On April 12, 1968, jazz giant Charles Lloyd, electric blues innovators Paul Butterfield, and folk king Tom Rush played on the same bill at the Fillmore East in New York. It was a night like no other, and nights just like this happened across the ’60s at dozens of clubs. Revolutionary bills as rule not exception guided Don Was as he booked the first-ever WasFest at Boston’s Wang and Shubert Theatres
“(Boch Center president) Joe (Spaulding) and I were reminiscing about how the old Bill Graham shows at the Fillmore were this wild mixture of artists that would only happen once,” Was told the Herald. “We asked, how can we do some unique events that aren’t going on tour, that aren’t being filmed for a TV show, that are never going to be seen again.”
Presented by the Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame and the Boch Center from June 23 to 25, WasFest will deliver on Spaulding and Was’ dream.
Was got free reign to book the artist and art-forward event. And he’s the perfect guy for such a job.
Currently the president of legendary jazz label Blue Note (which, not coincidentally, is putting out 85-year-old Charles Lloyd’s latest LP), Was has never had much use for borders or boxes – “Genres are good for organizing record stores, it’s like the Dewey Decimal system,” he said. But beyond the executive chair, he still plays bass constantly (most often with Bob Weir in Wolf Bros) and produces records for icons (the Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, Brian Wilson, and many more).
Emphasizing his impressive and eclectic taste, the long weekend will spotlight acts that play with genre or ignore them entirely – notably Meshell Ndegeocello, Robert Glasper, John Medeski, and Lettuce.
“A lot of this is made up of artists who define categorization, or in the case of Robert Glasper, change what the category is,” Was said with a laugh.
Glasper’s appearance will feature him doing selections from his “Black Radio” album series – LPs that touch on classic and neo soul, traditional and progressive jazz, hip hop and spoken word.
The one thread running through all of the acts is a love of improvisation. Dark Star Orchestra’s take on Grateful Dead’s Nov. 14, 1978 setlist from the Boston Music Hall won’t have a lot of sonic overlap with Gerald Clayton Trio’s interpretation of Wayne Shorter’s album “Speak No Evil.” But they will both celebrate instrumental experimentation.
“That wasn’t really part of the criteria when I started but as I look at the line up, yup, it’s improvisational,” Was said with a laugh. “The great stuff comes from someplace real, and that was the main criteria. Who is going to get up there and be real for an hour and a half? They all will. They’re all great.”
Whether it’s Ndegeocello performing her entire album “Plantation Lullabies” or Steel Pulse doing the “True Democracy” front-to-back, the festival digs into revolutionary, unique sets. Hopefully, they lead to all new revolutionary, unique sets next year.
“That’s our goal,” Was said.
For tickets and details, visit bochcenter.org
