Some European jazz festival towns have ocean beaches. Some have mountains. Some have rivers. San Sebastián, in the Basque region of Spain, has all of the above, plus a promenade that runs for two miles along the golden crescent of Concha Bay. There is a monumental steel form anchored to rocks at the far end, El Peine Del Viento (“the comb of the wind”), by the great Basque sculptor Eduardo Chillida. Jazzaldia, which began in 1966, is Europe’s second-oldest ongoing jazz festival (after Jazz a Juan in Antibes), with the second-best food (after Belgrade).
I was able to attend only the first two nights of the five-night program, which meant that I missed Dave Holland, Wadada Leo Smith, George Benson, Archie Shepp, Kris Kristofferson, and Elvis Costello. But I caught seven full concerts in some memorable settings.
The most memorable was Playa de Zurriola, the beach where Escenario Verde, the Green Stage, was set up for the free concert on opening night by Patti Smith. For the first two days of the festival the sky was overcast. Festival Director Miguel Martín estimated the turnout for Smith at 4500, about half as many as last year, when Living Colour played the opening free concert in good weather. But looking out from the side of the stage, half as many people as last year made an impressive horde down the sand.
A night with Patti Smith is as much a witch’s sabbath as a rock concert. She pranced the stage, hissing and spitting, haranguing the crowd into a frenzy. (A Spanish crowd hollers “Pah-dee Pah-dee Pah-dee!”) She stopped and stood still and sang a Rolling Stones song: “So don’t play with me, ‘cause you’re playing with fire.”
It was ominous and creepy and credible. “Because The Night” was a fervent, livid testament, Smith on her knees at the front of the stage. Forty-five hundred people sang along on “People Have The Power.” Smith raised her fist and tossed off her skullcap and whipped and spun and her tendrils flew.
The climax was “Gloria.” The rain that had been holding off was suddenly unleashed. It was a breath-taking sight from the side of the stage as the crowd, now dotted with umbrellas, held firm in the pelting rain. When Smith screamed “G-L-O-R-I-A!” she pointed into the night with a long skinny witch’s finger and the crowd and the wind howled back: “GLORIA!”
Complete on >> http://jazztimes.com/sections/concerts/articles/26361-review-of-heineken-jazzaldia-festival-de-jazz
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