Saxophonist Miguel Zenón joined with Pianist Luis Perdomo to perform songs from Latin America as a duo. It was a treat to hear music without any amplification inside a gallery of a local arts space. I appreciated the full emotional range of Zenón’s saxophone, and he inserted fun quotes of jazz classics as he played. Perdomo sensitively accompanied Zenón with fluid time in ballads and driving Latin rhythms in the uptempo pieces....
A hot tip led us to Madison’s Yahara River for the annual Fools’ Flotilla. This boat parade flowed down the river between Madison’s two lakes on a beautiful Sunday morning. The end destination was the Marquette Neighborhood Association’s Waterfront Festival. Good zany fun. Click any picture for bigger images
Raul Midón kicked off the Madison Jazz Festival. Nothing better to make me feel welcome in town than a local Jazz Fest! Raul is a virtuoso guitar player, and he generates a lot of sound for one guy: strumming, slapping, fingerpicking and more. At one point, Raul played his bongos with one hand, his guitar with the other hand, and imitated a trumpet thru pursed lips. He’s also a wonderful songwriter and vocalist....
San Franciso-based Train rolled into Madison, Wisconsin—and Audrey and I enjoyed our fourth show from the 1990s pop-rock band. We’re temporarily based in Madison while Audrey works here on Voter Protection. The concert venue was just a 10 minute walk from our apartment—Madison is very walkable town. And we enjoyed a pre-concert gathering at the adjacent glass apartment tower, where Audrey’s new colleagues have a beautiful apartment. Their balcony looked over the concert venue and had a beautiful view across both of the lakes that surround the Madison isthmus....
In May 2024, our family converged in the mile-high city of Denver for a beautiful spring weekend. Mom, Paul, and Karen flew in from New Jersey; Audrey from California; and Jacob lives and teaches in Denver. I was already there for a business trip. First stop was Colorado College, Jacob’s alma mater, pictured above. Did you know Katharine Lee Bates, an English professor at Wellesley College, composed America the Beautiful here in 1882?...