The Joys of Jazz, Bluegrass and the Blues...Oh and the Instrument Petting Zoo! Harvest Jazz and Blues Fredericton 2007

I wasn't sure I would like Latin Jazz. I really enjoy all kinds of Blues music. I also especially enjoy Bluegrass. I guess I haven't made any effort to really listen to Jazz, although I did grow up with it. Lately, I've been listening to Jazz on CBC, with my Mom. In any case, when my Mom asked me if I would like to go see Jazz artist, Arturo Sandoval, at the Fredericton Playhouse. I was eager, mostly because I really love live music. Arturo Sandoval and his five piece band delighted us. He sings plays the trumpet, piano, keyboards and drums. He also plays air instruments, while voicing the sounds of those instruments, very amusing! His band was wonderful as well. Each musican had a personality for performing and I never tired of watching them. Oh... and the saxaphone player was sweet to look at! Ha! Okay then, back to the music, so that was Tuesday night at the Fredericton Playhouse.

On Saturday, Mom and I went down to Officer Square, where the music had been moved inside a huge tent, due to rain. Just as we entered the tent we were asked (jokingly!) if we would like to participate in the instrument petting zoo. Well we thought this idea was a hoot! How many chances do kids get to sit behind a drum set and just bang away. Oh boy did they bang! The kids were having a ball! They had all kinds of instruments for kids to try, even an electric blue fiddle. However, because they had moved the event inside, the close proximity of the instrument petting, now had to compete with the music happening on stage. There was a bit of a collision of sounds, fusion perhaps... no, definitely collision. It seems, one youngster was particulary inspired by the music on the main stage and from the instrument petting zoo, tried to become their lead drummer. Oh dear... the noise while amusing was a bit much. So back to the house we went for lunch and to get ready for the next show.

That afternoon, we went again to The Playhouse to see the Jazz singer Molly Johnson. Molly also had a five piece band with her and featured Lisa McDougall, a local piano player. This musical experience was completely different from Arturo Sandoval and of course, very different from the musical zoo. The music was soft, dreamy, sweet and contemplative, music I would enjoy listening too, while looking out the window of an airplane. But, for live music, it doesn't really hold my attention. But I would buy Molly Johnson cd's to listen to, when the mood strikes me. She can sure write lyrics and has a wonderful voice.

A cycling interlude.... then back to music.....
Yesterday morning, I went for an adventurous bicycle ride out to the airport. Some of the trails are just great for a hybrid bike, but at various intervals the trail turns rocky . It was my first time picking my way through such rocky trails, but it was great fun, certainly a challenge. The trail, eventually, wraps around the back of the new runway extension and then carrys on towards Oromocto, where I first met R at Base Gagetown. Love carried me along this trail many times as I walked from Fredericton to Oromocto to see my sweetie. That was six years ago. I knew at the time that we were "two peas in a pod", we still are! I arrived home from cycling just in time to shower and have lunch.

Then we drove downtown to Officer Square next to the St. John River, to sit in our lawn chairs and enjoy an afternoon of live music. The place was absolutely packed and the weather was blue skies all around. It was a good thing I wore a long sleeved hoody and jeans, as the sun beat down on us for several hours. We stayed for the whole concert, starting with a local bluegrass band called 'Petunia and the Loones' , followed by a mystery guest, which turned out to be Molly Johnson. Then the final act which everyone had been waiting for, ' Homemade Jamz' a blues band from Tupelo, Mississippi, with a guitar player they picked up in Toronto. It is a family band, with and eight year old sister on the drums, a thirteen year old brother on bass and a fifteen year old brother on guitar. Father came out and played the mouth organ on occasion. The crowd went wild for this talented young band. I mean they are, very good. I was amazed! I noticed the fifteen year old lead singer and guitar player was playing a most interesting electric guitar and I kept on saying to Mom" check out that guitar". Later on, he explained that he and his Dad made it from a muffler, with two crome tail pipes jutting out the end of it . They cut a hole in the back of it to place all the workings and covered the hole over (very professionally) with a license plate. My gosh it was just brilliant! My Dad would have very much got a kick out of this!

On this day, September 16th, my mother and I enjoyed a live musical concert in memory of Dad. One year ago we lost him. It was always our thing to go to concerts, especially outdoor concerts. Dad loved music of all kinds. On a slightly different note, we once saw Murray McLaughlin pull a moon at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. For years, we laughed about that moment. Especially Dad, trying to get his camera cap off to capture the halarity!