San Javier Jazz Festival

San Javier Jazz Festival

Wow. What more can I say? The festival was super cool, well organised and had some outstanding artists.
The most important figures in the world of jazz, blues and bossa nova had an appointment at the XI San Javier International Jazz Festival – well that’s what the website said anyway. www.jazzsanjavier.com detailed all of the artists showing at this year’s extravaganza. Keep an eye on this site to see who’s coming next year.

This year’s event ran from 28th June to 27th July. We saw only two gigs (I can't believe we were so rubbish as to only make it to two!), which included 3 artists and loved them all.

Keb’ Mo’ - www.kebmo.net

First up on Saturday night was Grammy award winner Keb' Mo'. Imagine Huggy Bear (from Starsky and Hutch fame) meets Robert Cray, wearing a hat, singing about cash machines, suitcases and shaving your legs. Got the picture?
He was great. I admit I’d never heard of him till that night but I’ve now ordered 4 of his discs from the great Amazon music god. One of the love songs was entitled “You Don’t Have To Shave Yo’ Legs”, the chorus goes:

“Go ahead be wild and free,
You don’t have to shave yo’ legs for me”

Women everywhere, revolt. If your man really loves you, then your furry legs won’t make a difference, Keb’ Mo’ says so!

Keb Mo at the San Javier Jazz Festival

The Robert Cray Band - www.robertcray.com

I've been a fan of Robert Cray since I was a kid. I get the lyrics of Strong Persuader stuck in my head for days at a time, much to the annoyance of everyone around me as my out of tune rendition bears no resemblance to the great man's melody (and not much resemblance to singing).

Robert Cray was on great form after Keb’ Mo’ warmed the crowd up. He worked the crowd well and opened with a line: “I don’t want send you all home tonight feeling sad and blue, but hey, that’s what we do!” And he went on to prove it with some of the sweetest lyrics, heart-rending vocals and not bad (understatement of the year!) guitar-strumming.

Robert Cray at the San Javier Jazz Festival

Herbie Hancock - www.herbiehancock.com

This was the last gig of the event – shame! Herbie was awarded some gifts from the mayoress of San Javier, something shiney in a box and a silver boat. He bantered with the audience in broken Spanish and they really appreciated it. He told us he’d been in the music business for 62 years. You could tell, he was outstanding.

Two superb female vocalists accompanied Herbie, oozing those Joni Mitchell lyrics from his new album River. They got the hairs on the back on my neck all aquiver.

Now this was real jazz, a bit funky, cool, mellow and a great big bit of discord thrown in. The range was extreme, the crowd loved him, the night was perfect.

Herbie Hancock at the San Javier Jazz Festival

The venue is great too, I’ll be looking out for other interesting gigs here in San Javier at Auditorio Parque Almansa. There’s a bar, park for the kids and plenty of parking.
We ordered our tickets by telephone and picked them up on the night. Tickets were still available for sale at 8pm on the night of both concerts. However next year we'll be buying an "abonos", a season ticket, where for an upfront fee you get to see gigs for a reduced rate. And you get special seats!

Till next time, from a hairy-legged Debs, still humming along to Strong Persuader.