(editor’s note – no ex post facto proof for Fats Domino or Dom Salvadore. Jimmy Witherspoon may have replaced Fats Domino on the bill, but not confirmed.)
Lionel Hampton’s All-Stars outshine jazz greats in Spa festival
by Steve Webb, The Knickerbocker News, July 2, 1979
“I don’t care what the weatherman says, it’s not going to rain on Newport,” the stage announcer said Saturday, and despite a couple of volleys of raindrops during the afternoon, this held true most of the day.
The 5 p.m. attendance figure was around 7,300 with people still coming in. That’s down by more than 14,000 from last year’s Saturday date, but the threat of rain may have had something to do with it.
The differences between the two years didn’t end there. On one hand, the show was much more efficient. It didn’t run behind schedule; last year’s did, by more than an hour. This was in part because Saturday’s shows were mostly small groups, nothing approaching the size of the Charlie Mingus Orchestra or Chick Corea band last year.
But in the same sense, the drama was also not there. Corea’s performance, the Mingus Orchestra debuting “Three Worlds of Drum,” and even the all-star jam last year each had a sense of privilege to viewing them. This year — some good music, but nothing earthshaking.
Most of the acoustic, mainstream jazz had been saved for Sunday. The brunt of Saturday included a mixed bag of large (9 or 10 pieces) combo fusion, often built around African percussion, blues groups and jazz artists such as Carmen McRae, Art Blakey and the battle of the saxophones, and Dave Brubeck’s quartet.
The Berkshire Eagle, June 28, 1979
Recent Comments