This is the North Sea Jazz Festival's 13th annual live DownBeat magazine Blindfold Test moderated by journalist/author Dan Ouellette. The BFT is a listening test that challenges the featured artist to discuss and identify the music and musicians who performed on selected recordings. No information is given to the artist prior to the test. Rather than be a competition, the BFTs are meant to give musicians the opportunity to talk about what they love to talk about: the music. The music therefore serves as a prompt for them to talk and reflect. The live quality of the test allows the audience to also listen and guess (without blurting out their answers). Past Blindfold Tests at North Sea have featured Branford Marsalis, Dee Dee Bridgewater, the Bad Plus (alll three members), E.S.T (all three members), Charlie Hunter, Wallace Roney and others. This year's featured artist is rising-star vocalist Gregory Porter who will be listening to and reflecting on the music of a wide range of vocal artists. The transcript of the BFT will appear in an upcoming print issue of DownBeat.
