All about (that) jazz festival

At 20 years of age, the Malta Jazz Festival shows no sign of stopping as the opening night of the event on Thursday drew a crowd ready to have a good time.

It was headlined by the Mike Stern Band, who, being all virtuosi on their respective instruments, saw jazz aficionados and musicians flocking to the Ta' Liesse waterfront in Valletta.

Mike Stern, Dave Weckl, Randy Brecker and Chris Minh Doky lived up to the high expectations built after years on the scene with a polished and impeccably tight performance fronted by an exuberant Mike Stern and his antics.

Perhaps the "surprise" of the night was the nu-jazz trio The Bad Plus, which had many in the audience bobbing their heads in rhythm to their prominent beats.

One of the selling points of the band had been that they even covered Nirvana and Pink Floyd songs but the trio played a set comprised mostly of originals, with drummer Dave King stealing some of the limelight with his erratic playing. After hammering on his keys and at times even on the piano's internal strings, pianist Ethan Iverson would quietly go up to the microphone and in his American drawl announce the name of the next song, which was often as imaginative as the music itself. How's And Here We Test Our Powers Of Observation for a title?

Speaking after their performance, all three members seemed gutted to only be in Malta for a day with Dave King saying he'd be willing to come back "any time".

"We're really upset we can't stay longer," bassist Reid Anderson said, describing the setting as "incredible", even though he was tuning the bass after every song due to the humid conditions.

Asked whether the rest of the band were perhaps a bit bothered by Dave King stealing the limelight, Ethan Iverson replied "he deserves all the attention he gets".

The festival was opened by Francesca Galea, who, accompanied by pianist Leonardo Montana, serenaded the audience with a set of bossanova numbers.

Esperanza Spalding and the Joshua Redman trio took to the stage yesterday and the festival closes tonight with performances by the Charles Gatt quartet, the Ari Hoenig Punk Bop Trio and Richard Bona.

Tickets are available at the door and more information is available on www.maltajazzfestival.org.