by Ben Giesen
DownBeat music magazine describes the Tri-C JazzFest as a performance series that provides “the type of top-tier talent typically found at a much larger festival.”
Wandering through this year’s JazzFest, I encountered no shortage of groups that fit the description of “top-tier talent.” Yet, the most captivating entertainers were the ones that understood their audience on a truly personal level. From the performances I saw, no other group fostered this connection quite like the duo of trumpeter Dominick Farinacci and pianist Jon Thomas.
Both Cleveland natives and both globally acclaimed, these artists can enchant a room with their wit just as much as they can with their music. In fact, when they took the stage at The Hanna Theatre on day two of the 2026 Tri-C JazzFest, there was hardly a break in the music when they weren’t bantering with an audience member.
For practitioners of an artform that is often preceded with an air of exclusivity, it was enjoyable to hear Farinacci’s honest and relatable comments between pieces. Some of my favorites were when he shared the closely guarded secret of his first musical influence, Vanilla Ice, and described his experience as a student at Juilliard as, “Nice, elite, snobbish, threatening, intimidating, and all of those things that you get with jazz programs.”
This sense of empathy and honesty was directly translated into the duo’s playing. The set opened up with several crowd-pleasers including “My Shining Hour,” “Sandu,” and “Honeysuckle Rose.” I was quickly drawn in by Thomas and Farinacci’s ability to sneakily modify the musical textures they created, taking their sound in unexpected directions. The keen attentiveness and technical prowess that these musicians displayed made it clear that they had no trouble breathing new life into 70+ year-old music.
The wide spectrum of timbres that trumpeter Farinacci was able to conjure from light and smokey to solid and shady — all without using a mute — reflected the diverse range of emotions that the duo was capable of evoking. Thomas also added some colors to the figurative pallet with his riveting single note lines and seemingly endless variety of grooves. Each time he switched to playing a stride piano feel, the time felt so good that I could almost hear a drummer and bassist playing behind the duo.
As the set continued, the selection of music became even more personal. The emotional crux of the performance arguably came when Thomas and Farinacci brought up Evelyn Wright, a good friend and inspiration of theirs, to sing a ballad.
One of the most exciting parts of hearing a group of musicians who share deep personal and musical connections perform is observing the absence of arbitrary performance roles like “soloist” and “accompanist.” Instead, the audience got to experience a true musical conversation in which each performer fulfilled different roles and thoughtfully supported the exploration of each other’s ideas.
Wright’s appearance was followed by “Anthem” from Farinacci’s multimedia production, “Behind The Lines,” which explores the experiences of the heroes and victims who were immortalized during the tragic events of September 11th, 2001. In commemoration of the 250th birthday of the United States, Farinacci ended his set with a medley of patriotic anthems including “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and “America the Beautiful.”
It wasn’t so much the technical ability of these players that contributed to their exceptional performance as it was their thoughtful narrative building. Though anyone playing a set at JazzFest could choose to fill an hour with flashy riffs and obscure extended techniques, Farinacci and Thomas created an experience capable of entertaining a first-time festivalgoer just as much as a lifelong music lover. By asking “what does the audience want to hear,” this duo exposed a slice of the selfless performance culture that makes Cleveland a place where musicians want to be.
Published on ClevelandClassical.com, July 21, 2026
Click here for a printable copy of this article
