This year the Concord Jazz festival celebrated its 50 th Anniversary. The festival also included an Art and WineExpo for the concert attendees. The festival started at 4 pm and didn’t end until 11:30 pm, which was a longday in the Concord heat.
Patti Austin performed with the legendary Count Basie Orchestra and was quite entertaining with her sense of humor. I really enjoyed Pianist Chick Corea as well. His set included a full band and I like his JAZZ fusion style of music.
Esperanza Spalding performed a 45 minute set and had us laughing at her commentary. She is very talented, although by that time of thenight people were getting tired from the sun and being out there all day.She performed a few songs with 2 female vocalists and for one song they even did a “patty cake” style accompaniment that had us very entertained.
The highlight by far of the day was the performance by Dave Koz and the Summer Horns featuring special guest Kenny Latimore. They performed so many fun songs that everyone knew, and also a few of his own. The audience loved the show!! Aubrey Logan was part of the horn section, and she is a young, new artist that also sings a few songs as well. The music legends Rick Braun and Gerald Albright were amazing as always, and their dynamics together as a group - especially with Dave Koz kept us dancing and singing the whole time. New comer Guitarist Adam Hawley also added to the dynamic of the show and had a solo as well.
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