The best moments of Jazz Aspen festivals past

ASPEN - Having covered Jazz Aspen Snowmass' Labor Day Festival, joyfully and obsessively, from its beginnings in 1995, and revisited the highlights in my mind and photos, compiling a list of the best performances is child's play (Steve Winwood, Phil Lesh & Friends, Neil Young, John Fogerty, two shows by Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers. And pinpointing the worst performance is even easier: the clownish Chuck Berry, in 1997.)

To give my brain a real workout, I turn to a task requiring more precise recollections: the best moments - a jam, a song, a backstage interaction - from a decade-plus of Labor Day festivating.



1. I can understand that Neil Young's performance (2003), which included all of "Greendale," Neil's multimedia album-theatrical show, was not for everyone. But the set-closer "Be the Rain," an anti-corporate, pro-environment sung by a stage packed with people and Neil shouting the lyrics through a bullhorn, has got to appeal to a listener's sense of surreal and spectacle. If nothing else, it showed how Young is determined to be the last rock star to rest on his laurels.

2. The Neville Brothers (1996) closed their set with a smoking, unexpected version of the Grateful Dead's "Fire on the Mountain," a touching tribute to Jerry Garcia, who had died a year earlier. Capping the moment, one of the Nevilles donned a tie-dye t-shirt, sporting a caricature of Jerry. The night ended in a flood of tears and many hugs among the group of Deadheads surrounding me.



3. Some 11,000 turned out to see Jack Johnson's Jazz Aspen debut (2004), and the throng got a surprise early peek at the surfing strummer. During the opening set by G. Love & Special Sauce, under one of those unmatchable Snowmass rainbows, Johnson joined G. for an impromptu take on ... "Rainbow," which the two had recorded for the "Thicker Than Water" soundtrack. You knew it was unplanned, not only because you can't foresee rainbows, but it was a scramble to set up a folding chair for Johnson to sit on.

4. Bob Dylan (2002) walking onto the stage. I mean, just having Dylan show up to play a show down the road from my house is mind-boggling, and never mind that the set he turned in was very good. If you need a peak musical moment, I'd skip over the numerous old hits he played ("Subterranean Homesick Blues," "Tambourine Man," "Tangled Up in Blue," "Like a Rolling Stone") and go to "Summer Days," a smoking rocker from his 2001 CD, "Love and Theft."



5. Tom Petty's set (2003) was an impressive (if short) run through his hits, making the show both crowd-pleasing and predictable. The highlight for me was the one big head-turner: "Handle with Care," from the first "Traveling Wilburys" album. Yes, Petty was a Wilbury (Charlie T. Wilbury, Jr., to be exact). But "Handle with Care," a superstar's whine-free plea for understanding, was a George Harrison song, with a juicy part for Roy Orbison. Petty's take, then, worked as a memorial for both of those fallen Wilburys.



6. Steve Winwood (1999) started somewhat tentatively in his Jazz Aspen debut. But Winwood warmed up, especially when he began to take in the beauty of the natural surroundings. The show really took flight when a huge skein of geese passed directly over the stage, capturing Winwood's attention. A beautiful combination of nature and art.

7. In our phone interview, Phil Lesh (2002) said I should come find him backstage. Who am I to argue with the Grateful Dead's bass player? So I wandered back, hung out with his band, shared the peace pipe with drummer John Molo - but no sign of the leader of Phil & Friends.

When the band took a surprise set break, I returned backstage. In my nervousness, I had to make a trip to the bathroom first - and standing there in front of a urinal, like an ordinary person, was Lesh. I turned a 180, stood outside the bathroom door, and waited for him to emerge. When he did, I accosted him for a few minutes of what I'm sure was forgettable blather to him - and an unforgettable encounter for me.



8. Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers (1999) topped their award-winning performance (it won The Aspen Times' Stewy for best show of the year) with a version of their first and biggest hit, "Tomorrow People." Hammering home the song's message, of the need to know your past to lead you into the future, the band brought a string of third-generation Marleys onto the stage for a family sing-and-dance session. Very irie.

9. Immersing myself in Widespread Panic's music prior to their two-night stand (2005), the song that got stuck on repeat in between my ears was "Tall Boy," with its insistent refrain, "We're gonna summon the Holy Ghost from the battlefield." The only way to exorcise that song from my head was to hear it live. And thank Panic, they did play a smoking version on the second night.



10. The name Basic Food Group (1998) might not mean much to you, but it means plenty to me. That was my band, and I'm proud to say we drew what was at the time a record crowd for Jazz Aspen. (It might have had something to do with the rest of the lineup - CSN, Taj Mahal and Keb' Mo', but there's no way to know for sure.) It was an entire day of highlights: being handed an envelope of 10 $100 bills; hearing the words, "Basic Food Group" announced over the P.A.; getting kicked out of our backstage tent to make way for David Crosby. And playing on the biggest stage, with the best sound system, I ever have or will experience, was way cool.

But the highlight moment came exactly a year later, when Basic Food Group was not on the bill. Walking amongst the ordinary folk in the audience, I was approached by a woman who asked, "Hey, are you guys playing again this year? You were great!" A fan!