The market parking lot was transformed into a "street fest" staging area, with typically high quality outdoor sound managed by Steve Weise and crew from Creation Audio. The day of music opened with the Chris Lomheim Trio (Gordy Johnson and bass, Jay Epstein on drums). This is home territory for pianist Lomheim, as he and his wife live in one of the condos in the Market complex.
As is ever true whenever Chris Lomheim is about a keyboard, the music varied from sublime ("Darn That Dream") to playful ("Billie`s Bounce"), and the humble but eager early afternoon crowd didn`t appear to head the steam emerging from the asphalt. It was a near equal to the steam rising on stage.
One of the most democratic of our area Latin bands, Ticket to Brasil usually elicits dancing in the aisles, but passion and humidity may get discouraged movement. TTB nevertheless elicted plenty of enthusiasm with some familiar tunes like "One Note Samba" and "So Nice," Pavel Janey always engaging on guitar and percussion; Lidia Berman flashing her bright smile as she sang and swayed with her congas; Rose Rinder`s flute tumbling through samba and bossa. If we didn`t already feel tropical, TTB sealed the deal.
Doug Haining`s Twin Cities Seven ensemble has been entertaining area audiences since 1999, reprising the sounds of the big swing bands of Basie, Ellington and more. Despite the familiarity of the repertoire, the TC7 always manages to sound sweet and includes some of the less familiar tunes of the swing era, like Johnny Hodges` "The Peaches are Best Down the Road." The band hit its stride early and kept going, welcoming to the leg another neighborhood resident, star vocalist Charmin Michelle. With more nuance in presence of the point now, a few dancers took advantage of every swinging note.
Patty Peterson and Friends (e.g. relatives and near-relations) closed the festival with something for everyone. Nephew Jason Peterson DeLaire nearly upstaged Aunt Patty as a powerful presence on keyboards, saxophone and vocals, while Patty encouraged audience participation and proved any jazz tune can get a hot R&B tune ("The Shadow of Your Smile")_ and vice versa.
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