Cancellations Last Two Nights Dubious ‘Firsts’ for SPAC Season

by Marilyn Nason, The Post-Star, September 20, 1971

(editor’s note – original headliner Miles Davis canceled day of show)

Saratoga Performing Arts Center management will not soon forget the sixth season, especially the closing weekend.

The back-up act did not show Saturday night and the main attraction canceled last night, two questionable firsts for SPAC.

Jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, according to Craig Hankenson, SPAC general manager, canceled at 3:30 p.m. yesterday when the wife of his piano player became seriously ill.

From then until curtain at 7, it was an on-again, off-again decision for canceling the entire evening. What finally was staged was an interesting contrast in musical styles, an opportunity for a Saratoga group to appear on stage and a generally pleasant evening for the tiniest crowd in SPAC’s history, a mere 400.

Top Group

Davis backup group, Wishbone Ash, played the opening half of the program as scheduled. These three guitarists and drummer recently were named England’s top jazz-rock group and they proved why last night. Like good troupers, they acknowledged the small crowd, noted this marked their final U.S. performance and promised a fun evening.

Today’s terminology of jazz-rock can truthfully send semanticists into a tizzy, not to mention musicologists and reviewers. It becomes difficult to decide where rock ends, jazz begins, country-western comes into play or classics, boogie and Motown sound have their day with many of these groups. Usually, they are an evolution of all these ingredients; that was particularly evident with Wishbone-Ash.

Closing the show last night for the 1971 season fittingly was Saratoga Springs’ own Nick Brignola Quintet, and they provided a quiet, more sophisticated pleasant club sound thạt drew strong applause.

Good Sport

Composer-singer John Sebastian certainly must win the award for being a good-sport pro in his performance Saturday night before 6,200.

The bespectacled young man arrived at SPAC Saturday to learn the opening act had cancelled at the last minute. So, as Sebastian quipped to the audience, “We’ll have time for just about every song you want tonight, because I’m the opening and closing act.”

With that announcement, this very talented performer proceeded to entertain without intermission for nearly two hours. And even then, the audience wasn’t satisfied. They rushed down to the stage, pounded on the floor and shouted for nearly 10 minutes until a very exhausted Sebastian returned.

He sang two more numbers, thanked the audience for its ovation and acknowledged, I’m all blown out performing for tonight, gang, so thanks again and get home safely.”

True Professional

Sebastian proved again that the true professional talent need not resort to gyrations, overamplification, obscenities or innuendoes in order to win an audience.

He is clean-cut, has a perpetual smile, plays and sings his heart out without the high-decibel barrage too many acts use and has an instant rapport with the audience without appealing to base emotions.

He offered many of his own tunes including “Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind?” and “Gentle On My Mind,” backed by two musicians.