September 8 & 9, 2006

As avid jazz festival attendees, we decided to venture out of our usual Metro D.C. area and experience a smooth jazz festival elsewhere.  We made the right choice.  From the hotel and the venue to the people (staff and fans) and the music, the Ziegler Kettle Moraine Jazz Festival in West Bend, Wisconsin, was a top-notch experience and one that will bring us back there for years to come.

The Ziegler Kettle Moraine Jazz Festival began in 1998 and was developed by the West Bend Sunrise Rotarians.  That year, smooth jazz fans from around the Midwest gathered in a tension-style tent set up in a beautiful park near the upper Milwaukee River.  Now the festival has grown to over 5,000 attendees representing 44 states and Washington, DC!  With the size of this event, you would almost think that there would be problems, mishaps or scheduling issues.  Not so.  This is a community-run event and everyone from the Mayor on down has a hand in it and the proceeds are pumped back into the community.  This festival is delivered with such pride from all of the volunteer staff and runs without a hitch.  We are hoping that this review can give you a glimpse of what we considered to be one of THE best festivals around.

The festival opened on Friday night, September 8th.  The weather was perfect and the tent, set up with white chairs, was packed.  The lawn area surrounding the tent also held a good number of smooth jazz enthusiasts.  Surrounding the tent were food and merchandise vendors.  The number of these vendors was just right.  In fact, nothing about the festival was overdone.  When Michael Lington took the stage as the opening artist, the crowd was primed and ready to let loose – and so was Michael.  He was more relaxed and comfortable with the crowd than ever before.  He opened his set with “Still Thinking of You,” a crowd favorite.  Next up was “Too Good to Be True” from Michael’s Vivid CD.  He and the band were having such a great time together on stage as they played off each other.  This time the band consisted of Roberto Vally on bass, Kim Hansen on keys, Tommy Organ on guitar, and Chet Wright on drums.  “Harlem Nocturne” was played better than ever heard and the audience agreed.  Michael and Tommy then went into a competition and played back and forth, note for note.  It was fun and had the crowd cheering them both on.  Michael then went into a medley of some of his hits which had the crowd on their feet.  “Twice in a Lifetime,” “Two of a Kind,” and “Off the Hook” were played with flare and full of personality, really feeling his music.  He seemed to really be having a good time with his band and the audience.  The crowd was so receptive to him.  When he announced he would be coming out into the crowd to serenade the person making the most noise, the crowd erupted into a thunderous round of applause, whistles, and catcalls!  One very lucky woman sat there while he played “Everything Must Change” directly to her.  “Pacifica” followed and then Michael introduced the first single from his new CD being released on September 26, and played “It’s Too Late.”  The show ended with the hit song “Show Me” from Michael’s last CD.  When the crowd burst into cheers and screams, Michael came out with an encore performance of “My Love.”  Everyone was so impressed with Michael’s performance and the word spreading through the crowd was that he was the perfect choice to open the show!  This was great news for a first-time performer at Kettle Moraine.  The only disappointment was that his new CD was not yet available for purchase.  This was definitely a missed opportunity for the record label since there were people ready and willing to purchase it. 

The next show was Jonathan Butler, and what a show this was.  If you polled the crowd at the end of the weekend, most attendees would agree that this was a true highlight of the weekend.  This was Jonathan’s first appearance at Kettle Moraine and you can bet he’ll be back.  He and his band (Stan Sargent/bass, Wayne Lindsey/keys, and Eric Valentine/drums) opened with a South African flavored tune.  It really got the crowd pumped up.  Jonathan takes such pride in his South African heritage and it really comes through in his music.

Some of the tunes he played were “Come Go With Me,” which is an old Staple Singers song, “I’m On My Knees,” and “This Is Love.”  When he played “Mandela Bay” the crowd really got into it and many folks were dancing right along with the band.  “No Woman, No Cry” took the crowd by storm.  Jonathan puts so much emotion into that song at every performance.  “Wake Up” came next which was a crowd favorite.  We noticed that as the show wore on, the crowd was getting louder and really crazy – in a good way!  A tradition at most of Jonathan’s shows is to play “Sarah, Sarah” and this was no exception.  It was very funny to watch his drummer performing acrobatics with his sticks during this tune!  Two additional favorites brought the house down as his 1 1/2 hour show drew to a close.  “Lies” and “Do You Love Me” brought the crowd to their feet cheering and screaming for more.

After a brief set change, Friday night’s closing performance was ready to take the stage just as the heavens opened up.  The rain was coming down in sheets, and the thunder and lightening gave their own show!  As patrons made their way back under the tent, Rick Braun, with special guest, saxman extraordinaire, Shilts, hit the stage.  The band included Greg Karukas on keys, Randy Jacobs on guitar, Sergio Gonzales on drums, and Stan Sargent doing double-duty on bass.  This was a dream band and one with outstanding records.  We found out that Stan used to play in the Tonight Show band and that Sergio played drums in Jennifer Lopez’ band.

Rick’s set list was jam packed with hits, including “Notorious,” and “Missing In Venice,” which gave way to Rick’s famous booty dance!  “My Funny Valentine” was sung by Rick, who has become so comfortable with his own voice.  This was such a treat and really done well.  The attention was then turned to Shilts, who performed his latest single, “Look What’s Happened,” from his new CD, HeadBoppin’.  This really made the crowd go wild.  Shilts has so much personality that the crowd just feeds off of it.  Rick continued with “Shining Star” and then went out into the crowd and stood on chairs for a kickin’ version of “Cadillac Slim” which seemed to go on forever!  The crowd absolutely loved every second of this show.  If the crowd wasn’t whipped into a frenzy by now, it sure was when Rick and the guys played “Green Tomatoes,” “Grazin’ in the Grass,” and “Shake It Up.”  The encore was “Use Me,” which is an audience participation song and an unbelievable ending to an incredible performance.  Everyone was drained from the excitement, yelling, whistling and overall energy of this show! 

Saturday’s weather was overcast and downright chilly.  Fans were huddled together, wearing sweatshirts, jackets and bundled in Kettle Moraine Jazz Festival blankets!  We were soon going to be warmed up though because just when we all thought we were rested from Friday’s shows, Saturday arrived and kicked in from the first moment that Steve Oliver took the stage with his percussionist, Umberto Vella.  Steve, also a first time performer at Kettle Moraine, stirred up the crowd with the hit song “Chips N Salsa” and then went right into a vocal of the Buffalo Springfield tune, “For What It’s Worth.”  The audience held onto every note of Steve’s rendition of this classic song.  “Good to Go,” the first single off of Steve’s latest CD, Radiant, soon followed.  Umberto played the kahonas – a wooden box.  It was intoxicating to watch his taped fingers hitting it and sliding across it to elicit different sounds.  It’s a very interesting instrument.

Steve continued to enthrall the crowd with another cover, “Midnight at the Oasis,” this time from his very first CD, First View.  The acapella tune, “Walkin’” was next, with Steve making up words as he went along.  He tends to make this song specific to the town or city in which he is playing.  The crowd loved it.  “Cool,” “Feelin’ Good,” and “Radiant Dreams” filled the set and captured the fans with each tune.  Steve’s show ended with a very moving rendition of the classic Beatles’ tune, “Imagine.”  This is so pure and from the heart, as is everything about Steve Oliver.  With the reaction from the crowd, this will definitely not be the last time for him to appear at this festival.

The second of four shows on Saturday was The Yellowjackets.  The band consisted of the usual foursome of Russell Ferante on keys, Bob Mintzer on sax, Jimmy Haslip on bass, and Marcus Baylor on drums.  The band, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, performed a variety of songs, old and new, including “The Red Sea,” “Out of Town” and the ballad, “Geraldine,” which featured Russell in the lead.  Bob spoke a lot about their anniversary CD aptly titled, 25.  After each song, you could hear audience members shouting out the names of their favorite Yellowjackets’ tunes in hopes of hearing them played live that day.  Twenty-five years builds up a huge fan base and encompasses a lot of material.  This Wisconsin crowd really appreciated the Yellowjackets.

What is very interesting about The Yellowjackets is that when you watch each individual member of the band, they appear to be playing solo and each in their own zone, but somehow the music all meshes into a song.  Then they pull it all together into one big crescendo in the end.  This can only happen when a band has been together for so long and knows exactly how each other plays.

Next up, was crooner, Bobby Caldwell.  Apparently there were a lot of his fans in the crowd who were ready for some old-fashioned love songs.  He hit the stage to a rousing round of screams and clapping.  Bobby did a variety of songs, some upbeat, some ballads, and some old school.  We also learned that in addition to being a consummate singer, he also plays keyboards and guitar.  His song set included “Call Me Up,” “Crazy For You Love,” “Our Day Will Come” (a crowd favorite) and the mega watt hit, “What You Won’t Do For Love.”  Bobby then performed some old favorite songs like “Don’t You Worry About Me,” which is a song from the 1940s, and “Beyond The Sea,” originally done by Bobby Darrin.

Throughout the show, we were given a glimpse of his sax player, a young man by the name of Patrick Lamb, who is destined to be another from the Bobby Caldwell launching pad.  He follows others, such as Dave Koz, Boney James and Michael Lington who went on to have outstanding solo careers.  Patrick brought so much personality to this show and was quite appreciated by the audience.

Bobby gave the crowd an electric guitar solo that blew us away.  During “Heart of Mine” he also played what looked like a mouth piano, which was quite interesting.  The encore song of the set was “All or Nothing” which threw this crowd into mass hysteria.  What a show!  But this festival was not over yet.

The final show of the festival was The Sax Pack, featuring Steve Cole (tenor), Jeff Kashiwa (alto) and Marion Meadows (soprano), and an absolute killer band:  Brian Simpson (keys), Dave Hiltebrand (bass), Carl Burnett (guitar) and Clyde Davis (drums).  This finale lasted 2 hours and 20 minutes and was completely nonstop for the entire time!  Each of the saxmen played some of their own hits, as well as collaborating on songs of each others’.  It started out with all three playing together and then Steve took over with “Everyday.”  Jeff came in with “Peace of Mind” which had an incredible guitar solo by Carl Burnett.  A long keyboard solo led into Steve’s “Thursday” which immediately had the crowd on their feet.  Steve was joined by Jeff on “The Real Me.”  Jeff started playing the EWI (electronic wind instrument) and played “Show Me Love.”  This song offered bassist, Dave Hiltebrand, the chance to show his chops – and he did!!!  His solo lasted an eternity and apparently that was not long enough for most.

Marion Meadows took over with “Sweet Grapes” and was joined on stage with both Steve and Jeff to blend all three saxes.  What a thrill.  Then the reins were turned over to keyboardist, Brian Simpson, who performed his hit single, “It’s All Good” with the help of his Sax Pack band mates.  Steve Cole introduced a new tune from his upcoming CD, Bounce, which was really terrific.  Full of energy!  “South Beach” was then offered up from Marion Meadows, which then branched into “Mas Que Nada.”  Jeff Kashiwa then took over with an improvisation on the alto, followed by Steve, who was playing a very bluesy piece.  Steve played his version of the Brian Culbertson tune, “Our Love.”  This was so soulful and sexy, and truly a highlight of the show.  Steve poured his whole being into that song.  The set ended with “Hyde Park” (the Ah Ah Ooh song) and had the entire crowd on their feet singing along.  No one wanted this to end.  No one wanted the festival to be over, including us.

This was truly an incredible weekend of music.  This is the 9th Annual Zeigler Kettle Moraine Jazz Festival, and from talking with the festival organizers and patrons around us, it’s apparent that this festival has grown significantly since its inception.  It’s grown, but it’s not overdone, over-produced, or over the top.  Sometimes less is more, and we loved the fact that each act (with the exception of the two hour plus Sax Pack) was a full hour and a half show, not the usual 45 minute abbreviated festival set.  Keep up the good work Wisconsin, and we’ll see you next year.     

- Bonnie Schendell & Mary Bentley