Hundreds of Bermuda’s jazz aficionados and lovers of good music swarmed the Fairmont Southampton on Friday evening to hear the renowned Jon Faddis Jazz Orchestra of New York.It was a crowd generously sprinkled with local musicians who have, over the years, graced the very stage on which Faddis’s orchestra was set to perform.Even before a note had sounded, it was clear the Bermuda Festival had scored a big hit. Anticipation was palpable.This knowledgeable crowd was naturally aware of Faddis’s reputation and his connection with one of the two great instigators of the music revolution known as bebop: Faddis’s longtime mentor, the late great John Birks (Dizzy) Gillespie.The band came on, a full complement of four trumpets, four trombones, five saxophones, and a rhythm section of piano, bass and drums.A few words of introduction to connect with the audience were delivered and the orchestra was off, opening with an arrangement of ‘Shiny Stockings’.Right away they displayed their pedigree with bright brass tempered by the reedy sound of the saxes, supported by the bass, drums and the tasteful comping of the piano.Faddis’s use of a mute on his solo evoked the memory of Dizzy, whose innovation this originally was.Then came a lesson in tempo control, directed at the Warwick Academy students who’d had the pleasure of an outreach workshop earlier in the day and were out in force with their teacher Kent Hayward.The tune, ‘Smoke Gets In Your Eyes’, featured solos, including a gem by pianist Renee Rosnes.Slide Hampton’s arrangement of Thelonious Monk’s ‘Little Rootie Tootie’ featured solos by trumpeter Conrad Herwig, alto saxophonist Andrew Gould and pianist Renee Rosnes.Faddis then announced his handpicked soloists would play ballads.Herwig gave us ‘In A Sentimental Mood’ on trombone, some of it articulated by his plunger mute (a little overdone, I thought).Bassist Todd Coolman seemed to briefly lose his way on ‘Stardust’ to the anxious glances of the reed and trombone sections, before finding his way up the ‘Stairway to the Stars’, followed by ‘Polka Dots and Moonbeams’.The bandleader then played, unannounced, Monk’s legendary ‘Round About Midnight’.One of the many treats of this special performance was, for me, the Frank Foster arrangement of John Coltrane’s ‘Giant Steps’.This notoriously challenging tune was triumphantly executed by a band in “Rampart” style at a busy clip and featured sectional solos by the saxophones.They were showcased doing “fours”, then “twos” and then, unbelievably, “ones”!To clarify: fours are four bars of music improvised upon by one player, then another, usually between a drummer and another instrumentalist.Here it was adapted to exchanges between the saxophonists. So there stood Faddis gesticulating with his fingers the number of bars each soloist in turn should take: four, then two, then one! Breathtaking.But the fun was not over. Trumpeter Max Darche stepped up to play an incandescent solo, maintaining thematic unity under pressure of rapid tempo. It was a fitting end to the first set.A Count Basie-like take on ‘Moten Swing’ got the second set going, with Rosnes adding the required characteristic Basie touches in the right places.And then another highlight: Gillespie’s own ‘A Night In Tunisia’, begun with the bass and baritone playing the ostinato figure in unison, before the saxes and trombones joined in, awaiting the trumpets’ thematic statement, one of the most recognisable sounds in all of jazz literature.An astonishing feature of the evening was the sight and sound of tenor saxophonist Walt Weiskopf challenging John Coltrane on ‘My One And Only Love’.It had to be seen and heard to be believed. Apparently this player has the mimetic gift to sound like several masters. Impressive!George Gershwin’s ‘Fascinating Rhythm’, in a Frank Foster arrangement, was the last but one offering of the evening.As in all of Foster’s arrangements, there was beauty of counterpoint, satisfying harmonies and engaging rhythmic figures beautifully blended.The evening was ending. Faddis remarked on the tremendous hospitality the band had received in Bermuda.He also commented on the quality and importance of the Bermuda Festival and promised one more short piece that would exemplify what improvisation was all about (as if they had not already done so all evening).It was a musical gag: The band readied themselves to play ... and one loud chord and that was it! A memorable musical evening closed.The festival committee and particularly member Tom Ray must take kudos for this inspired choice.Ray called the evening exquisite, then added that jazz was America’s greatest contribution to world culture. He got no argument from me on that score.