The concerts themselves were a veritable smorgasbord of everything that's great about a cappella. How we wished Sweden was a bit closer to home, that we might see Riltons Vanner more often! Clearly the audience favorite, they stole the show and were proof-positive that music is a universal language. Blue Jupiter put forth such energy and enthusiasm into their performances, you'd never suspect they spent the preceding week donating time and performances at local schools. 'Round Midnight proved barbershop can be just as fun and exciting as contemporary a cappella, while the Sons of Pitches and Vote for Pedro (plus Wes Carroll) both delivered powerhouse rock performances. A high school group, 5 Alone, displayed an astounding level of skill for such young musicians. F'loom, a language music group, was a fun, quirky contrast to the other performances, and most certainly unlike anything we'd ever heard before.
One of the highlights of the weekend for any vocal percussion aficionado were the performances by a small army of outstanding vocal percussionists, including Wes Carroll, Adam Matta, YoYo Beats, Dave Baumgartner, Marty Gasper, and even high schooler Jorge Jones of 5 Alone. We especially enjoyed seeing “guest artists” perform with various groups: Jonathan Minkoff and Diana Preisler (separately) with Blue Jupiter, the Sons of Pitches with Dave Baumgartner, and Wes Carroll with…seemingly everybody and their brother.
We had a fantastic time this weekend, and anyone who did not attend surely missed out. Fans, take note - the East Coast Summit is for you, too. Hope to see you there next year!
Rachel Rodriguez's fabulous Summit photos can be seen here: http://supersixoneproductions.smugmug.com/ECS%202006; or in the photo gallery part of this site
Click on the wrench in the upper left-hand corner to see what else you can do.