Today's jazz haiku

Bathed in pale blue light

subterranean echoes

boundaries broken

Electrical dysfunction

Paa Kow was the talk of the fest after its first show at The Montage Music Hall. An eight-piece, multiracial band, led by Ghana native Paa Kow, the band returned to the packed club for its second performance with three sets of drums up front, congas, and what looked like a few drums that had floated ashore and were hand-decorated, including one the size of a small jet engine pointed right at the audience.

The band was a groove machine -- with horns, electric guitar and bass and keyboards, a shaker the size of a basketball with a skirt of beads that rattled when you beat on it, plus a little cowbell and whistle. Paa Kow even dropped a little philosophy on the crowd, describing how we all had to work together; you need the left hand to wash the right side of your body, and the right hand to wash the left side. World peace as a hygiene lesson.

Then a loud pop as the band finished a song. The onstage electricity was gone, and the band walked off the stage. As it turns out, there was a water main break in the basement, affecting the entire building, and the knee-high flood had finally caught up to a circuit breaker. Indeed, pumps were working to clear the basement as the crowd filed out, with hoses on the sidewalk draining water into the street.

The Montage expects to be ready for Tuesday's shows with The Willows at 6 and 10 p.m.