A Look Back: July 14

image: Buckwheat Zydeco Jr. @ Music Haven (July 14, 2024) – photo by Timothy Reidy for RadioRadioX

40 years ago: Air Supply @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center

Then they finished the set as everyone except Shilander, Moyse, and the group’s original keyboardist Frank Esler Smith left the stage, and the trio combined on my favorite song of the evening, “Don’t Be Afraid,” which featured an outstanding synthesizer duet by Shilander and Smith.

– John Magee for the Post-Star

20 years ago: Sam Bush / Donna the Buffalo @ Alive at Five

But the most powerful selection of the evening was a sprawling, cinematic treatment of Jeff Black’s “Same Ol’ River.” Flat-picking guitar phenom Keith Sewell dished up his best solo of the night, and the rest of the band members raised the bar higher and higher with each go-round.

Bush and his band not only have roots, but they also have reach – and that’s a perfect, but all too rare combination.

– Greg Haymes for the Time Union

10 years ago: Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra @ Tanglewood’s Ozawa Hall

Marsalis dedicated the concert to the late Gunther Schuller, telling the audience that his stint at the Berkshire Music Center, which Schuller ran from 1970 until 1984, “changed my life.” At 17, he was the youngest musician ever admitted; two years later, he joined the Jazz Messengers lead by legendary drummer and bandleader Art Blakey.

– Dave Read for Berkshire Links

1 year ago: Buckwheat Zydeco Jr. and Ils Sont Partis Band / The Brass Machine @ Music Haven

Buckwheat Zydeco Jr. at Music Have (July 14, 2024) – photo by Timothy Reidy for RadioRadioX

Visit onstagealbany.com to keep up with Capital District concert reviews, both old and new.