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State of the Art
Boston Globe Jazz & Blues Festival
BY JON GARELICK

Having survived its near-death experience of several years ago, the Boston Globe Jazz & Blues Festival (June 15-23) is now fit as a fiddle, thanks. Yes, there are a couple of big-ticket items that the summer tour season probably would have brought our way regardless — matinee-idol crooner Harry Connick Jr. (June 15 at 8 p.m. at the FleetBoston Pavilion ) and Natalie Cole (June 21, same time and place). But the heart of the schedule is the week’s worth of free events, which cover a range of styles, from the best of the local scene to international heavies.

The freebies begin this Sunday at Faneuil Hall Market Place with nine bands playing on three stages from noon to 6 p.m. That group comprises jump-blues guys the Love Dogs, Daniel Ian Smith’s progressive, synchro-mesh Big & Phat Jazz Orchestra, swing band Eight to the Bar, Frank Vardaros’s mighty Ryles Jazz Orchestra, saxophonist/flutist/dancer Stan Strickland and his band, venerated trumpeter and bandleader Greg Hopkins and his Orchestra, up-and-coming blues star Nicole Nelson, Chicago-style electric-blues guys the Racky Thomas Band, and the superb Latin and world-music outfit Mango Blue.

All week the fest is offering free late-afternoon concerts in Copley Square. The New York–based electronica and world-music outfit Si*Sé kicks things off Monday at 5:30. Brothers Luther and Cody Dickenson bring in their decidedly rockist North Mississippi Allstars Tuesday at 5:30. Then it’s probably the most successful blend of hip-hop and jazz around, DJ Logic & Project Logic, on Wednesday at 5:30. Thursday is piano day in the Square; that’s when Sweden’s highly touted Esbjörn Svensson brings in his trio, a/k/a E.S.T. — a band who had crossover chart success in their homeland and who Columbia Records hopes can work the same magic stateside. Who knows, maybe with their mix of early–Keith Jarrett funk, hip-hop electronic trickery, and "European" schmaltz, E.S.T. can. They’re followed by the undisputed real deal, pianist Brad Mehldau, whose trio has picked up where Bill Evans left off, setting new standards for virtuosity both individually and as an ensemble. No one is playing jazz piano with more emotional depth right now than Mehldau. E.S.T. go on at 4:30; the Mehldau trio follow at 5:45. The Copley series closes with young country-tinged Long Island alterna-singer/songwriter Shannon McNally Friday at 5:30.

The fest’s traditional free Esplanade Hatch Shell finale is set for next Sunday, June 23, at 2 p.m. It begins with one of the most consistently satisfying progressive acoustic jazz groups on the scene, the Dave Holland Quintet, where the great bassist is joined by trombonist Robin Eubanks, vibist Steve Nelson, saxist Chris Potter, and drummer Billy Killson. Following Holland is one of the music’s most charismatic soloists, saxist Branford Marsalis, who brings a quartet featuring pianist Joey Calderazzo, bassist Eric Revis, and drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts. The afternoon closes with vocal fireworks: former Bostonian Nnenna Freelon, with a mastery of jazz and pop styles, and razzle-dazzle vocal group Take 6.

Tickets for the FleetBoston Pavilion concerts by Harry Connick and Natalie Cole can be purchased by calling (617) 931-2000. For information on all Boston Globe Jazz & Blues Festival events, call (617) 929-8756.

Issue Date: June 13 - 20, 2002
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