Rochester International Jazz Fest: young people like dim rooms
Crowded into a quaint, dimly lit room on a June evening, one would think nothing of downtown Rochester’s Hyatt hotel lobby. The fact of the matter is, you could not be more wrong under that assumption. For another year, Rochester hosted its annual Jazz Festival, filled with world renowned musicians and the best of Rochester’s own local talent.
From Trombone Shorty and Laufey to Bob Schneider and local jazz trios, Rochester was in for a week of exciting and popular performances. One area of focus was on the Pop/Jazz fusion artist Laufey, whose new interpretation of the Jazz genre attracted a uniquely young and curious audience to the Rochester International Jazz Festival. Her tickets alone sold out almost immediately when she announced she would be performing.
Similarly with Trombone Shorty, his crowds and audiences draw in masses of people from the Rochester community, and world, to come and experience the true essence of what it means to be at the festival. An overlooked aspect of the event though, is the local jazz artists.
High school bands, Eastman staff and students, and freelance musicians all play a vital role in ensuring the success of such an internationally acclaimed festival. This is seen through the live and free street performers, but also primarily at late night jam sessions.
It seems to be that the Hyatt downtown is the buzz of the town once darkness settles over Rochester. What starts as a trickle of people into the hotel soon becomes a flood that can't be tamed. The sheer magnitude of people who gather in the late hours of the night (and often early mornings) to hear our local musicians play is astonishing.
Even more astonishing is the diversity that steps into the hotel lobby at 10:30 at night. People of all religious, ethnic, and racial backgrounds coalesce around the shared interest and passion for what many try to call the “dying art form”. Naysayers of jazz would be taken aback if they were in that room on any night of the festival.
A new generation, along with the old, crowded into one place. Whether playing with the band and showing off their talents, or simply sitting tableside, a new generation is appreciating and reinventing the jazz community. While awe inspiring, the artform of jazz still needs protection. The main question from many is who will preserve the art, and how will it be reinvigorated to appeal to a new generation of music listeners? In a society filled with new lyrical songs and catchy verses, music seems nowadays to be, in a way, removed.
That is one of the most beautiful things about jazz. The simple appreciation for a melody that can bring out powerful emotions, or a chord that can mean a million different things to a million different people. A majority of the time, jazz is not about the words of a song, but rather about the emotions you put into a musical composition. Its simplicity is its beauty. Its mindlessness is its freedom. Thus why jazz is a true American artform, for its free and wild nature which at the time seemed radical and out of place, reflects American ideals about breaking boundaries.
As Rochester’s International Jazz Festival lives on, so does jazz. Simplistic yet complex, unifying yet individual, unorthodox yet known, jazz doesn't seem to be going anywhere yet. So while you can, get out, get loud, and live the true RIJF experience in those crowded and dimly lit rooms.
Written by Austin DeLorme
