Joe Locke said he’s inspired by words. Tuesday night, in his first set at Kilbourn Hall, the words were “welcome home.”
“This is always a spiritual experience for me to play here, because of my roots here,” he said. Raised in Rochester, an Eastman School of Music grad, Locke is widely regarded as one of jazz’s finest vibraphone players. He returns every few years to see some familiar faces and, thusly inspired, to play a knockout show at the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival.