North Sea Jazz Festival

[Pete C]

www.northseajazz.nl

July 11-13, The Hague

It seems to get a bit more staid every year, nonetheless, plenty to choose from, including:

Herbie Hancock Quartet with Bobby Hutcherson
Dave Holland Big Band & Quintet
Shirley Horn
Sam Rivers
Lee Konitz
Andrew Hill
Solomon Burke
Pat Metheny (in multiple settings, including with Han Bennink!)
Jay McShann w/ Duke Robillard Band
Cassandra Wilson
Van Morrison
Ibrahim Ferrer
King Crimson
Jorge Ben Jor (I'm salivating)
Omar Sosa
Simon Nabatov
Brad Mehldau
Enrico Rava
Electric Masada
Richard Bona
Isaac Hayes
Maceo Parker
Ben Allison
Randy Weston Trio
Cuong Vu
Brotzmann Tentet

That's the tip of the iceberg. I'll be there unless I get a job offer I can't refuse.

[Pete C]

David, I just checked airfares on Orbitz, and Northwest & Continental both have excellent fares SFO to Amsterdam considering it's high season--about $890.

I booked a small hotel by the beach early and got a room for 55 Euros a night (about $62). I don''t know if they still have rooms, but that's the low end (e-mail me if you want the info). I also see that Expedia has a great deal on the 3* Bildberg Europa hotel at $145 a night. If you book, they'll charge your credit card immediately, and there's a $26 cancellation fee, but that's quite a good deal for a nice hotel in a great location, and I don't think it can last that long now that the festival program has been announced.

A 3-day pass to the festival is 135 Euros, and PWA hall concerts charge a supplement of 15 (the Hancock/Hutcherson is the only one I'm planning on).

Food in Holland is reasonable, and there are all sorts of concessions at the festival.

So my guess is, depending how much time you want to spend in Holland it'll cost you anywhere from $2-3k.

So you're considering?

[Pete C]

Here's a comfort tip. A lot of the best shows take place in Jan Steen hall, which only has floor seating (most of the other venues have either chairs or theater seating). Anybody who plans to see a bunch of shows in that room would do well to get one of these camping chair things. They sit flat on the ground so nobody will kill you for sitting higher them, they have surprisingly good back support, and weigh only 22 ounces. I got mine at Eastern Mountain Sports, but I found it online for only $12.99 (1/2 of what I paid) at campmor.com.

[steve(thelil)]

I should consider it. I'd love to go. Neurotic and/or work-related issues could interfere.

Is it in Scheveningen?
(at least that's close)

[Pete C]

Originally posted by steve(thelil)
Is it in Scheveningen?
(at least that's close)

Exactly, and amazingly you pronounced it right.

[hermann]

Hi You Northsea-lovers
I will do it with 100€ per day, so I plan to sleep in my tent.

[Pete C]

I just ordered my tickets.

Hermann, let's make sure to hook up. I'll have made my Klee pilgrimmage to Bern by the time we meet.

Anyone else coming?

[Pete C]

Hermann & Mwanji, as soon as you've solidified your plans we should arrange to hook up. If everyone expects to get in early enough on Friday, how about meeting at 4PM at the Bel-Air hotel bar? It's one of the 2 hotels right next to the Congressgebouw.

[Uli]

don't forget to see the famous fountains in my hometown, C!

Here Justizia:

http://www.g26.ch/abb_bern_brunnen_04.jpg

[Chaz Longue]

Pete -

What other collaborations is Metheny undertaking?

I'd crawl to Holland to see him with Bennink, but just can't take the time or spend the money this year.

Let us know how it is though, will you?

[Pete C]

Chaz, off hand I can't remember. Check the website. I think he's doing 4 or 5 different shows.

[Pete C]

I just checked--Metheny is doing 2 concerts a night, all with different Dutch collaborators:

Yuri Honing
Jesse Van Ruller
Han Bennink
Tony Overwater
Metropole Orchestra
Michiel Borstlap

Cuong Vu & Richard Bona are appearing with their own groups, FWIW.

[Chaz Longue]

Good god.

What other improvising musician who has a popular world-traveling group would do this sort of thing? Actually, I can't think of a precendent for Metheny in a lot of different respects, not just that one.

Report back to us about any of those shows you catch, will you Pete?

db

[Pete C]

Chaz, I don't expect to catch any of those. I'm not a Metheny fan & there's plenty of other stuff on my priority list.

The Metheny concerts with Overwater & the Metropole Orch. are reserved shows at PWA hall, which charge a supplement. The only PWA gig I'm catching is Hancock/Hutcherson.

When Metheny is playing with Honing, I expect to be seeing The Dutch Jazz Orchestra with Lee Konitz doing the Music of Gil Evans, Gerry Mulligan & George Handy. When he plays with Borstlap I'll be seeing South African reed player Zim Ngqawana. When he's with Bennink I'll be seeing the Brotzmann Tentet.

[mke]

I haven't gotten confirmation yet. It should happen soon, though.

I intend to take the friday off work, so I presume I could get there by 4 easily.

[hermann]

Pete & Mwanji
Have paid my 3day-ticket now and will be there at given time .

[Pete C]

Start spreadin' the news, I'm leavin' today, I'm gonna be apart from it, New York, New York.

See you guys next Friday at the Bel-Air.

My mouth is already watering for a broodje paling (eel sandwich).

[Dibble]

I am unable to go, but I would love to read a review if anyone gets to see the Four Brothers

Mark Murphy.Kurt Elling, Kevin Mahogany and the great Jon Hendricks...wow..

[Pete C]

See you tomorrow Hermann. Dibble, I'm not catching 4 Brothers, so I doubt there'll be a review coming.

[Chaz Longue]

How is it ? Since I've now returned to the real world, I need a shot of vicarious Northsea excitement. What's been good?

cHaZ

[Pete C]

I'll give a full rundown when I've come to terms with my jet lag. For now I'll just say that I'm still hyper from the combined energy of Solomon Burke, Jorge Ben Jor and the Brotzmann Chicago Tentet, among others. I hung out a bunch with Hermann, but we diverged in most of the shows we saw, so hopefully he too will post his impressions.

[Pete C]

OK, here goes. It's 6 AM in NY & my body thinks it's noon.

I love this festival in spite of the considerable negatives. Some of the venues are just plain awful & uncomfortable (especially Jan Steenzaal, where much of the straight ahead stuff happens), the first-come, first-served nature makes careful planning necessary, and then there's the positive negative--too much choice. Unlike Chaz Longue, I am only capable of being in one place at a time. But I really love the opportunity to see groups I either might not be able to catch in NY, or to sample music I might not otherwise be willing to shell out big money for.

FRIDAY

Friday afternoon I met the delightfully enthusiastic Hermann at the Bel-Air hotel lobby. I recognized him from his avatar even without the headphones. I appreciate the music, but I suppose I'm a bit jaded; when Hermann hears something that really moves him he beams like a kid on Xmas morning.

For the first concert of the weekend we went together to Jan Steenzaal for the Dutch Jazz Orchestra. It's floor seating only, but luckily I had my self-inflating cushion, and we were pretty close up. It's an excellent band best known for their albums of rediscovered Strayhorn charts. For this concert they concentrated on mostly 40's music from George Handy, Gerry Mulligan & Gil Evans. Lee Konitz guested for 3 or 4 numbers including the Evans chart for Yardbird Suite he recorded with Thornhill, a Handy chart for Body & Soul, and a Konitz original that was a thinly disguised Star Eyes. The band has several excellent soloists, including tenor player Toon Roos & pianist Rob van Bavel.

From there I caught a bit of a Dutch gypsy jazz band, Basily Gypsy Jazz, at a small outdoor stage. They did the usual hot club repertoire, with the interesting addition of cimbalom (hammer dulcimer).

Then I went to the one supplementary concert I paid for, Herbie Hancock quartet with Bobby Hutcherson. I was rather disappointed. The acoustics were not great in the large concert hall, and I don't think the band has really come together just yet (they'll be working together the rest of the year, though). All the musicians were fine, especially Hutcherson & Teri Lynne Carrington, but for the must part I found Herbie's playing desultory & unfocused. They did a couple of greatly mutated versions of compositions from the 60's (including Dolphin Dance--perhaps inspired by Shorter's recent approach?), but the highlight was a recent Hutcherson tune, November. They'll be touring the US in the fall, and hopefully something will gel by then.

After that I was able to catch one of the highlights for me, the last hour of Solomon Burke's 90 minute set. I probably didn't miss much since he usually has his back-up band open for about 15 minutes. Burke has an unbeatable combination of being one of the most warm and endearing yet forceful stage presences while remaining a classic soul artist equal to any of his better known peers. The show was in the giant, standing only, Statenhal, which has continuous shows on two giant stages and a big screen in the middle. Burke did a combination of his own hits, other soul classics, and material from "Don't Give Up on Me." He was clearly one of the true hits of the festival, based on the buzz I heard the rest of the weekend.

From there I went on to something completely different, a 45 minute set by singer Stacey Kent at the very comfortable Van Goghzaal, a small theater (maybe 300 or so seats). In spite of somewhat of a chipmunky voice (but less so than Blossom Dearie), she's one of the better younger interpreters of the great American songbook, and a charming performer. As one woman said on leaving the hall, "She's MUCH better than that girl with the hair..."

For my final performance of the evening I went up to the Dakterras on the roof for the Belgian group Aka Moon. It's quite an engaging band. I think the comparisions I've heard to Steve Coleman's music are apt. But I was burning out, so I decided to run off after about 45 minutes to catch a scheduled night bus, therefore missing Joe Lovano's appearance with the group.

Among the sets I reluctantly had to miss that night were Sam Rivers, Jay McShann, Shirley Horn, Lee Konitz with Marc Johnson & Joey Baron, Dave Holland Quintet, Jacky Terrasson, etc. etc. But many of these performers are easy to catch in NY.

I'll do a new post for each subsequent day.

[Pete C]

SATURDAY

I hooked up with Hermann again at the beginning of the evening, and we went to Jan Steenzaal for the Dave Holland big band. The room was already VERY crowded by the time we got there. I only stayed for one number, The Razor's Edge. I was uncomfortable, warm & claustrophobic, had already seen the big band at Birdland, and ultimately feel that while it's an excellent band it's just lacking the excitement and state-of-the-artness of the quintet.

So I went off to see the trio of Italian trumpeter Paolo Fresu, Tunisian oud player Dhafer Youssef, and Norwegian guitarist Eivind Aarset. I didn't stay long. The music was an ambient thing with sampling and electronics that, to my ears, is a contemporary form of world muzak.

Next stop was the outdoor Paul Acket Paviljoen, a large space that, like Statenhal, gets many of the pop-oriented groups. There I caught the second half of King Crimson. Outside of "The Court of the Crimson King," which has nothing to do with the current incarnation, I was really ignorant of the band. Though there were some vocals from Adrian Belew, it was mostly high voltage instrumental jams featuring Fripp and Belew, both formidable indeed but stylistically distinct, on guitars. The quartet also featured Tony Levin on bass and Pat Mastelotto on drums. I don't know if Fripp is known to be shy and reticent, but he was positioned off to the side without any lights on him.

Next up in the same space was one of the acts I had really been waiting for--Jorge Ben Jor. So as the crowd turned over I jockeyed for the best seat in the house and spent the next 45 minutes discussing Brazilian & world music with my neighbors. All seating is on concrete steps, so my cushion really came in handy.

Ben Jor is always funky and high energy, but that night he was more so than I had ever heard on records. It really was the methamphetamine version of Brazilian funk-samba. His repertoire consists of his hits of the past 40 years (specifically the first 25 of those), but done in the style of his current band, often in medley form. So when he does Mas Que Nada you can forget all about Brasil '66. The festival's scheduling rarely allows for encores, but when he had concluded his 75 minute set he hadn't done some tunes I knew to be staples of his shows. He did indeed come back for a 15-20 minute encore, and concluded with the infectious but pretty Taj Mahal--by that time a score of pretty women had been coaxed on stage from the audience. This set was a real thrill for me as Ben Jor is one of my favorite performers, and this was my first time seeing him live.

One of the problems with the cornucopia nature of the festival was that while Ben Jor performed I had to miss performances by Ibrahim Ferrer and Omar Sosa.

I did have the chance, after Ben Jor, to catch the last half hour of Van Morrison in Statenhal. Apparently Morrison refused video, as the screen was dark, so I had to catch glimpses through the gaps between spectators' heads with binoculars. When I entered he was doing one of his older tunes (the title escapes me), followed by Gloria. Then he brought Solomon Burke out (Burke had been opening for Morrison's tour, and this must have been a regular feature). Together they did Morrison's Fast Train, which Burke recently recorded, as well as a soul medley to conclude the show. Before I had gotten there, Cassandra Wilson had also guested with Van. Morrison was in good form and seemed to be enjoying himself, very different than the other times I had seen him ('71 & '87), when he basically mumbled his songs into his shoes.

After that I was able to catch the last 25 minutes of the first of 2 short sets by Simon Nabatov & Nils Wogram. Wogram is an excellent trombonist, but Nabatov really blew me away. His mix of classical technique, lyricism, playfulness and aggressiveness reminds me a bit of Dave Burrell's approach. I would have liked to have stayed for the second set, but I didn't want to miss Enrico Rava's quintet. I did miss the chance to have my picture taken with Nabatov, Wogram, Robin Eubanks, and our friend Hermann, who has been trying to matchmake a Wogram/Eubanks encounter.

I closed the evening with the Rava quintet. Rava of course played beautifully, and pianist Stefano Bollani was his usual delightfully impish self. My friend Claudio in Milan tells me that Bollani has an active fan club in Italy, and is treated like a rock star at concerts. Trombonist Gianlucca Petrella was also quite impressive. They did all Rava originals except for a beautiful rendition of Nature Boy.

[Pete C]

SUNDAY

I decided not to attempt Chick Corea solo in Van Goghzaal, as it's a small theater that could only fit a fraction of the people who would want to see him. Corea was only originally scheduled in a big space with this Elektric Band, but this was a fill-in for Ahmad Jamal, who canceled his trip. At any rate, I saw Chick solo in Montreal last summer.

Instead Hermann & I started the day with a few numbers from the Spanish Harlem Orchestra at Statenhal. They're a tight band, but this version didn't include Jimmy Bosch or Ray Vega, both of whom I believe are on their album. Interestingly, though, Jose Davila, who plays Tuba with both Ray Anderson & Henry Threadgill, was in the trombone section.

We then went to see South African reed player Zim Ngqawana, a veteran of bands of Abdullah Ibrahim & Hugh Masakela. Hermann loved this, but I wasn't wholly sold. According to the Dutch announcer, Ngqawana either worked with or was influenced by Yusef Lateef and Pharoah Sanders, and to my taste he took the less interesting tendencies of both. I have little interest in chimes and bicycle horns, and I found his soprano playing shrill and his flute playing just OK. Perhaps Hermann will give the other side of the story.

At a convenient break point in the set I reminded Hermann that he wanted to see Conrad Herwig, and I went down to the dreaded Jan Steenzal for the Gonzalo Rubalcaba/David Sanchez quartet. It was good streaight-ahead jazz, nothing particularly Latin, but once again I don't like the space, and I was pretty far back, so I left after 2 numbers. At any rate, I did want to see Cuong Vu, who was just about to start in another room.

Cuong Vu's trio was one of the highlights for me. It featured Stomu Takeishi on electric bass and Antonio Sanchez on drums. Sanchez was new to me (though I see he has recently been with Metheny); he's a great drummer. Cuong Vu's uses lots of electronics, but it works for me. Some of his compositions are so "pretty" that they are well served by the mitigating effect of the electronics and the aggressive rhythm players. And Cuong Vu is a killer trumpeter.

After that I caught about a half hour of Richard Bona's set at Paul Acket Paviljoen. It wasn't my cup of tea. I'd say it's basically a world-leaning fusion greatly influneced by Weather Report and 80's Miles.

I then went to the room where the Brotzmann Tentet was scheduled. Though I was there 1/2 hour in advance of their scheduled time, things were running late in that room, and I had to suffer through an hour of a neo-lounge quasi-funk mugging & vogueing Dutch group of self-conscious youngsters called Martin Fondse's Groove Troopers.

So the Brotzmann Tentet went on an hour late. But that amazing juggernaut was the perfect way to end the weekend. I don't know if I could have seen anything after that, even though if they had gone on as originally scheduled I could have made a Randy Weston trio set.

For me, the kind of structure afforded by the tentet format brings out the best from powerful musicians of that ilk, where the more free-improv smaller groups often leave me cold. I'm not sure whether they did 2 or 3 compositions, as the second half was not as clear. But the first part was obviously a Jeb Bishop composition, as he was conducting.

Though I was both sated and exhausted, I would not have complained if they had gone on for more than 70 minutes...

After that, a final beer with Hermann, then back to my hotel room, and on a plane the following morning.

Maybe I'll go back in 2005 for the 30th anniversary. Next year I'll probably go to Montreal for the 25th anniversary...

[Valerie]

Pete: Thanks so much for your "reviews". Glad you enjoyed yourself. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to get to both North Sea AND Montreal for the first time next year!

[Brian Olewnick]

Thanks, Pete!

[hermann]

Hey , I'm still at work now but will post from home in the later evening.

[hermann]

Preview: this was my first trip to North Sea Jazz and soon I noticed this will be a huge rock to climb, therefore I first made me a motto: don't hurry , be happy. Then a I build a trombone line : Robin Eubanks, Slide Hampton, Nils Wogram, Conrad Herweg, the rest-> good luck hermann. Before I could meet Pete I met Robin at the hotel entrance and said hello to him. This three days I felt like in heaven and the waves in me keep on swinging. Forgive me folks that my english is a bit poor, so I can't go in deep into the details as I possible can in german.

Friday: Starting point was the Dutch Jazz Orchestra, good bigband work till Lee came on stage and made a warm up that did'nt satisfiy me. The band members made the try not to overroll him. So after this 'warmup' i had the pleasure to hear Slide for the first time live. What a brilliant trombone. He had two young men at bass and drums and Kenny Werner at the piano. He mostly played in upper register and the slide did'nt move a lot therefore. But how elegant the notes came 'en masse'. He tould us not to forget most fine soloplayers from today come from former bigbandplaying. He noted " don't be anxious about future of jazz' and announced a new young boneplayer ( forgot his name ) who is able to play all the artistic rollovers even on a basstrombone. I bought my only one CD ' World of Trombones' from him and asked if he knows Nils.He sayed 'NO' and I told him to remember this name well. Now I took a short blackout time before climbing on the 'DAKTERRAS' to hear the Dave Holland Quintet. I heard them last September at Viersen and expected some variations on the themes. Yes they made this variations but for me their exact and well balanced group playing was the highlight. All were top in form and Billy I think did not kill them ( think of the othe thread ). Jugglers Parade as always was a hit. Strong playing all in all and a big crowd spent a lot of applause. From here I then hopped down to hear the Dave Douglas Quintet. I heard them at Mannheim this year but he'd changed the musicians. So, new for me I cold hear Uri Cain on fender rhodes piano and Clarence Penn on drums whom I heard at Stadtgarten as a member of TUBA TUBA band. Allthough it was solid Dave Douglas sound. After a while Cris Potter came on board an performed together with Seamus Blake.
The themes I don't remember but I think they came from his last CD we all own.
I then didn't change my seat and heard as a finish of the first day the Abercrombie Group. I'm not familiar with this music, but what made me happy at the end of the first day was the presence of Feldman on violin., elegant and easy to consume. Then I got hungry and had to go to my car to sleep a bit.
Next Day follows.

[Pete C]

By the way, if anybody is considering going next year, I highly recommend the small hotel I stayed at. It's right at the beach in Scheveningen, conveniently located near the terminus for trams to/from the station, the festival, and the center of town. It's pleasant, clean, and reasonably priced. I paid 55 Euros per night for a single.

Aquarius Hotel (http://www.aquarius-hotel.nl/)

[hermann]

Had written the Saturday text when my coputer crashed yesterday night before I could save the text, so I took a break.
Saturday: Pete and I started with the Dave Holland Big Band, they sounded better than I expected in relation to the CD. Full sound as I like for instance from Peter Herbolzheimer's big band. Highlight for me, they played a wonderfull arrangment of Robins 'mental images'. And from my point of view Billy didn't kill them ( see other thread ). We stayed then to hear Yuri Honing, but in all this band for me was disappointing, it was the Jost Lijbaart Group Of Friends. It sounded as if they didn't play often together, so: seldom friends. I then left that room direction Nabatov/Wogram. But the Omar Sosa Duo were still playin there so I took the chance and listened. Omar had the whole croud at his fingertips and was celebrating in great gestures. It sounded well to my ears, he had brought up the temerature in that room at about 38 Celsius, so I'll remember him no daubt evry time I take a warm bath. Doors were opened and fresh air came in and Simon with Nils climbed on stage next. They gave me the best performence I heard of them playing most themes from their CD 'Starting A Story'. After finishing Robin who heard the concert and I went backstage and gave this two our compliments. Then Robin took some photoe for his website. A dream of mine became reality because I always wanted to bring them together. This could be a very special Jay-Kai-connection, let's wait. Again I stayed in the room becaus of Misha Mengelberg who was the special gest of the dutch Juan Martinez / Nils van Haften Quintet that performed Herbie Nicols themes. Again it was outstanding and showed the genious not only of Nicols but of Mengelberg. Afterwards I told Mengelberg about a frapant similarity or parallelism of the beginning of a Else Lasker-Schüler theme and Mishas 'Die Berge schütze die Heimat' theme ( from CD 'Playing' ). By chance I got this classic music of Else Lasker-Schüler because my daughter playd the oboe on it. So Misha asked me to send that CD to him what I will do soon. To end the day I went downstairs and listened to the Ramon Valle Quintet that featured Roy Hargrove. It sounden excellent, but at that night-time my hunger stole me the full concentration on that music. Again at 2:30 I went to my car to sleep a bit.

[jazzy mary]

Thanks for all the reviews, Pete and Hermann. It really made me wish I could have been there.

Pete, Van Morrison *reveres* Solomon Burke. He sings about him in some of his songs when he's singiong about how he'd listen to music on the "wireless" when he was a kid and so on.

Oh yeah, King Crimson is great. I saw them about 10 years ago and totally dug them.

[hermann]

Sunday: We started at at JVS Statenhal. Heard the Spanish Harlem Orchestra and the three salsa dancing guys enchanted me a lot. Left Pete then to listen to Conrad Herwig Quintet. I for my first time heard him live. At he piano Kenny Werner, as a second trombone Steve Davis. Davis a fine solid player could not touch the artistic playing of Herweg and took the slower parts. How brilliant Herweg swung over him. So for me it was not the beloved Jay-Kai constellation. Werner brought in fine soloing and the young guys at bass and drum fit very well. In all a enjoyable show.
I then rushed over to hear Django Bates Human Chain. What a difference. The electronics blew me away. As a highlight they had scandinavian guittarist ..Eivind Aarset.. with them and they jammed in a strong and loud manner.
To hold a good place in front ( for the later arranged Brötz ) I stayed in that room and therefor had to listen to a shit of local hero softgang.Nothing more to say to this ...
After that Pete hooked in and we enjoyed from second raw seats the frontal confrontation with the Brötzmann Tentet. After that thunder we both were unable to hear another group, so we took our beer and said 'Good Bye' and ' Auf ein baldiges Wiedersehen'.
As a result of this outstanding happening we decided to encourage YOU ALL to visit the NORTH SEA JAZZ next year. Let's meet there.

PS Yesterday night I won two tickets for the JAZZ AT THE DANUBE fest at Straubing, next Friday and Saturday, but that's another thread.

[Chaz Longue]

Unlike Chaz Longue, I am only capable of being in one place at a time.


Yes, but ask anybody who knows me - this magical power has taken it's toll...

Thanks for posting your remarks Pete, and Hermann - I enjoyed the hell out of my one visit in 1984 and it's great having your reflections to ponder here.

I tried to cram in everything that trip - particularly the museums and the Northsea Festival. But I have memories of Scheviningen itself that are as strong as any memories of that excursion.

...and Hermann - your English is not only very espressive, it beats the hell out my German!

chAz