My bean is cooked.

This week marks the real beginning of the fall jazz concert season in Boston with the Beantown Jazz Festival. Full listings here. Tonight Branford Marsalis hits Boston with his "new" quartet; the main event is the outdoor show featuring Donald Harrison and Jane Bunnett. Berklee sponsors the event, and the Berklee theme is much more prevalent at the Saturday show, with several Berklee student and faculty bands mixed in with the "major" acts. (In recent years Berklee and NEC have split the student acts) I'm hoping to catch Harrison and Jane Bunnett, but frankly the programming this year does little to excite me- too much smooth jazz, and none of the more exciting and left of center Boston acts (or NYC, for that matter). I'm not asking for a whole slate of the New Languages fest or anything, but throw the more voracious music lovers a bone! Contrast this with NEC's blowout to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the jazz program, and tell me which one you'd rather spend time at.

On a related note, I heard the back half of Branford's interview with local radio legend Eric Jackson. A lot of what he was talking about was the same theme and tone that Darcy pointed out from the "When the Music Died" DVD. He is on the same tip here. I need to chew on it a little, but when I hear from both Wynton and Branford, I feel like they think it's more important to be right than to be happy, and they spend a lot of time being smart and sharp and miserable. Maybe I'm reading to much into it, but Branford was pretty dark last night. I'll post a link to the audio if I find it.