Lucky Number 13 for Jam Cruise
By John Phillips, MusicFestNews.com and Festy Shots Photography
The 13th iteration of Jam Cruise sailed out of Miami on January 6th with a boatful of musicians and music lovers, all of them ready to party on the high seas. This was my fourth Jam Cruise in a row (finally get to rock that Repeat Offender robe!), and it was just as good as the previous three. I could take you through a day-by-day chronology of the five days of performances, clinics, parties and the like, but you can all read a schedule and I’ll say that every performance was stellar. So let’s cover some topics instead.
Production: Right off the bat, I’ll say that Cloud 9 Adventures is the absolute best at what they do. From the quality of the talent to the staging and production values, everything is top notch. The sound is always dialed in, the lighting is on point, and the video backdrops always seem to fit the performance. They keep things rolling at seven very different venues throughout the ship and make it look easy. As I predicted in my review of Jam Cruise 12, they overcame the growing pains associated with last year’s move to a new ship, the MSC Divina, and put the lessons learned to good use. They really displayed just how good they are when high winds made the pool deck too unsafe for the last two nights. Despite losing two stages that were scheduled to host twelve shows, the crew managed to get everything relocated to alternate venues without having to cancel ANYTHING! It even meant using the Atrium, normally reserved for solo acoustic acts, to stage Sister Sparrow and The Dirty Birds. Based on the feedback from that show, we may have a new trend.
Lineup: Jam Cruise lineups are legendary for their musical diversity, and this year’s was certainly no exception. There were performers for nearly every musical taste, including Pretty Lights, Umphrey’s McGee, Snarky Puppy, Elephant Revival, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, The New Orleans Klezmer Allstars, and the legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band. When you throw in the Artists-At-Large, which included George Porter, Jr. of the Funky Meters, Anders Beck & Paul Hoffman of Greensky Bluegrass, R&B keyboardist Ike Stubblefield, percussionist Jason Hann of String Cheese Incident, and Roosevelt Collier of The Lee Boys (just to name a few), the combination of musical influences is really staggering. This year’s cruise was also notable for the side projects like The Word (Robert Randolph, John Medeski, Cody and Luther Dickinson, and Chris Chew), Dragon Smoke (Ivan Neville, Eric Lindell, Stanton Moore and Robert Mercurio), The John Scofield Uberjam Band (John Scofield, Avi Bortnick, Andy Hess and Adam Deitch), and The M&M’s (John Medeski, Papa Mali, Stanton Moore and Robert Mercurio), along with Magic Gravy featuring Dan Lebowitz of ALO, and The Motet’s Dave Watts and Garrett Sayers. These groups get together very infrequently, and having so many in one place with the ability to invite other players to sit in was truly special.
Positive Legacy: This non-profit, charitable arm of Cloud 9 Adventures provides conscientious music fans with the opportunity to make a difference in the countries we visit and the world at large. It’s always great to see the piles of clothing, school supplies, athletic equipment and the like that cruisers donate each year. The Day of Service at the School of Life in Honduras was well attended, and Cloud 9’s partnership with Trees, Water & People enabled the fans to offset their carbon footprint and help reforestation efforts in northwest Haiti. Both the Silent and Live Auctions are very popular as well, offering artwork, festival tickets, and all sorts of autographed memorabilia that raise thousands of dollars each year.
The Cruisers: Without a doubt, Jam Cruisers are some of the most intelligent and knowledgeable music fans on the planet. Sure, they come to party, but the music isn’t just a backing track; it’s the reason they came! They listen to the music, get off on the nuances of a particular performance, and joyously revel when an unexpected sit-in by another artist takes things in a new and exciting direction. A large percentage of them are musicians themselves at some level, and every year they come away inspired to take their own performances to the next level. Jam Cruisers are also the friendliest people you’ll likely ever meet in one group. If you don’t come away from a cruise with at least ten new friends, you obviously fell ill and stayed in your cabin the entire time. Strike up a conversation with someone and you’re likely to find out you have mutual acquaintances, or attended the same festival, and you’ll end up seeing them again later in the year. Jam Cruisers love their costumes, and the level of thought and effort that goes into some of them is mind boggling, but you’re just as welcome to party if you show up in a t-shirt and shorts. They decorate the doors to their cabins and the adjacent hallways. The band Displace, from St. Petersburg, FL., even used the cabin doors to market their music, sticking close to 400 CDs behind the room number placards. (By the way, check them out on Bandcamp; they’re very good) And where else would they page someone by their real name, and then add “also known as Hal the Broken Clown”?
Highlights: Technically, I was a tourist this year. I promised my wife I wouldn’t lug all my camera gear and would resist the urge to be up front snapping photos. So I hung back and shot with my pocket camera. But I’m never able to fully resist the urge to do what I do.
– The Sail Away set is always magical. Damn near everyone on the boat is on the pool deck or along the railings of the decks above. The downtown Miami skyline is your backdrop. The anticipation of what lies ahead creates an amazing energy that is spontaneously released when that first note drops. The honor of kicking off Jam Cruise this year went to those funky boys from Colorado, The Motet. And they did it up right with a solid set of originals and covers that had everybody dancing as the ship got underway.
– The ethereal strings and harmonies of Elephant Revival took the stage in the Black and White lounge. I looked around, but didn’t see their bassist during the first song. Turns out he couldn’t make the trip. No problem; we’ll just have Oteil Burbridge sit in for the entire set!! Tim Carbone of Railroad Earth also played for most of the set, and there were cameo appearances by the Shook Twins on vocals and Lech Wierzynkski (from The California Honeydrops) on trumpet.
– The guys from Kung Fu were ecstatic to be on their first Jam Cruise, and they broke out an incredibly funky set on the Solar Stage. My battery went dead and I didn’t have a replacement (I was technically on vacation), and I only managed one snap of bassist Chris DeAngelis. Who cares? The music was phenomenal!
– Dragon Smoke, one of the aforementioned side projects, absolutely tore it up in the Pantheon Theater. With Ivan Neville and Eric Lindell taking turns with the vocals, the Galactic rhythm section of Robert Mercurio and Stanton Moore provided a funky groove. This was a really tight set!
– The Nth Power is just downright soulful. I first saw Nick Cassarino, Nate Edgar, and Nikki Glaspie play together as the backing band for Jennifer Hartswick at Bear Creek in 2013, and they really blew me away. And the genesis for The Nth Power was already taking shape with Nigel Hall taking the keys and splitting vocals with Nick Cassarino. Things got real when Nikki Glaspie left Dumpstaphunk to focus full time on this new project, and they added Weedie Bramah on percussion to round out the sound. Their set on the pool deck was an R&B tour de force!
– G. Love and Special Sauce got back together in their original lineup last year, eight years after their last live performance together, and the results are as sweet as “Sugar”, their new CD. That signature “hip-hop blues” sound was in full bloom when they hit the pool deck, and things just got crazy when Cody Dickinson plugged in his electric washboard and Roosevelt Collier strapped on his lap steel!
– Charles Bradley is a true soul man, cut from the same cloth as the legendary James Brown. He brings the stage presence, the costumes and, at age 66, the dance moves that evoke mental images of the King of Soul. I first saw him perform at Bear Creek in 2012 as part of the Daptone Soul Revue (a truly phenomenal string of performances, by the way), and was awed just as much by his backing band, The Extraordinaires. I doubt any of them are even half his age, but they are one tight R&B ensemble that hold down the fort with groovin’ instrumental numbers during Bradley’s wardrobe changes. His shows are always well-crafted throwbacks to that 60’s R&B sound.
– My vote for best set of the whole cruise goes to The Word. This supergroup of Robert Randolph on pedal steel, John Medeski on keyboards, and the North Mississippi Allstars Luther Dickinson (guitar), Cody Dickinson (drums) and Chris Chew (bass) took us all to church that night on the pool deck. It was a powerful set, one song segueing into the next, leaving everyone joyously drained as the clock struck 3 a.m.
– With their first set cancelled on Friday due to high winds on the pool deck, Umphrey’s McGee treated us to back-to-back sets in the Pantheon Theater. It was a classic performance that must have set some record for the number of guest appearances. The finale, Miles Davis’ “It’s About That Time”, included Carly Meyers (trombone), Mike Dillon, Jason Hann, Guarav Maholtra (percussion) and Robert Walter (keyboards).
It’s always a bittersweet feeling when the ship pulls back into Miami. You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here. The funny thing is, you’re truly home when you’re on Jam Cruise, and bidding goodbye to your “family” is never easy. But never fear! We’ll get together and do it again next year!
