photos by Tom Adams

The 49th Saratoga Jazz Festival presented 22 artists on two stages — more than 20 hours of music — on Saturday, June 27 and Sunday, June 28 at SPAC.

I caught at least some of every single set, and was often hustling between the amphitheater stage and the Charles R. Wood Discovery Stage (my jazzercise marathon for the weekend) because I didn’t want to miss a thing. From new discoveries to legends, Jazz Fest was thrilling, as always, and as I write this, I’m still riding a high from the positivity of the music and crowd.

Here’s seven major storylines from the weekend:

1. With weather like this, there’s no better place to be.

Danny Melnick is a veteran festival producer who knows how to book and plan a stellar slate of talent — returning fans of this festival consider him their fearless leader for good reason — but even Melnick can’t control the weather. For what seems like the last many years, late June in Upstate NY has been something of a fickle adversary. Whether it’s unbearable mugginess or the deluge from a sudden thunderstorm, the weather can pose problems for the many attendees who revel on the lawn.

For the 2026 fest though, Mother Nature deserves a shoutout for her assistance. The best laid festival plans can be derailed by a storm, but the weather was consistently sunny, not particularly humid, and temps stayed in the high 70s and low 80s all weekend. There was even a breeze.

The weather added value to the relaxed summer vibes that abounded. The positive nature of the music and sentiment of the artists jived with the linen shirts and straw hats that were abundantly present in the mid-sized and, mostly, more than middle-aged crowd. And while the place wasn’t packed either day, it was a knowledgeable and appreciative audience that listened intently, often turning the smaller Charles R. Wood stage into the equivalent of a Greenwich Village coffee house or listening room. Perhaps the drop in attendance was simply due to a wealth of good concert options on the weekend in the region. Paul Simon was at Tanglewood and Wilco was hosting the Solid Sound Festival at Mass MOCA.

But patrons still came out for Jazz Fest – it just seemed like the lawn was the place to be and amphitheater attendance was noticeably down from last year. Perhaps the prices have something to do with that.

Where there may have been fewer tickets sold there were definitely more craft vendors this year. More than 50 vendors brought their wares to SPAC: If you wanted a flower vase for your car, or an aforementioned straw hat, or a Jerry Garcia print, or an artisan macaron, or a painting of a panda playing saxophone, or “jazz soap” complete with standup bass inlay, you were in luck because all of those were available.

The food options were also plentiful with many local businesses represented: I noted Schuylerville’s Kickstart Cafe and Saratoga’s Franklin Square Market and Thorn and Roots were all on hand (and I was thankful for the latter’s fruit smoothies to keep my blood sugar up as I bounded around the SPAC grounds, dutiful correspondent that I am).

If you wanted oysters on the half-shell or pork from a full-pig pigroast, you had your pick. If you wanted craft beer, your thirst was quenched. And yes, thankfully you could still get a regular old $6 hot dog at the regular old concession stand (I did!).

Kids with their GE Vernova complimentary chalk bedazzled the sidewalks with positive messages and endearing drawings and played cornhole in the kids area. Their adults packed slices of watermelon and Polar seltzers and rolling coolers full of sundry snacks. They popped up tents and relaxed at what amounted to jazz camp.

It was old-school SPAC charm at its best and it reminded me of just how great it is that this event still allows people to have a picnic on the lawn if they don’t want to spend a lot of money on food and drink in addition to their tickets. May that policy continue forever.

In short, the set and setting was ideal and that only enhanced what the artists did on stage.

2. The Jazz Discovery Stage Never Disappoints

Any jazz fest regular will tell you that the intimate Charles R. Wood stage is the secret weapon of the event. Tucked in the back of the SPAC grounds amid shade, trees and grass, the Jazz Discovery series is essentially small club music inside a massive venue.

In an early set on Saturday, Israeli-born and New York City-based trumpeter Avishai Cohen was a perfect warm up act for the Miles Electric band.

In his hour-long set with his backing band Big Vicious, Cohen explored the effects-heavy wah wah trumpet. Cohen often played the trumpet with his right hand using his left to manipulate a bevy of electronics. Two drummers, who also frequently employed electronics, created a modern take on Bitches Brew-style fusion. Cohen’s electro-muted sound sent a blissed out haze of genre-bending jazz out to the crowd, which the trumpeter complimented for its “great energy”.

Fans of piano trios were treated to the Orrin Evans Trio on Saturday and the New Orleans sound of Kyle Roussel on Sunday.

Roussel was particularly impressive, showing gospel, classical, rock, and New Orleans jazz chops over the course of an hour. His percussive soloing and songwriting skills were also highlights. “Nothing is Impossible”, an original song, showcased guest vocalist Erica Falls.

The 38-year-old Roussel, a Grammy-nominee for his 2025 album Church of New Orleans, should be an ambassador of New Orleans music for a long time to come.

Most of the sets on the smaller stage were unaffected by louder acts in the amphitheater, and the schedule of events allowed for only a few overlapping sets. Singer-songwriter Sasha Dobson had the challenge of playing a subdued set of jazz-inflected indie folk while Christone “Kingfish” Ingram was still shredding his guitar on the main stage.

Undeterred, Dobson played a set of nearly all new material from a forthcoming album that she recently recorded at the Wilco loft in Chicago.

Accompanied by genre-defying violinist Charlie Burnham, and with her brother Smith on drums, Dobson impressed on new songs “Mama” and “About Love”. Dobson, who is also a member of the supergroup Puss N Boots, has a sultry and smooth delivery reminiscent of her famous sometimes-bandmate Norah Jones.

Dobson, who looked hip in a retro orange dress, said she was trying to make her set last to revel in the moment, but that she also couldn’t wait to finish it so she could just hangout to “take it all in, try on some hats, eat some food.”

One of the most anticipated sets on the second stage, judging by the number of filled (and saved) folding chairs, was the Bill Frisell Trio with Gregory Tardy.

Frisell, a guitar master, famous for playing a flexible brand of Telecaster jazz uniquely his own, drew heavily from the 2022 album Four that his trio made with reed-man Tardy for Blue Note Records.

The set opened with the slinky, meditative, and repetitive figure of “Monroe” which grooved for 15 minutes (and I would have gladly listened for 15 more). Tardy and Frisell wove their lines together in a perfect demonstration of collective improvisation. The blissful sound they created with support from the rhythm section of Rudy Royston (drums) and Thomas Morgan (bass) should be the score to a thousand indie movies.

Tardy switched between tenor and clarinet in the hour that showcased original compositions as well as standards (“I’m Beginning to See the Light”). Frisell has a long reputation for tasty instrumental renditions of pop hits and set closer “La-La Means I Love You” by The Delphonics was a crowd-pleaser.

At times it felt like Frisell’s guitar was whispering, and then he would attack with just enough gain to make his sweet-sounding Fender purr. It’s Frisell’s phrasing as much as anything else that makes his interpretations of popular classics fodder for basement guitarists everywhere.

3. Jazz should always be served with a healthy side of blues.

Frisell wasn’t the only guitarist with chops at the festival, and several of the players were serving up a heaping helping of the blues – the perfect compliment to the more traditional jazz performances.

Ana Popovic was the first of three notable blues acts scheduled for the fest. The guitarist’s Serbian roots might make her an unlikely blueswoman, but she cut a striking figure on the Charles R. Wood stage.

Popovich’s blonde hair, gold dress, and matching cream and gold Strat made you pay attention to her style as much as her substance. On “Dwell on the Feeling” her solid vocals revealed her Slavic accent, but her guitar playing was roadside barbeque electric blues with just the right amount of dirty grit.

She’s the real deal.

On Sunday, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram put his own oversized blues presence on full display.

The Clarksdale, Mississippi guitarist, still just 27 even though it feels like he’s been on the scene forever, brought a hot output sound as big as his build to the main stage.

On “Fresh Out” Ingram was channeling not only blues greats, but blues rock legends like Dickey Betts and Duane Allman.

But Ingram, who appeared in a cameo at the end of Ryan Coogler’s Sinners alongside sometimes-collaborate Buddy Guy, is as much about giving a nod to the history of the music as he is muddying genres and taking things in a new direction. A song like “Voodoo Charm” off of his 2025 album Hard Road, might bring thoughts of Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child” to mind, but the tune’s swampy gumbo had more in common with bayou blues than Woodstock pyrotechnics.

Ingram is simply one of the finest electric bluesmen on the circuit today and his Derek Trucks-like prodigy status means his evolution will be just as fun to watch.

Another young guitar-slinger, Eddie 9V, turned in one of the best-received performances of the festival.

Like Ingram, there’s a fair amount of southern rock lineage in the rock-blues hybrid that Eddie 9V displayed on Sunday’s final Charles R. Wood stage performance. For the entire festival, the polite audience sat in its seats at the second stage, but Eddie 9V invited the crowd to come closer, and the listening room became a rock club.

Eddie9V did his best to bring the audience to an old country beer blast picnic. His cowboy hat gave him a Charlie Daniels/Dickey Betts look and he even dedicated one of his Les Paul solos to the departed Allman Brothers guitarist.

Much like personable rocker and kindred spirit Marcus King (who has been making the podcast rounds of late), Eddie 9V engaged in entertaining stage banter and was dripping with charisma.

He told the audience that he once lived in a double-wide trailer in Georgia and had to put on bug spray to go to bed. Now he basically lives on the road – the band has been on tour since February and won’t get off of it until the fall.

Eddie 9V recently signed to Dan Auerbach’s (The Black Keys) Easy Eye Sound label. The group played its first single off their forthcoming record: co-written with King, “Blowing Up” aptly surmises “It won’t be long now till I’m blowing up”. See Eddie 9V while the tickets are still reasonable.

“Ain’t Nobody’s Business” was twenties blues from different century, updated and electrified. And, “Can I Sleep in Your Backyard?” was tour-weary southern rock.

Eddie 9V switched to a Telecaster late in the set and wore the damn thing out.

To no one’s surprise he played “Saratoga” the title track of his 2024 album. He said he drew inspiration for the song and album in Saratoga, Wyoming, “but for today I’m going to say I got all the inspiration from here”.

The set closed down with a couple tunes off of the new album including the ripping, unreleased, “Whole Lot Coming For You” where Eddie 9V proved his worth as a guitar slinger of the first order. For a dude like Eddie 9V, simply calling him a guitar player is an insult, and his high watt energy was a shot in the arm to all in attendance.

4. High energy bands like The Dip, Cimafunk & The Revivalists brought needed energy and summer night sounds.

Eddie 9V wasn’t the only performer who put youthful energy on display. On Saturday, Seattle, Washington’s The Dip brought its sweet soul act to the Jazz Fest stage for the first time. Melnick said he’d been trying to book the group for a while and it didn’t take long to understand why.

The seven-piece group opened with the minor-key-but-still-sweet soul of “Slow Sipper” off the 2019 album The Dip Delivers. The tune featured the Sam Cook-inspired vocals of smooth lead singer/guitarist Tom Eddy and a great Hammond B-3-clone solo by Jace Holmes Floyd.

What sets Eddy and company apart from some of the other young acts is not only the nifty horn arrangements (“Ain’t Necessary”) and tight performance, but a knack for hooks and lyrics. Some of these songs are still floating around in my head a couple days later.

Check out “Atlas” for not only its smart lyrics, but its catchy chorus. “Love Directions” is equally clever in a 1960s radio hit kind of way.

A big thrill at jazz fest is hearing what covers artists choose to perform. The Dip’s rendition of Roberta Flack’s “Compared to What” was slinky and smooth.

Jace Holmes-Floyd got the audience clapping with a rave up gospel piano intro to “Head on a Swivel” and “Fill My Cup” was more soul pop goodness. “Real Contender” (featuring a heck of a tenor sax solo by Levi Gillis) and set closer “Sure Don’t Miss You” got people on their feet.

Not that he’s asked me, but I think Melnick should always schedule either a Latin or Afro-Cuban band in a late Sunday slot. Cimafunk was an instant dance party.

In shiny blue bell-bottoms, sunglasses, and his trademark flat-top haircut, lead vocalist Erik Alejandro Iglesias (born 1989), was the essence of cool. Known professionally as Cimafunk, the Grammy-nominated Cuban musician mixed funk and hip-hop with Cuban and Afro-Caribbean music. Cimafunk’s name is a nod to Cubans of African descent who resisted and escaped slavery.

Aside from their charismatic front man, the group’s relentless energy was percussive and exemplified by the dynamic horns and backing vocals of Hilaria Cacao (trombone and vocals) and Katy Cacao (saxophone and vocals).

Like Cimafunk, day two headliners The Revivalists had no trouble making a big, energetic sound in the amphitheatre.

Founding members David Shaw (lead vocals/guitar) and Zach Feinberg (guitar) are savvy music chemists. The New Orleans-based band certainly brings the party of New Orleans music as one influence, but they are also a manufactured and Frankensteined recipe of innocuous arena roots-rock. A dash of 2000s indie, a teaspoon of Ray LaMontagne’s blue-eyed soul, a pinch of radio-friendly mainstream pop rock, a tablespoon of funky horn rock, a scoop of network drama needle drop, and more than a handful of classic Americana.

But the secret ingredient is Shaw who is a first-class frontman. He has a pure and familiar voice that is as malleable as the band’s genre defying sound and he really knows how to work the audience. This is a band girls like and I think Shaw is a big reason for that.

Songs with titles like “Good Old Days”, “All My Friends”, “Need You”, “You and I”, “Got Love”, and “Celebration” aren’t particularly original, but every one of them has an anthemic chorus that makes me think the group deserves at least as much success as other groups of their generation that made it a little bigger like Kings of Leon or even Mumford and Sons.

The group’s arrangements are also rock solid and the mix was fantastic, so kudos to their sound crew. There were a lot of moving pieces to The Revivalists, but their act is based on solid songcraft and arrangements and they were a refreshing break from the countless solos that were taken over the course of the weekend.

The Revivalists will release its sixth full-length Get it Honest later this month and the singles from the new album suggest continued evolution and growth as writers. “Razorblades and Runways”, one of the singles off the new record, sounded particularly good at SPAC.

While The Revivalists aren’t a group that is represented in my collection, there were more than a handful of Revivalist t-shirts represented in the half-full amphitheater. It’s hard for me not to like a band that employs a pedal steel guitarist and Ed Williams’ solos on “All My Friends” and “Fade Away” were great.

Sax player Rob Ingraham seemed like the happiest man in the building, dancing with his saxophone, singing backup vocals, and turning in a dynamic solo on “Celebration”. And percussionists Andrew Campanella and PJ Howard were locked in a groove all night.

Howard’s capacious grin indicates that these dudes love making music together and feed off of crowd energy. And why wouldn’t they – these festival darlings have monolithic songs that just sound like the type of thing you’d blast on your boat when you’re spending summer at the lake.

The band started to let loose on the excellent “BTBD” with an extended introductory solo by Zach Feinberg who was a total pro on guitar all night.

Shaw got the crowd on its feet for “You and I” with a comment about making this “a real rock and roll show”. Audience participation was the name of the game for the obvious set-closer “Wish I Knew You”, the band’s 2015 hit that at the time of this report has more than 295 million Spotify streams.

5. 100 years after their birth, the music of Miles & Coltrane (and jazz in general) is alive and well.

First Meeting got things started on the main stage on Saturday – the first of several jazz supergroups to assemble for the festival.

The quartet featured Gonzalo Rubalcaba (piano), Chris Potter (tenor & soprano saxophone), Larry Grenadier (bass), and Eric Harland (drums). The group churned out a set of Latin-tinged ECM sheets of sound. Each extended piece featured virtuosic solos with Potter and Rubalcaba exchanging blistering runs of technical brilliance supported by Grenadier’s percussively attacking bass and the shimmering wave crash of Harland’s cymbals.

Rubalcaba with his gold bracelet and sunglasses had a bit of the Miles-cool look going. The four-time Grammy winner was my favorite pianist of the festival. His playful use of rhythm and dynamics directed the rhythm section which listened attentively and responded by alternately swinging or turning on a dime into Afro-Cuban explorations and polyrhythmic grooves.

The Alexa Tarantino Quartet also mined more traditional bop and hard bop territories on the discovery stage. Tarantino didn’t let a back injury stop her from appearing, though the young alto sax player had to play seated for the entire set. As WBGO’s Lezlie Harrison noted at the end of the performance, Tarantino “couldn’t get up, but did get down”.

While I was only able to catch the tail end of this set for some quick choruses of “The Theme”, Tarantino had a nice modern take on the Charlie Parker/Art Pepper sound and I wish her good health so I can see her bop around the stage next time.

Here’s a tip that all festival regulars already know – prepare adequately for Sunday farmer’s market traffic in the state park and get to the festival early on day two, because the Skidmore Jazz Faculty All-Stars should not be missed. The group plays some of the purest jazz standards every single year, and this was particularly true on Sunday when the crack ensemble of industry vets and educators paid tribute to John Coltrane who would have turned 100 this September.

The septet featured Jimmy Greene (tenor saxophone) in the role of Coltrane with Clay Jenkins (trumpet), Steve Davis (trombone), Dave Stryker (guitar), Miki Yamanaka (piano), bandleader Todd Coolman (bass), and Quincy Davis (drums).

The group started things off with the Coltrane-penned “Just for the Love” before moving to the somewhat obscure “Mr. Day” which featured tasty solos from guitarist Stryker and trombonist Davis. Pianist Miki Yamanaka, wearing a beautiful blue kimono, also turned in an inventive and dynamic performance.

On the ballad “Body & Soul” it was hard to miss how attentive the audience was – and for good reason. Jimmy Greene had them in the palm of his hand. Like Dexter Gordon, Greene is a tall tenor with a big sound — and on Sunday, his sound was conjuring the soul of Coltrane. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the band’s performance of “Naima”. As virtuosic as many of the younger players were in other groups, these veterans allowed the incredible compositions speak for themselves, and Greene’s delivery of this beautiful and evergreen piece was my favorite tenor saxophone moment of the festival.

While Coltrane was honored on Sunday afternoon, it was a Saturday evening performance on the amphitheatre stage by the Miles Electric Band that celebrated Miles Davis’ Centennial.

In his introduction Melnick noted that both Miles and Patti LaBelle made their SPAC Jazz Fest debuts in 1985, the year of my birth. Forty-one years later, their music persists.

The Miles Electric Band is no tribute act, but a true all-star ensemble with miles of Miles lineage both familial and in the sense that many of these men are alums of the Davis touring bands of the 1980s. The group was led by Davis’ nephew Vince Wilburn Jr. (drums). Wilburn was joined on Saturday by Darryl Jones (bass), Robert Irving III (piano/keyboards/musical director), Greg Spero (keyboards), Jean Paul Bourelly (guitar), Munyungo Jackson (percussion), Rasaki Aladokun (percussion), Antoine Roney (saxophones) DJ Logic (turntables and electronics), and Keyon Harrold (trumpet) in the Miles role.

The 10-piece band came out blazing with a favorite early-80s Miles’ band opener “Speak”. The piece featured machine gun riffs from Harrold whose aggressive playing gave the music new life. Longtime Rolling Stones bassist Daryl Jones is simply one of the baddest bassists there is, and it was a total joy to see him perform this music with his patented slap technique (which is the very foundation of the funky 1980s Miles Davis sound).

The group ran the gamut of electric Miles material in their 60-minute set. “In a Silent Way” was particularly poignant and the piece built to a frenzy in the “It’s About That Time” groove that makes up the second half of the composition.

Percussionists Jackson and Aladokun were downright fun to watch, both delivering extended solos. Jackson’s dinner bell triangle playing at the end of his solo launched the band into an epic performance of “Decoy”, a piece Miles recorded in 1984.

DJ Logic updated the sound for the hip-hop era by adding some turntable electronic tricks to the mix. He also spliced in some Miles Davis interviews into the live mix, which gave the whole vibe a ghostly atmosphere. The spoken word paired nicely with the deep space explorations of keyboardist Greg Spero and guitarist Jean Paul Bourelly. Musical director Robert Irving was a bit more restrained, playing some hard bop piano and directing the band as the textures evolved.

Herrold, who turned in a fine solo performance at last year’s Fest, worked up a mighty sweat on the horn. And while he was pitchy at times, his rhythmic attack on the more frenzied numbers showed an expert knowledge of this foundational fusion. He also nailed the famous muted ballad covers that Miles made hits in the eighties – Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” and Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature”.

Critics weren’t kind to Miles in the eighties, but it’s not surprising that Davis’ eighties output is receiving a good deal of critical reconsideration in recent years thanks to some Columbia Bootleg Series releases. Miles was way ahead of the curb when it came to hip hop and funky pop. I’ve long admired how artists like Davis were always evolving, always interested in surrounding themselves with young musicians who were mining new territories instead of retreating into music of the past. Miles Davis was a seeker. In live performance this music sounded fresh as ever.

The sound check for this large group ran long, which was a shame because the group had to cut “Pharoah’s Dance” short just as its blurping Fender Rhodes and guitar riffs got started.

Wilburn introduced the band from the front of the stage and said the only thing fit to say: “Uncle Miles, Happy 100.”

6. The Women of Jazz Fest were the true all-stars.

Jazz was a male-dominated medium for much of the 20th Century, but that certainly wasn’t the case at Jazz Fest where some of the most memorable performances were turned in by female musicians.

The 8-piece all-female group Brass Queens opened the festival with a fiery performance reminiscent of last year’s opening The String Queens. Like that all-female group, who covered Stevie Wonder last year, Brass Queens got the crowd singing along to a brash brass take on 4 Non Blondes “What’s Up”.

They also closed their set with a tune that was probably on everyone’s mind who was looking forward to the Saturday headliner – “Lady Marmalade”.

The dynamic drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and her band Social Scene began one of the best trends of the female artists at Jazz Fest – performing material that was positive, tolerant, and socially conscious.

Carrington and company have a new record, Trip the Night Fantastic, due out at the end of July via Candid Records and much of their set focused on the genre-defying material on that record.

Carrington is such a dynamic player. In the course of her set she did just about everything you can imagine a drummer doing. There was cement-mixing, rock solid beats, African high life rhythms, fusion funk, and high speed hip-hop grooves.

The music might best be described as electric Miles Davis meets consciousness-raising spoken word and hip hop. Three female emcees/singers/and spoken word artists shared a message of empowerment, tolerance and acceptance in the lyrics that asked the crowd to just “be who you want to be” in “Identity Song” one of the group’s new singles. It might be wise to call the music genre-fluid.

Carrington’s young band called to mind the Art Blakey tradition of a drummer on the riser leading a band of talented young musicians. Morgan Guerin who doubled on flute and bass is one of those young musicians to watch. In a duo performance with Carrington, they recalled some of the great jazz duo recordings (see Rashied Ali and Frank Lowe or Jackie McClean and Michael Carver or Coltrane and Ali as just some of my favorites).

“Autonomy Song” featured locked-in grooves, and the guitarist Matthew Stevens’ “Forest Song” featured Debo Ray on Flora Purim-esque ethereal vocals.

Just when I thought I had the band’s sound figured out, Carrington launched the group into “Solidarity Song (Bang Bang)” a country blues that proved this group can do whatever it desires.

Don’t think I’m one of those jazz lovers who only gives instrumentalists their due. Two female jazz vocal powerhouses were on the schedule and I was simply in awe of their literal range of talent. Cecile McLorin Salvant was as comfortable singing a French classical piece as she was a standard like “If My Friends Could See Me Now”.

The 36-year-old vocalist was thrilled that her idol, vocal legend Dianne Reeves, was sitting only a few rows back enjoying the show. Salvant dedicated a spot-on performance of “Mista” to Reeves which was enhanced by groovy accompanist extraordinaire Sullivan Fortner who continues to prove himself the perfect partner for Salvant’s talent.

On Sunday, Diane Reeves turned in an inspired performance that reminded everyone in the amphitheater of why she’s a five-time Grammy award-winner.

She kicked things off with her unique arrangement of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” which included her trademark scat singing.

Things got more traditional with her performance of the standard “What’s New” and later became downright beautiful with her rendition of Horace Silver’s poetic “Peace”.

Later in the set, her band left the stage except for Brazilian guitarist Romero Lubambo, who like Fortner, is the perfect musical companion for his singer (Reeves called Lubambo her “brother from another mother”). His bossa nova accompaniment on the poignant “Nine” allowed Reeves to become a storyteller as well as a vocal improviser extraordinaire.

“Nine” put Reeves in reflective mode, looking back at her youth, thinking about each decade, and looking down the barrel of 70. Her positive attitude and philosophy, as exemplified in her stage banter, had many audience members who were also in their sixties nodding along.

Reeves, who espoused optimism and love for her entire performance, couldn’t have chosen a better late-set standard than “Our Love is Here to Stay” which put her multi-octave scat range on full display.

Like Salvant, alto saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin, also paid lip service to Reeves.

“Because Diane Reeves went all over the world from gig to gig, I can come to Saratoga”.

And thank goodness Benjamin did. For me, Benjamin’s set, which drew heavily from her new album We Dream, was the performance of the festival.

Benjamin first appeared on the SPAC gazebo stage in 2018, but made her first appearance on the amphitheater stage in the opening Sunday slot. I don’t think it’s hyperbolic to predict that she will likely return as a headliner at some point.

In a cool-as-hell silver jacket, gold pants, and pure fire gold shoes, Benjamin gets an A-plus for style and a gold medal for jazz performance. Benjamin, a protege of Gary Bartz and Kenny Garrett, reminds me of both musicians. She doesn’t shy away from R & B, cannot be pigeonholed into any category, and was really the only musician at the festival with spiritual jazz leanings in a time where that music has taken off in the record collecting world among young people.

Her music is for fans of Barz and Garrett, but also for fans of Kamasi Washington or the International Anthem label. Check out her Tiny Desk Concert on YouTube if you haven’t already. She’s such an energetic and virtuosic soloist. And what I love about her is that she’s just as comfortable firing up the crowd as an emcee on new track “Ascension” as she is giving a Sunday-going-to-church reading of “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free”.

The best moment of the entire festival for me was her dedication of “My Favorite Things,” not only to John Coltrane, but to Alice Coltrane as well. She teased “A Love Supreme” inside her solo and I about lost my mind.

Her band was also superb. Jerome Jennings was an engine behind the drum kit, Elias Bailey held down the low-end on upright bass, and pianist Oscar Perez provided just the right tension in the group, often providing a Latin flavor to the groove that gave their compositions a texture that (like many of the acts on display) defires easy categorization and is simply wonderful music.

The band closed out the set with a deeply funky take on The Meter’s “Cissy Strut” that ended with a segway into Kenny Garrett’s “Happy People”, one of the most joyous melodies I know in jazz. Lakecia Benjamin is an electric performer and a joy-spreader.

Support and celebrate women in jazz.

1. Ms. Patti LaBelle paved the way and is still doing her thing.

Lakecia Benjamin has the IT factor of a star, and Diane Reeves paved the way for her, but Patti LaBelle has been making waves and inroads for parts of seven decades in the music business. She’s a star and a legend.

LaBelle took the stage with a declaration: “I’m 82 years young and ready to kick some butt.” Looking unlike any octogenarian I know, Ms. Patti (as her bandmates call her) wore a gold pantsuit complete with a cape that made her look something like a fancy cake. The ensemble was a perfect match for her blonde wig in what proved to be only the first of two outfit/wig pairings on Saturday night.

She joked that she couldn’t remember if she was last at SPAC Jazz Fest in 1885 or 1985. She claimed she couldn’t remember either, and with these opening comments, she endeared herself to everyone wise enough to stick around to see the Godmother of Soul do her thing.

LaBelle might have someone assist her to the stage, and she took a few breaks on Saturday night, but she can still sustain a note and she can get way up there in her range. Four background singers (three women and one dude) also provided some vocal coverage and were able to step in for some incredible duets and solo performances. LaBelle’s band was so tight and full of many longtime collaborators and studio cats.

On “Love, Need, Want You” LaBelle held a high note that fired up the crowd and had some on the lawn sneaking down to fill the half-empty amphitheater a bit more. I’ve learned from my time at Willie Nelson concerts that SPAC crowds love nothing more than seeing that a legend still has gas in the tank; the remaining crowd was supportive and enthralled by Ms. Patti’s showmanship.

She hasn’t lost a step, but LaBelle did kick off her heels on “If You Asked Me To”, a ballad originally performed by LaBelle, but made famous by Celine Dion.

In a career-spanning set that drew heavily on her eighties solo hits, LaBelle also performed “Stir it Up” from Beverly Hills Cop and her massive hit “On My Own” in which her male background singer capably stepped into the Michael McDonald role with an incredible performance.

In the second half of the show, LaBelle reminded the audience that Taylor Swift didn’t invent the mid-show outfit change. After a brief interlude that featured trombonist Jeff Bradshaw, LaBelle returned to the stage in a new shiny green outfit and black wig. Again – looking decidedly NOT 82. Maybe people really will start living to 125. I wouldn’t bet against Patti LaBelle making that happen.

To no one’s surprise, LaBelle closed things out with “Lady Marmalade”. While I sometimes roll my eyes at audience participation shtick, LaBelle’s move to call several men to the stage to sing and dance a bit of the chorus did not make me groan. It made me laugh; it made me happy. Whomever LaBelle hires to pick these men from the audience must be some kind of a genius because the variety was perfect. There was the huge fan who could really sing, the drunk guy who was just the right amount of annoying-funny, the guy who was really a drag queen and crushed his turn, and the buttoned up engineer who could secretly get down. It was all just plain fun, which LaBelle and this festival really embody.

There were a lot of masterful musicians that graced the stage on Saturday, but there was only one true star – the Godmother of Soul, Ms. Patti LaBelle.

Saratoga Jazz Fest, sponsored by GE Vernova, will return for its 50th year on June 26 and June 27, 2027. Save the date.

Patti LaBelle Setlist – SPAC – Saratoga Jazz Festival – Saratoga Springs, NY – 6/27/26:

“When You’ve Been Blessed (Feels Like Heaven)”, “Love, Need, and Want You”, “The Right Kinda Lover”, “If You Asked Me To”, “Stir it Up”, “On My Own”, “I Keep Forgettin’”, “New Attitude”, “Somebody Loves You Baby (You Know Who It Is)”, “When You Talk About Love”, “I’ll Take You There”, “Can We Talk”, “If Only You Knew”, “You Are My Friend”, “Lady Marmalade” “I Like it Like That” (outro)

Revivalists Setlist – SPAC – Saratoga Jazz Festival – Saratoga Springs, NY – 6/29/26:

“Good Old Days”, “Kid”, “Monster”, “All My Friends”, “Fade Away”, “Need You”, “Razorblades and Runways”, “Long Live the River”, “Down in the Dirt”, “BTBD”, You and I”, “It Was a Sin”, “Got Love”, “Celebration”

Encore: “Wish I Knew You”