The Sounds of Jazz

Berklee Beantown Jazz Festival

On Saturday, September 29, Columbus Avenue was packed with music lovers who basked in the sunny, mild weather, strolling between the Mass. Ave. And Burke Street stages to revel in the sounds of the 12th annual Berklee Beantown Jazz Festival.

This year's festival was down one venue, as the Carter Playground stage and activities were not available due to recently-completed renovations, but music-lovers still had a broad and diverse array of talent to choose from on the two stages.

In addition to the music that filled the avenue from 12:00 noon until 6:00 PM, there were food vendors, artist and craft tables, and business and community organization information booths.

Bonnie Johnson, host of the Sunday afternoon program, "Colors of Jazz" on Worcester's WICN public radio, introduced the Mass. Ave. Stage headliner, singer Catherine Russell. The daughter of the late Luis Russell, music director for Louis Armstrong and jazz musician and vocalist Carline Ray, Russell is a touring artist and backing singer who has toured with David Bowie's band, Steely Dan, Rosanne Cash, Buster Poindexter, Cyndi Lauper and Madonna.

After her tenure with Bowie's band, Russell gravitated toward jazz and blues, and her set was filled with blues, swing and ballads made famous by Louis Jordan, Judy Garland, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway and Ray Charles, as well as a charming cover of the Chordettes' "Mr. Sandman".

The 62 year old singer surrounded herself with gifted young Berklee-connected musicians from across the country and around the world, including 17 year old drummer T.K. Jones of Virginia, keyboardist Anastassiya Petrova of Kazakhstan; bassist Charlie Lincoln of Minneapolis, Minnesota; guitarist Hunter Burgamy of New Orleans, trumpeter Steven Montecucco of Vancouver, Washington, pianist Kento Tsubosaka of Japan, Cameron McIntyre of Melbourne, Australia on clarinet, trombonist Stephan Tenney of Charleston, South Carolina and music director Colescott Rubin of Portland, Oregon, who played bass, sang and danced with Russell. The set ended with a lively cover of Ray Charles's "What'd I Say", culminating in a hard-driving drum solo by Jones.

Singer and saxophonist Tia Fuller's Diamond Cut presented mostly originals blending funk and '70s fusion sounds with more avant-garde rhythms, dissonance and modern-jazz guitar distortion, with classics such as Cole Porter's "I Love You". Her composition "Delight", which she described as "a prayer", is a dreamy, meditative piece led by Fuller's flowing, alto sax and her guitarist's vocalist and visual artist Veronique-Anne Epiter had a busy day participating in the festival, first singing at the 8:30 AM Bring Out the Music in You Beans and Cornbread Jazzfest Breakfast, a benefit for the South End Technology Center at Tent City held at the Columbus Avenue AME Zion Church, 600 Columbus Avenue. Epiter was there to sign and sell copies of "Moon Fever", her book of poetry, stories and essays as well as her drawings. Epiter, a former resident-artist at the Piano Factory who now lives in Beacon Hill, reported brisk traffic and a few sales at her table.