Jazz anyone?

Headed to back to Florida for the annual Jazz in the Gardens festivities. Maxwell, Jazmine Sullivan, Rick Ross, Summer Walker, Jeezy, Kid Capri, DJ Cassidy and a lot of others… it was… interesting.

As the line up suggests, there wasn’t much jazz (or any). And it was more crowded than ever before. Say what you want, but hip hop draws a crowd.

All the performers I saw were great. DJ Cassidy actually brought out Uncle Luke, Too Short, Lil’ Kim and TI. The people went crazy! I’m very much a Kim fan, so her unexpected appearence made my night.

There was one point where Jaheim took a moment to curse out the sound people, but the audience wasn’t hearing what he was. And I thought he sounded just how I remembered. (It’s been a good long time since I’ve seen him.)

Jazmine Sullivan was the real draw for me on day one and she was worth the wait! Just as she always is. It was her first time back on stage since her mom passed. And it was all love.

Everything was running behind schedule, so I didn’t stay to see Summer Walker the first night. And I still got back to my hotel after midnight.

My only real complaint with this festival is the logistics for parking and ride shares. If you took a ride share, it was a mile walk to the pick up location at the end of the night. That was not what they advertised. Everytime I asked someone along the way, no one really knew and just kept sending us further down the street. Absolutlely insane! (I activated the cheat code the second night. No way I was walking again.)

The second day I stayed for Maxwell to close out the show, and while they started on time, they still ended very late. Of course Maxwell was a vibe and he sang all the things. This was actually the second time I saw him this year and he is definitely consistent. No notes!

Overall, not sure if I would go back next year. I’m too organized to deal with such horrible logistics. It disturbs my brain.