Frenchy’s Fracas

First things first: some cunts over at rotterdamjazz dot com are splogging my posts through Technorati - no way of contacting them yet, but I have my traditional greeting for them: choke on it and drop dead, pretty please with sugar on top..

The Acts
Bob Brookmeyer New Art Orchestra
Meh

Deelder Draait
The pride of Rotterdam, poet and Mayor of the Rotterdam Night Life: mister Jules Deelder! A jazz fanatic and he likes to preach to anyone who wants to listen: jazz is Jazz! - nice!

Africando
Another mix of styles, nice, but not really memorable - not bad

Dave Holland Quintet
Bassist Dave Holland has a great group of musicians to bring us excellent jazz music - sweet!

Hieronymus Fox:
I think I have never heard a guy playing the contra bass as tight as Dave Holland was. Great drummer, great blowers, great vibraphone and berimbau.. everything was so damn good!

Candy Dulfer & Friends
Just the closing fifteen minutes. I’m always amazed by this lady: her albums are mediocre at best, but her performance is something everybody should experience - solid!

Amy Winehouse
Who? The craziest of the craziest people in the music business at the moment, failed to show up and canceled. I guess I was lucky to get a chance to see her perform at Paradiso, because this is the second time the girl’s canceled a show in Holland this year. As I said before: this gal is one of the most incredible entertainers we have at the moment, but the way the anorexic drunk is behaving at the moment, I expect her to do a Hendrix in six to twelve months - Silly Rabbit..

Sly & The Family Stone
The One Everybody Was Waiting For.. Can’t find the words, I’ll probably post a seperate piece later on.. HF gives a great review:

Hieronymus Fox:
..What happened? The band started to play about five or six songs, playing straight ahead funky music. Timeless classics with a couple of the original band members still standing strong, but without.. Sly…
Anyway, at last he came on stage and yes, he looked hunchbacked, wore a strange XXL T-shirt, but was alive and active and when he sad down behing his Fender Rhodes and started to play and sing… aaaahh the old Sly was back! A deep soulful voice, sometimes soft, sometimes crying out loud. Shivers all over!

Sleepwalker
Japanese modern jazz/R&B - nice!

Snoop Dogg
WTF is Snoop Dogg doing at the North Sea Jazz?!? I mean, last year we had that horrible Kanye West, so this was a nice improvement, but still..

Conclusion
Third day was weird, we were dead tired, but we did get to see Sly & The Family Stone!!

Hieronymus Fox’s North Sea Jazz Journals at Last.fm:
Bob Brookmeyer New Art Orchestra
Dave Holland Quintet
Da Sole Selecta’s
Sly & The Family Stone

Pictures at Flickr.com

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First things first: some cunts over at rotterdamjazz dot com are splogging my posts through Technorati - no way of contacting them yet, but I have my traditional greeting for them: choke on it and drop dead, pretty please with sugar on top..

The Acts
Steely Dan
Paid me some extra cash to see these guys and it was worth it!! I was afraid Messrs. Fagen and Beecker would be al uptight and anal about the whole thing but they were relaxed and even funny sometimes. They played a great mix of hits and what really amazed me was how the sound was set up: almost everything was tightly arranged and sweetly balanced. Kudos to the sound people! - excellent show!

A Special Performance from London (Secret)
Funny thing, we were standing close to the entrance to listen to the announcer and when it turned out to be Jamie Collum, we got the hell out of there. We were just in time to see the tsunami of people hearing the news and running to get inside - not my cup of tea, waaaay too safe.

Benny Golson & Johnny Griffin: Remembering Trane
I was expecting mister Ron Carter, but he canceled, so that was too bad. BUT the replacements weren’t some talented hacks, these elder statemen of jazz rocked the stage with Heart and Love putting quite a lot of younger artists to shame - some real jazz, fantastic!

The Cinematic Orchestra
Interesting band, gonna check them out a bit more. The show was okay, dedicated and purposeful musicians - definitely on my to do list

Wicked Jazz Sounds Featuring Phil Horneman & Leroy Rey
Saw/heard DJ Leroy do his stuff in Paradiso a while back and this guy is incredible! His knowledge of rare grooves and oldies is huge, wow.. And he is one hell of a performer, setting up a beat, a mood and directing his audience to a place of pure Fun - people, you must check this guy out!

Hiernoymus Fox:
The gig took place on the roof terras under the beautiful sun. The dj I saw was Leroy and he really blew the crowd away with his mix of jazz and funk! He’s also a great entertainer, which really added something to the whole.

Roy Hargrove
Last year he performed with his RH Factor band, this year it’s back to jazz, solid work by a great group of genius musicians - loved it!

Maceo Parker
When we dropped in the show was already half way, seeing Maceo doing his James Brown style of entertainment is okay, but seeing him without his saxophone is disconcerting - didn’t like it at all.

Hieronymus Fox:
Donald Fagen was singing like in his best days and Walter Becker played very well and added a comic note to the whole now and then. They realy seemed to enjoy themselves and so did the audience!

Lura
Hieronymus Fox suggested we have a look/listen and it was a great suggestion. This lady mixes music from Cape Verde with different styles to create a passionate and warm sound - liked it!

Conclusion
Best of the second day were Steely Dan and DJ Leroy, with Messrs. Golson and Griffin as the icing on the cake.

Hieronymus Fox’s North Sea Jazz Journals at Last.fm:
Steely Dan
Golson & Johnny Griffing: Remembering Trane
The Cinematic Orchestra
Wicked Jazz
Roy Hargrove
Lura

Pictures at Flickr.com

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