Just In KASE You’ve Been Listening: Summerfest 7/7/2019
The last day of Summerfest has arrived and my brother and I are arriving for one last round of concerts. We head to the Kement’s Stage, which focuses on local music to the Milwaukee area, for the 6 p.m. show. The group playing is improvisational jazz group KASE, and they put on a great show! The band laid down downtempo grooves for just under two hours. The group has an ability to seemingly know where the others are headed at any given time and it feels as if any of the musicians at any time can take the lead and move into a slightly different direction and the others are always right there. The band includes a DJ/turntablist, a drummer on electric drums, bass player and a trumpeter (who uses some effects as well). They had a few guests that were adding freestyle vocals in a variety of styles (rap/spoken word/sang) as well throughout the set, which added to the laid back and family like atmosphere that was felt in the open air space with a grassy area surrounded with big comfy chairs and picnic tables. This was a great show and if you have any interest in downtempo electronic music, modern-thinking jazz, improvisational music or even if you need to listen to something that you could let drift into the background this band is for you.
After talking to a couple of the members in KASE for a few minutes, it was time to head over to the Johnson Controls World Sound Stage to catch the show that had just started at 8 p.m. Samantha Fish and her blues rock band were rocking the stage as we walked up to it. She is an excellent player and the band (which included a horn section) was tight. The band rocked and they have a cool R&B sound that pervades the music (this was my first time seeing or hearing her). We stuck for a handful of songs, but also wanted to check out another band that started at 8:30. So, after about 30-40 minutes, we headed over to the Miller Lite Oasis Stage to see Moon Taxi.
Out of Nashville, TN Moon Taxi is another band, like Samantha Fish, that I’ve read about but never actually heard. They were already into their set and had their crowd up on their feet. They seem to have a loyal following and an interesting sound. They are very organic and mixing lots of diiferent influences into their sound. I feel the description of them being a jam band that doesn’t do a whole lot of soloing is fairly apt. Their songs were upbeat, and had a fun summertime feel to them. The playing was very good and their songcraft was solid. They did not overly engage me, and at times during their songs they would go into an instrumental section and instead of someone stepping up to give a solo the entire band would just continuing riffing together until bringing it back to the vocals. When going into those sections the energy felt like it dropped a little bit until the vocals would come back. They are a nice band and I think a perfect fit for afternoon slots at festivals.
After a few busy days I decided that it was time to call it a week and I headed towards the Summerfest exits to walk into the cool night. It was another excellent year at Summerfest.