Uptown Charlotte Jazz at Uptown Amphitheatre at the Music Factory

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MrGrace

Joined 5 years ago

Jazz in the Queen City!!. I heard about the Rippingtons and the Uptown Jazz Fest, but knew nothing about the venue. Everything turned out wonderful. All of the acts were great, the only problem is they had only about 50 minutes to perform. Mike Phillips and Norman Brown could have gone on for another hour, they both were enjoying the crowd and the crowd was enjoying them as well.

I thought Mike Phillips was going to steal the show with his great showmanship and hot licks on the sax, but it was Norman Brown, the pro's pro, who really took the cake. Playing favorites and new music, and even some Jimi Hendrix, he performed his tail off. After him, the Rippingtons were almost a letdown. Russ Freeman and crew did a great job playing their favorites, but their show is the music with less crowd interaction. But it was good, they even came back for an encore, and jammed some Jimi Hendrix "Manic Depression". It was a great surprise to hear them do that, but it was very enjoyable.

Over all, the venue, the show and really, the wonderful (diverse!) crowd made the first annual Uptown Jazz Fest a great success and shows the QC can support live jazz.