Jazz and Colors – November 10, 2012

Jazz and Colors – Central Park – November 10, 2012

Jazz and Colors was a great concept serving as a continuation of Christo & Jeanne-Claude’s “The Gates”. It involved 30 different bands located throughout the Central Park, all playing the same set lists at the same time. So one could walk through the park and hear a great sound track while passing by various musical combos – no two experiences would be the same. Of course, I settled for seeing complete sets by just two groups, so as to allow for more thorough sketching. My original intention was to catch Kirk Knuffke /Jesse Stacken up at the Ellington Circle, then somehow get downtown during the hour break for JD Allen. I got a great parking spot just above the park on Lenox, but on my way to Ellington Circle, I heard that music had already started, so I rushed towards it and discovered it was the Jason Marshall combo (at the Dana Discovery Center). So I just stayed with the flow and dug in. One of the resident ducks came up out of the water and just stood in front of the band for most of the set; Marshall declared it the coolest duck in NYC. I decided not to re-park the car, and instead during the hour break zipped over to Zoma for some Ethiopian take-out, and then returned to my originally intended band – they were not at the circle, but were within the park.