In just five short years, the Ziegler Kettle Moraine Jazz Festival has managed to develop into one of the best jazz events in the country.
The festival attracts some of the best smooth jazz performers in the world each year. Last Friday and Saturday, they came again to West Bend to get the town swinging, swaying and vibrating.
This reviewer attended the Friday evening session. Bone Fide, a pop-fusion group featuring the funky vocalist Slim Man, led off the festival. Slim Man, who refuses to give his real name, sports a very robust voice.
Sax player Kevin "The Prophet" Levi also is a talented musician, who was at his best during several R&B tunes.
The real show stealer turned out to be Joyce Cooling, a very pretty, talented guitarist from San Francisco. Cooling does not mind being referred to as "The Guitar Chick" and has a light, bluesy style. She mixes in just enough scat and other vocals to add variety.
{INSERT_RELATED}Cooling was outstanding in several songs from her latest album, "Third Wish," and showed a range of beats and rhythms in "Before Dawn," which starts slowly, as if before sunrise, and then picks up the pace as the world wakes up to the morning sun.
Joining Cooling was keyboardist Jay Wagner, who produces her albums and is her "life partner," drummer Billy Johnson, who once played with Carlos Santana, and bass player Darryl Anders, who was playing his first gig with the group.
Anders seemed as if he had been playing with Cooling for years and produced some great sounding vibes from his bass.
What also was impressive about Cooling is that she autographed CDs for dozens of fans after her gig and attended a post-concert party at a local pub, sponsored by WJZI Radio, which also served as one of the sponsors of the festival.
Old pro Richard Elliot followed Cooling as the headliner. Elliot is the former sax player for the famed Tower of Power and has been around for years. Practically everything he plays could be called a smooth jazz classic.
He was outstanding in several songs from his latest CD, "Crush," and older album, Chill Factor. Perhaps the best-known song from the latter is referred to as the "Oooh" song, for the background voices. Elliot and the audience had a lot of fun with it.
Elliot's style includes R&B and jazz, with a little bit of soul thrown in. He has inspired other great sax players such as Dave Koz, Boney James and Kirk Whalum, all who played in Milwaukee this summer.
On Saturday, Pam and the Players, French guitarist Marc Antoine, sax player Gary Davis and his band, guitarist Jesse Cook and Acoustic Alchemy played at the festival.
Riverside Park in West Bend provides what Elliot described as an "amazing setting" for the festival. The Friday session packed people into the park.
Ticket prices of $50 per day, $75 for the two days might seem steep to some, but when you figure you are seeing what amounts to eight concerts in about 30 hours, it adds up to one of the best jazz events around.
Besides, your money goes to a good cause. Through the West Bend Sunrise Rotary Foundation, more than $50,000 in proceeds from the festival over the five years has been donated to charities in southeastern Wisconsin.
