BARTLETT— To make a day-long music festival work--particularly for a first-time event like the Mount Washington ValleyJam--the organizers need to play their diversity trump card, which is precisely what John Flaschner and company did Saturday in Bartlett.

Bookended by high-energy sets from Five Day 40 and the Boston Horns, ValleyJam 2003 grooved effortlessly through nearly 10 hours of music, ranging from soulful jams on the main stage by Truffle and Les Wheeler and the JV All-Stars to confident solo sets on the second stage by Sean Murphy and Erinn Brown. 

Local favorites Five Day 40 did well to set the tone for the day, opening ValleyJam with an hour-long noontime set of up-tempo hip-hop funk. Backed by reggae-tinged grooves and fierce guitar licks, MC Jim Moorehead worked through politically-charged raps that maintained a refreshingly positive pastiche. Joined by the Horns’ saxophone man Henley Douglas Jr. to end their set, the band tore through a faithful, inspired cover of James Brown’s "Get Up Offa That Thing."  Murphy, a gifted guitarist with a strong sense of music history, was then scheduled to play a 20-minute set on the second stage to keep the crowd warm for Felix Rentschler and Friends. What occurred, thanks to traffic problems for Rentschler, was a happy accident twice over. Murphy played an hour of eclectic acoustic covers, touching on everything from the Beatles and Dave Matthews Band to Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Pink Floyd, while back on the main stage Felix and Friends--minus Felix--were joined by members of Five Day 40 and the Boston Horns for an impromptu jam. When Rentschler arrived to find his band already in swing, he ended the set with a fiery display of jazz and blues guitar phrasing.  Following a second, shorter set by Murphy, Portsmouth’s Truffle worked through an hour’s worth of classic rock-tinged originals channeling everyone from the Allman Brothers Band to Blues Traveler. The road veterans gave Led Zeppelin’s "Thank You" an Appalachian stomp and ended their set with an extended jam that highlighted watery guitar noodling and a surprisingly atmospheric lap steel workout. 

Brown followed with her first of two soulful solo sets on the second stage. Wisely eschewing her acoustic six-string, the Bostonian weaved bluesy vocals over electric guitar accompaniment, delivering promising originals and a Poe cover.  Once the sun began to set over the ValleyJam crowd, the funk rose on the main stage in the form of Les Wheeler and the JV All-Stars. Featuring members of Reid Genauer’s Assembly of Dust, organist Nate Wilson led the All-Stars through a set of jazz grooves that bridged the gap between old school and new school by way of covers like Beck’s "The New Pollution."

It then seemed fitting that--with darkness fully descended on Hill’s Florist and Nursery--the Boston Horns hit the stage. Having already sat in with most of the musicians on the ValleyJam lineup, the Horns were in their element as headliners, whipping through a tight set of the revved-up jazz-funk that has earned them countless accolades throughout the Northeast.

The crowd responded in kind, matching the Horns’ energy on stage with frenzied dancing.

Having already got what they came for, the crowd barely had time to catch its breath before a frenetic, festival-ending jam featuring members of all five main stage bands. If dancing is indeed liberation, when ValleyJam 2004 comes around this revolution might need to be televised.