Sonny Rollins, Charles Lloyd, Bill Frisell, Miroslav Vitous, Joe Locke

The Sonny Rollins 'Saxophone Colossus' tour played in Perugia last night and like Vienne last week Rollins was in excellent form - here playing one long set - of the same material - and as in Vienne to the delight of this large stadium crowd.

During the afternoon I saw two excellent and contrasting concerts. Bill Frisell, looking relaxed and happy to be back playing in Perugia (he is doing several concerts here over the course of the festival). Exploring the 70's and 80's popular music songbook, playing exceptional guitar moving from lush hypnotic rhythms to heavy rock distortion the set was full of surprises - not least a beautiful version of 'What the world needs now' - stunning.

Soon after and on a completely different note (if you will pardon the pun) Ramberto Ciammarughi (Piano), Miroslav Vitous (Bass) and Fabrizio Sferra (Drums) played a suite of music that was a tour De force both for Ciammarughi and Vitous - at times intense, dense layers of sound followed by cool soothing passages all kept neat and tidy by Sferra'a sensitive drumming.

Later (much later!) in the Rocca Paolina Sala Cannoniera (a venue deep inside this ancient fortress) Joe Lock and his band, who have a residency here, played a great set of Locke originals and standards (including one by Sonny Rollins, who was still playing in the main arena).

Locke is the supreme master of the vibes, extracting every tone and nuance he can from the mallets and the keys and his flamboyant playing style is a joy to watch - not for Joe the head down eyes closed introspective playing style of so many great musicians.

Last concert of the day (or morning by now) was Charles Lloyd playing with a great band of Jason Moran (Piano), Reuben Rogers (Bass) and the great Eric Harland on the drums.

This was a terrific set with Lloyd playing forceful sax and really sensitive and haunting flute, in contrast to Rollins style earlier in the evening, Lloyd had an edge to his sax that drove the band on - Moran's piano playing is always a delight and in Lloyds company he made the most of the space he had and made for himself.

Sonny Rollins

Sonny Rollins has often said how much he enjoys playing at Vienne. The sense of the 'big occasion' of playing in front of nearly 8000 people in a 2000 year old venue is not your everyday gig and this is one of the reasons he loves it so much.

Choosing to play without a support act Rollins played two sets totalling just over 3 hours - surely a strength sapping night for any musician let alone someone in their 80's! Yet Rollins was revelling in the music the atmosphere and as I said the 'sense of occasion'.

Playing with regulars Clifton Anderson (Trombone), Bobby Brown (Guitar), Bob Cranshaw (Bass - who very nearly played the previous evening with Maria Schneider), Kimati Dinizulu (Percussion) and Kobie Watkins on the drums.

Rollins took solo after solo, exploring the tunes, mostly standards, either on his own or in a duet with Dinizulu and Watkins, even breaking into song at the end of one.

Nobody left until the very end and he received a 5 minute standing ovation, clearly a genius at work!