This was the first time Hyun and I have been to Mountain Winery. It is on the top of the mountain (or high hills) in Saratoga. It had a wonderful view of the South Bay. It seemed the place hosts many concerts during the summer season. It is an outdoor venue, so it got chilly after the sun set. Personally, I didn’t like this type of seatings for Ben‘s music because you were supposed to dance to the music and get close to the stage (like at Warfield). But the place had pretty much fixed seatings throughout.

The show started at 7 p.m. with the Ben Lee‘s 30-minute set. I guess it was a bit too early for most people because almost half the seats were empty. And people were still coming in as Ben jokingly said “Please enjoy the filing-in music.”

Anyway, surprisingly (maybe it should not be) the crowd was much older than the usual Folds/Wainwright/Lee fans. It must be the location. I am sure the previous night’s at San Francisco had a completely different make-up of the crowds.

After a break (for the stage set-up), Rufus Wainwright had his one-hour set. I think I’ve seen/heard him before. I liked some of his numbers (loved his stage personality!), but overall I thought it was okay. His set lasted about an hour. I noticed that some actually came just for Wainwright because they left after the set.

Then the main show (for me). Ben Folds started solo for a couple of songs and then brought a drummer (Lindsay Jamieson) and a bass player (Jared Reynolds) out for the rest of the set. I really liked this trio set-up. I hope he releases another album with this set-up. He played about half of songs from his new album, “Songs for Silverman” and the rest from his enormous collection. He did play “Army” and the usual crowd-participating numbers (well, it is getting old, but some seem to expect this). He also played a new one (at least for me), a ballade on a Dr. Dre‘s rap. That was hilarious.

I wish Ben‘s set was longer. It seemed he was rushed to finish the set in time because he did not even do an encore. The whole show ended about 10:30 p.m.

Maybe I should have gone up to San Francisco… It just wasn’t as satisfying as before. Oh, well…

[There's more if you click below. ]

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I brought my handy and tiny MP3 player, Cowon iAudio U2 to the concert to try to record the show. I recorded it by just placing it on an empty seat next to us (we were sitting pretty far from the stage). It did actually work quite well using its internal microphone. The recording was done at 96-kbps mono, but I reduced it (as well as toning down the base) to 20-kbps for the web distribution.

As for the Ben Lee set, I messed up the recording. Sorry about that.

Anyway, the recordings contain a lot of noise from the crowd around us and constant cricket sounds under the stars.

• Rufus Wainwright at Mountain Winery, August 24, 2005 (20-kbps mono, Windows Media Audio)
• Ben Folds at Mountain Winery, August 24, 2005 (20-kbps mono, Windows Media Audio)

Enjoy.

Although I knew that the music would be somewhat lighter, being summer and at an outdoor venue, I thought it would be nice for my parents and us to attend together.

The orchestra was led by Carlos Ponti, Jr. (he was an associate conductor for them). The orchestra was wonderful and all three encores (Mr. Ponti quickly went through them) was quite amazing although the outdoor setting tended to make the overall sound a bit muted.

The only gripe about the concert was that they had a soloist for “Carmen Fantasy”, but his name was neither mentioned in the program nor announced during the concert. I mean he wasn’t that great (good, but maybe not being able handle the number fully), but we all thought at least his name should have been mentioned.

Another thing unrelated to the concert… We opted to have dinner there before the concert (catered by PSRT and served by volunteers) because it was only $10 more on top of the ticket. They said it was $30/$35 if purchased separately. We thought it definitely wasn’t worth $30, but not a bad deal for $10 more.

Emanuel Ax and Kronos Quartet are coming later this year, so those should be nice to attend.

The quartet was, if I remember correctly, Dave Brubeck on piano, Randy Jones on drums, Michael Moore (no, not that one) on bass, and Bobby Militello on saxophone and flute.

I don’t remember all the numbers played that evening, but they began with “On the Sunny Side of the Street” and finished with “Take Five” (I think “Blue Rondo a la Turk” was in there too). Mr. Brubeck was amazing at any age. And Mr. Militello’s “Dancing Santa Clause Doll” (that’s what we are calling it), when not playing, was funny and his music was also very good.

It was quite amazing to listen to a legend, a legend who can play his title.

I saw Wynton Marsalis‘ name and decided to check it out. It was a quintet and although I am not certain whether I got all their names correctly, I think they were Wynton Marsalis (trumpet), “Top Professor” Eric Lewis (piano), Carlos Henriquez (bass), Ali Jackson (drums), and Walter Blanding (saxophones).

They played mostly things I never heard of (seemed to be original compositions). The only one I recognized was “A Night in Tunisia” they played with a young trumpet player (about 15) from the area. I think they do this often. Oh, and the birthday song they did as an encore (it was Mr. Henriquez’s 25th birthday).

Of all the members, I was impressed by Mr. Blanding, Mr. Henriquez, and Mr. Lewis. I think that a drummer, although not showing up too often, is the one who’s everywhere and keeps things in tact. And not only that, a good rhythm part adds subtle differences in the “colorization” of the piece, and I was most impressed by Mr. Blanding and Mr. Henriquez.

Mr. Lewis, the “Top Professor”, seems to have an amazing skill to use well all the fingers in the both hands. Most of his linear phrasing reminded a lot of canon-like counterpoints of the Baroque eras. A-ma-zing!

As for the venue, there are several things we noticed. The parking on the ground is very limited (first-come-first-serve) and most will have to take a shuttle. The only thing is that after the show, it took us close to an hour to get on the shuttle. It was a great relief that they handed out some cookies, but still it was rather long (a shuttle don’t seat that many).

Another thing is, it’s not allowed to bring alcohol into the premise, although they do sell wines. I’ve seen many wine bottles confiscated by a security person from those having a picnic in the front lawn.

Finally, it gets cold at night. Don’t forget to bring an extra jacket or a blanket if it’s an out-door event.

BTW, a couple of years ago, I’ve taken some pictures at the estate.