliver, Michael Paolo, and Gerald Veasley – played together for nearly three hours!  This may be the first time we’ve heard Steve Oliver play with a band (he’s usually with his percussion player).  “Do I Do,” led by Veasley, broke off into “Ascension” with Steve Oliver singing.  Then they started playing riffs from many songs which lasted well over 10 minutes, before going back to “Do I Do.”   Gerald also played “Valdez in the Country.”  Steve Oliver played his hits “High Noon” and “Chips & Salsa,” which was an audience participation number.  Michael Paolo played his tunes “Sample Joe,” and “My Heart & Soul,” for a couple in the audience who has been married for 25 years.  There were many musicians in the audience taking in the show and some were invited onstage to join them in jamming.  Rick Braun joined them for a few tunes.  As stated previously, the show lasted for nearly three hours, and the only reason the show ended was probably because Gerald Veasley had to play another show.

A special treat was the preview for the All Star Jazz Cruise jam sessions that was held after the Brian Culbertson show.  Musicians who will appear on the cruise got together to jam in a late night jam session hosted by Nick Colionne.  Nick is the perfect host, making everybody laugh and keeping the music flowing.  So many musicians played, even musicians who wouldn’t be on the cruise: Jorge Evans, Felix D. Cat, Lamar Johns, Alan Hewitt, Eric Darius, Don Wyatt, Kim Waters, Gerald Veasley (after playing nearly three hours with Triad), and Jim Culbertson.  It was incredible!

Paul Jackson, Jr. was the host of the Sunday brunch.  He calls himself a “back in the day” kind of guy and played covers of some old R&B tunes including, “Rock Steady” and “Walkin’.”  He did double time that day performing two brunches and the festival finale.

Slim Man and BonaFide played the Jazz Base, promoting their new CD, Soul Lounge.  The new material sounded well played live.  The band, Kevin Levi (sax), Johnny Cole (drums), birthday boy George Hazelrig (keys), and Slim Man (bass) did not disappoint their fans.

The final show of the festival was the tribute to Wes Montgomery, led by contemporary jazz guitarists extraordinaire.  This was just another example of the one of kind concerts that can only be seen at Berks – a guitar lovers dream.  Picture this – Chuck Loeb, Russell Malone, Jimmy Bruno, Earl Klugh, Pat Martino, Larry Carlton, and Paul Jackson, Jr., all paying a musical tribute to their mentor, Wes Montgomery.   It was an incredible end to one of the best Berks festivals we’ve ever attended.

If you’ve made it through to the end of this review, you can see why this festival is one of our favorites.  Every year it’s phenomenal. This year’s festival is over.  It will be hard to top this one next year, but we’re confident that the Berks Arts Council will come through.

- Mary Bentley