Jazz@Rochester

By midway through hearing autorickshaw on the Gibbs Street free stage Friday night, I had made up my mind to see Sex Mob. But as happens from time to time during the festival, someone who’s musical instincts you trust tells you “this ___ is a can’t miss” or you overhear someone gushing about the “6pm show of ____” and you realize that you may be missing something special if you don’t change your plans. Often these about faces lead to you catching a real treat.
Hilton Ruiz, a child prodigy on piano who played Carnegie Hall at age 8 and later with Tito Puente and other jazz and Latin jazz luminaries, started his 10pm set at Montage Grill hot and fast. Although making it clear that he was master of his domain on stage, Ruiz shared the spotlight with two young performers, Leon Dorsey on bass and, especially, Sylvia Cuenca on drums. Ms. Cuenca has major chops and is one of few women plying the percussionist trade in jazz. Without appearing to open her eyes, her playing was spot on, driving the music forward and adding accents and flavors to the heat of Ruiz’s piano. Giving her ample opportunities for solos, Hilton Ruiz looked on like a proud papa showing off his daughter at her quinceanera.
Ruiz is blazing fast on the piano. Swinging through the sax line on Coltrane’s Moment’s Notice requires that and then some. Ruiz’s set also cooked, using a dash of salsa, mambo and clave. One of the highlights of the show we saw was Billy Holiday’s God Bless the Child. Even though it was a slow ballad, Ruiz found a way to work in a wonderfully played drum solo for Cuenca.
This was the first time back in the Montage since it closed, was bought and made over. While retaining much of the former setup, Montage is now truly a club, not a restaurant trying to be a club. I’m looking forward to seeing more music here—jazz and the eclectic mix for which the earlier version of Montage was known.