SJFS 2025 Night 2 recap May 15, 2025

Continued from Night 1 recap

Jay Rowe‘s 22nd annual Smooth Jazz for Scholars continued on Saturday, May 3, with five headliners, including Jay himself.

It bears repeating that Scholars benefits the Milford, Connecticut, Public Schools music department.

I edited 112 of Friday’s 304 photos on my laptop Saturday morning and afternoon. Some of that editing was during an impromptu livestream on my Twitch channel. A bandwidth test in OBS proved streaming was possible without dropped frames and major interference. At last, hotel premium Wi-Fi is strong enough to stream from your room, my room being at the Milford Hampton Inn on Plains Road. I streamed for an hour before raiding out, and would continue editing on and off stream in my first six days back home. Then, I picked 179 photos to use in the Friday recap, and 198 for this Saturday recap.

My parents and I ate dinner at Chili’s on Boston Post Road (U.S. 1), which is where we ate the first time I attended SJFS in 2007.

Again, we returned to the hotel for an hour before leaving at 7PM for Veterans Memorial Auditorium at the Parsons Complex with all my equipment.

Reiterating what I said in Friday’s post, my photographer fellowship down in the orchestra pit were Katherine Gilraine, Kenny Combs, Andrew James, and Ron Hancox.

My equipment was as follows:

• Canon EOS R7 with RF-S 18-150mm lens, plus a Speedlite 430 EX II flash attachment (only used for photos of the audience)
• Dual Panasonic HC-X1500 camcorders
• “A” camcorder has a VW-HU1 and Rode VideoMic GO II attached, and is connected to a Magnus VT-300 tripod
• “B” camcorder was used for a static wide view and had nothing attached except for an Amazon Basics tripod
• EOS R7 has two 128GB SanDisk Extreme PRO UHS-I SDXC cards (I only ever need one of them) while the two HC-X1500 camcorders have one 256GB equivalent each

With hellos out of the way and 8:00 upon us, we shouted “good evening!” to Kevin McCabe:

Leading off on Saturday was the Joseph A. Foran High School Jazz Ensemble, directed by Jessica Turner. (I couldn’t catch the names of the songs, but the second was by Earth, Wind & Fire.)

Jay Rowe‘s opening remarks were in two parts. First, he complimented the Foran Jazz Ensemble for their EWF cover. Then, he came back out after the chairs were removed and Kevin McCabe introduced the house band and headliners.

To paraphrase the late HairClub founder Sy Sperling, Jay Rowe isn’t just a smooth jazz sideman; he’s also a fan. And he was even a headliner on Saturday!

The first of Jay’s fellow headliners was Lindsey Webster:

Lindsey’s collaborator Keith Slattery was on keyboards for her songs:

The remaining headliners were Jeff Kashiwa on tenor sax:

…and flute:

Marion Meadows on soprano sax:

…and two for one, Four80East. Rob DeBoer was on keyboards:

…with percussion by Tony Grace:

Jay’s house band was made up of Trever Somerville on drums:

Andy Abel on guitar:

…and Dave Anderson on bass:

SET LIST (updated with videos on 6/20/25)
1. That’s What I Know (Jay Rowe) (tribute to Rohn [“ron”] Lawrence; expression Rohn inherited from his father and used on his son)
2024 single
Featured musician: Jay Rowe (keyboards)

If you don’t take out the garbage and mow the lawn, you’re not gonna borrow the car this weekend. That’s what I know.
-Jay Rowe, channeling Rohn Lawrence’s father

2. Every Woman, Every Man (Jay Rowe)
Originally heard on: Smooth Ride (2016)
Featured musician: Jay Rowe (keyboards)

3. Starlight Kisses (Jay Rowe)
Originally heard on: Groove Reflections (2021)
Featured musicians: Jay Rowe (keyboards), Jeff Kashiwa (tenor sax)

4. Let It Ride (Jeff Kashiwa)
Originally heard on: Let It Ride (2012)
Featured musicians: Jeff Kashiwa (tenor sax); Four80East: Rob DeBoer (keyboards), Tony Grace (percussion)

5. Upa Neguinho (Keep Up Little One) (Jeff Kashiwa; cover of Edu e Bethânia song)
Originally heard on: Luminoso (2024)
Featured musicians: Jeff Kashiwa (tenor sax); Four80East: Rob DeBoer (keyboards), Tony Grace (percussion)

6. Noodle Soup (Four80East)
Originally heard on: En Route (2007); Barn Sessions, Volume 1 (2025)
Featured musicians: Four80East: Rob DeBoer (keyboards), Tony Grace (percussion); Jeff Kashiwa (flute)

7. Cinco Cinco Seis (Four80East)
Originally heard on: Four on the Floor (2018)
Featured musician: Four80East: Rob DeBoer (keyboards, with voice sample [“uno, dos, tres, quatro, cinco, cinco, seis”]), Tony Grace (percussion); Jeff Kashiwa (flute)

8. I’m OK (Lindsey Webster)
Originally heard on: Reasons (2022)
Featured musicians: Lindsey Webster (vocals), Keith Slattery (keyboards)

Keith played keyboards in place of Jay Rowe on Lindsey’s songs.

9. I Got You (I Feel Good) (Lindsey Webster) (James Brown cover)
Featured musicians: Lindsey Webster (vocals), Keith Slattery (keyboards)

50/50 RAFFLE ($1,350 pot) (won by Denise)

10. The Lift (Marion Meadows)
Originally heard on: Body Rhythm (1995)
Featured musician: Marion Meadows (soprano sax) (started in audience)

11. South Beach (Marion Meadows)
Originally heard on: Body Rhythm (1995)
Featured musician: Marion Meadows (soprano sax)

12. Romantica (Marion Meadows)
Originally heard on: Player’s Club (2004)
Featured musicians: Marion Meadows (soprano sax) (walked off stage at the end), Tony Grace (percussion)

13. 3-Day Weekend (Jeff Kashiwa)
Originally heard on: Simple Truth (2002)
Featured musicians: Jeff Kashiwa (tenor sax), Tony Grace (percussion)

14. The Walker (Four80East)
Originally heard on: Off Duty (2012)
Featured musicians: Four80East: Rob DeBoer (keyboards, with voice samples [“funking nasty,” “to the east side, to the west side”]), Tony Grace (percussion); Jeff Kashiwa (flute)
Included audience participation (right side shouted “to the east side,” left side shouted “to the west side”), “flute battle” between Rob’s synth flute and Jeff’s real flute

15. Over the Rainbow (Lindsey Webster) (sung by Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz)
Originally heard on: A Woman Like Me (2020)
Featured musicians: Lindsey Webster (vocals, with comedic pause before last note), Keith Slattery (keyboards)

Jay Rowe did not play on “The Walker” or “Over the Rainbow.”

Before the finale, Lindsey sang a snippet of the title track to her upcoming album.

16 (Finale). Ain’t Nobody (Lindsey Webster) (Rufus and Chaka Khan cover)
Featured musicians: Everyone; Lindsey Webster (vocals)

Photo galleries of each musician begin with Jay Rowe‘s “South Beach” solo:

“Jay Rowe, y’all!”

I appreciated the “Mas que nada” phrasing at the end, calling back to Lani Hall‘s Sergio Mendes & Brasil ’66 medley I saw during Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass & Other Delights on April 1.

Lindsey Webster:
“I’m OK“:

“Over the Rainbow“:

Keith Slattery:

Jeff Kashiwa on tenor sax:

Jeff on flute:

Marion Meadows started “The Lift” in the audience:

Marion on stage:

Marion’s exit at the end of “Romantica”:

Four80East:
Rob DeBoer:

Tony Grace:

Trever Somerville:

Andy Abel:

…and Dave Anderson:

Lindsey and Dave are in this first of my medium shots:

Marion, Trever and Dave:

Marion, Tony and Andy:

Tony and Trever’s “3-Day Weekend” duet (with Andy and Jeff in the middle):

Jeff and Rob’s “The Walker” flute battle:

Wide shots start with two from “Let It Ride“:

The end of “I Got You (I Feel Good)“:

“South Beach“:

“Romantica“:

“The Walker“:

The end of “Over the Rainbow“:

The audience has their turn now, seen first dancing to “Noodle Soup” (Dolly Moye and Jay Dobbins are to the right of Norma):

“The Walker”:

The 50/50 raffle (won by Denise):

The finale: “Ain’t Nobody” (Rufus and Chaka Khan song):

The end:

“Thank you all! See you again real soon.”
-Jay Rowe

I’ll admit things got overwhelming in the lobby afterward. (It comes with being on the autism spectrum.) There was a large crowd meeting and greeting and I was too bashful to go ahead of anyone. When the wait seemed interminable, I sat down at an elevated round table and started to cry. A woman noticed me and asked if I was okay (of all things to ask after a show featuring “I’m OK”), and then Jay Rowe noticed me and brought Lindsey Webster over to sign my copy of Reasons. Marion Meadows soon followed. (A man named Sal told me afterward it was his idea to invite Marion to where I was seated.) Marion signed my copying of Just Doing Me. Then, as my tears subsided, Jay took our photo.

Simply writing that paragraph made me cry a little.

Jay then took a photo of me and Rob DeBoer with my signed copy of Barn Sessions, Volume 1:

And Michelle from the merchandise table took a photo of me and Jeff Kashiwa with my newly purchased and signed copy of Luminoso:

I said my goodbyes to everyone – including Mia DiStasi (Jay’s mom), Kevin McCabe, and Steve Lewis – and walked out to the parking lot for the ride back to Hampton Inn. Yet again, I unloaded the contents off all the SD cards to my laptop.

Unfortunately, the last 11 minutes of Saturday’s show are missing from my “A” camcorder. When reaching for the handle unit light switch after panning to the audience’s post-“Over the Rainbow” standing ovation, the middle of my thumb grazed the record button. Gotta remember to lock that next time. That’s why the freeze frame at the end of the finale is from the “B” camcorder. The on-board audio from that camcorder was disappointingly distant. So, I’m taking my Takstar SGC-598 out of retirement for use with the “B” going forward.

That was the only wrinkle to what was otherwise a great weekend, both at the Parsons Complex and Hampton Inn. I caught up with musicians and fellow fans that I hadn’t seen since last year or longer, and met others for the first time, including Joe Green, Rick Pascal, Bill McLaughlin, and Chip Paris.

I spent hours in the hotel lobby with my laptop, mingling while editing and eating breakfast.

Here I am on Saturday with Hap Carpenter:

And I got a selfie with Estella Taylor-Greene and Norma Rohadfox before we all checked out:

My parents and I left Hampton Inn at 10:35 AM on Sunday, May 4. The ride back to Wantagh was 20 minutes shorter than the ride from there on Friday! We were home by 12:08 PM.

Along the way, I took a photo of the current WWE headquarters off southbound I-95 in Stamford:

Thank you to everyone for a memorable weekend in Milford. See you all again next year!

I’ll conclude this post with a 100x speed montage of the nine photo editing livestreams on my Twitch channel, from May 3 in my hotel room to May 11 (Mother’s Day) at home. (WARNING: There will be flashing effects at times from going back and forth between apps.)

P.S. Wednesday was my 350th Twitch stream, and marked a return to video games, my channel’s main focus.