KEMAH — Despite all the jazz, it was hard to be cool Sunday on the Kemah Boardwalk. The hep cats and kittens wailed on their axes on stage during three consecutive days of the 12th Kemah Boardwalk Jazz Festival.
Bay Area residents, tourists and jazz enthusiasts from Houston and points further, sheltered in any available shade, drawn in by style after style of solid tunes.
The festival was especially jive this year. It was the first year back after storms caused coordinators to cancel the two previous festivals.
Musicians young and old wove together note after note of Straight Ahead, Latin, Smooth, Cool and even a few homegrown styles of jazz.
During the early afternoon Sunday, hundreds of people walked through the courtyard near some of the boardwalk’s restaurants and shops, stopping to watch the various acts.
A dozen or so people had a little more foresight. They sat just off the stage in lawn chairs, some under umbrellas, their feet tapping or fingers drumming.
Many more spectators watched from perches along the terraced base of the Kemah Boardwalk Inn or leaned against the iron railing outside the shops. Patrons of the inn took in the show from their balconies overlooking the courtyard.
After about three hours of listening from his folding chair near the stage, Bacliff resident Dan Wright said he was unfazed by the heat but moved by the jazz.
Living in the area, Wright said, it’s not often that he comes out to the boardwalk. The jazz festival, however, strikes a chord with him he can’t resist and he’s been several times, he said.
Sitting near Wright, with the benefit of a canopy over her chair, Diane Navarro, of League City, said both she and Wright came out during Saturday’s performances as well.
“They always have a really good lineup. This year didn’t look as good, but there turned out to be some really good bands,” Navarro said.
In the background, a syrupy guitar, sensuous saxophone and ethereal vibraphone grooved their way off the stage, interrupted only by a periodic chorus of screams from dodging and darting kids playing in the center fountain.
In between songs, the sounds of performers warming up could be heard just off stage under white tents. Trilling trumpets and wallowing trombones were punctuated by handshaking greetings of musicians, for whom the festival serves as a reunion of sorts.
The mix of musicians Sunday featured the Dan Karp Group, Latin jazz guitarist Mark Towns, the University of Houston-Downtown Civic Jazz Orchestra and others, ranging from the up-and-comers to well-established musicians like reedman Tony Campise.
Several of those warming up — as if they needed to be any warmer — agreed that they love to play jazz festivals because that’s where the people who really love jazz are.
Event emcee Jeff Kelley, program director of jazz station KPVU 91.3 FM in Prairie View, said the whole festival “swung real hard.”
The music has a way of pulling people in, even if they didn’t think they were jazz fans, he said.
“People recognize the chemistry when they hear a particular sound, and that’s what’s been going on today,” Kelley said.
Both Navarro and Wright said they would be back next year — “God and hurricanes permitting.”
A sentiment echoed by Kelley, who said he was relieved to see the sun out this year after two years of rain and storms. Ike took the stage last year and had one heck of a solo, wiping away any hope of holding the festival.
But it’s not just the weather that determines whether the festival will be back next year, it’s the crowd, Kelley said.
