Umbria Jazz Festival 14th July

Our two shows today featured Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra (as we saw in Vienne last week) with special guest Francesco Cafiso - one of the brightest Alto players around at the moment. The other show was the first in a series of 6 being played by the AACM Great Black Music ensemble.

The Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra played a very similar set to last week in the first half of the show, and then when Cafiso came on, the mood lightened up and there was plenty to smile about. Some great interplay between Cafiso and the other sax players in the orchestra and even a little teasing from Cafiso! - a great show that was enthusiastically listened to by the huge crowd in the arena. For a young man Cafiso does play with great maturity and style.

Over in the Morlacchi George Lewis and the AACM were playing Lewis's compositions in the first of their six shows. A real mixture of players and singers put together a very interesting show of scripted and improvised music - very energetic in places and quite soulful in others a real rollercoaster of a show and with five more to come, a lot to look forward to!