Hella Fitzgerald

Visiting Wolfert and Saskia

After a great concert yesterday in Rotterdam, we were taken home by the pianist of the group!



Ok, I have known him for many years. Still I think it's awesome!



Here are some photos of his family.

Help F to become as cool as me

One of my former class mates won the Edison Publieksprijs Jazz last year. Of course, Frans has been feeling a bit left behind since then, but, fortunately, one of his former class mates isn't doing too bad either.

To help Frans feel better, go and vote for Wolfert Brederode's Post scriptum. For Wolfert, it is just a minor stepping stone on his way to becoming the next Keith Jarrett, but it would mean a lot to Frans...

Prematurely Missing China

Seen in Golden Five Star Supermarket.

David Braid

Today we went to a concert by David Braid, this time in the concert hall of Bei Da (Peking University). The ushers here were even stricter than what we are normally used to: they wanted to see every person's ticket to make sure that they sat in the seat that they paid for. (In the Forbidden City Concert Hall you can just buy the cheapest tickets (something like 20 or 30 yuan) and move anywhere you like --- the most expensive seat are about 250 yuan.)

Also they were pretty strict that the public cannot take photographs. To enforce this, there are ushers in strategic positions in the crowd, and some more on the balcony that then use laser pointers and wireless communication to point out the culprits.

Anyhow, this is not why we came --- we came for the music of course, and it was again really good. He played many pieces that we know by heart, because last time we bought his cd, and we played it often. In part of the second set he was joined by a Chang Jing who played the guzheng --- you all know the sound of this instrument, just think "Chinese restaurant". It turns out that this instrument can actually sound very good, what you hear in Chinese restaurants is basically a Chinese Richard Clayderman abusing this wonderful instrument. The combination of Chinese music and jazz was great --- the interaction between both musicians great.

After the concert we were finally allowed to take pictures, and even said hi to David, after waiting a little while until most people got their photo taken with the artist, or a cd or shirt autographed.

A adds: In fact, when we said hi, David recognized F and said "Ha, I thought it might be you." Yes, F is known by many an internationally renowned jazz pianist.

More from Cafe Konstanz

After leaving Cafe Konstanz, we couldn't help ourselves and go back for dinner. Schweinshaxe! Mit Semmelknödel!



And for A, partly I guess because we are in some kind of rivalry with some other food blog, Schnitzel! More specifically, Jägerschnitzel.



A couple of bonus pictures of the last couple of days. On Saturday we tried some culture again, and this time it did not disappoint! Jazz Maestro David Braid (yes, he was actually advertised like that) was something special --- not only in his piano playing which I really enjoyed and which was very original, but also in his ability to entertain the crowd with his Chinese! His Chinese may have been better than A's (it most certainly was better than F's). I can highly recommend seeing him perform!



No picture of him, as the ushers at the Forbidden City Concert Hall are actually very strict about the fact that one cannot take pictures.

Then finally, this is what a tricycle fail looks like:

Waiting for Wolfert

Nothing to be done.

After going to Wolfert's presumed hotel twice on Friday, leaving messages although they tried to send us away saying that they did not know him (who doesn't know Wolfert? WTF?) we got an email from Wolfert on Friday evening saying that he was actually leaving on Friday, but would not arrive until Saturday. Oops.

I'm beginning to come round to that opinion.

So we left another message at that hotel on Saturday morning with a time and place to meet that evening. Guess who did not show up? (Hint: it was not us.)

All my life I've tried to put it from me, saying Vladimir, be reasonable, you haven't yet tried everything.

Dejected and hurt (okay, actually we were physically hurt from the hike, but we were hurt nonetheless) we went back to our hotel that evening, to find another email telling us that "Things are complicated". It turned out that the organization of the jazz festival changed the hotel, and Wolfert and Joost were actually staying one hour outside of Seoul.

And I resumed the struggle.

So, on Sunday we made our way towards the mountains, where the festival was being held. We were told that they would do a sound check at 2 o'clock. Well, we were there.

So there you are again.

And at three, we finally met the elusive duo!









Am I?

We were even treated to a great concert, that was very well received. (Korean people make the awesomest audience in the world, as far as I have seen!)







I'm glad to see you back. I thought you were gone forever.

Here are some more impressions from the festival. First of all, a swine flu kiddo:



Me too.

And then a picture of the main stage. I don't know who this bass player is, but he was pretty awesome, and I overheard him tell an ambassador that his son had cancer ("he's fine now").



Together again at last! We'll have to celebrate this. But how?

Then we tried to go back to Seoul together, which turned out to be another feat. In the end we chose to curl up all together in one taxi, with all the luggage, as other options seemed unavailable. After an hour we arrived in Seoul, where we had some supper, and beers, and it was just like old times. (Okay, actually we normally have wine.)

To Korea or not to Korea

The plan is that tomorrow morning we will set off for Seoul, to see the famous Wolfert Brederode and Joost Lijbaart in concert. We have only seen Wolfert perform in two continents (three countries?) so far, so it is high time he takes his rightful and honorable position with Chick Corea as "an artist F has seen perform in three continents".

However, F chose this inopportune moment to go and have swine flu.

This afternoon, he was so sick and nauseous that he could not part with the toilet for more than 5 minutes. Also, he was short of breath and had pains in his chest. Should or should not A call the doctor?

But then F made a miraculous recovery at 5. Not well enough for us to go to the Bang on a Can concert for which we had tickets. (Aren't we cultural?! The only reason I am writing this post is to impress you all with our high-browness.)

We are hoping we will be well enough to fly tomorrow. And that they forget to bring the ear probe thingy and will not notice F has a fever. Please help us pray to the swine flu gods!

Jazz and Mao's favorites

We were brave enough to give Beijing culture another try yesterday. We went to a piano recital by Yaron Herman in the Forbidden City Concert Hall.

Before the concert, we had dinner in the restaurant of a fan of Chairman Mao. We had Mao pork and Mao fish -- we're not sure if they're just some of Mao's favorites or if he actually came up with the recipes. Either way, we are very sorry to let you know that these two dishes must have been the worst food we've had in China...


The concert experience, on the other hand, exceeded my expectations. The audience was remarkably well-behaved. Coughing happened only at the appropriate moments (right after/during the last note). The man in front of us did talk to his wife without even trying to reduce the level of his voice, but a woman sitting close to him told him to shut up. Also, Yaron did not end his concert with a waltz by Strauss... Although the loud Pavarotti-esque music in the lobby during the intermission was somewhat reminiscent in its misplacedness.

Chick

Because Hong Kongers are much more sophisticated than Beijingers, we decided to try to go to a concert again (see here for a report on the last time).

We were not allowed to take photos, so the photo we did take is not very good/interesting. But the discerning viewer may be able to recognize Chick Corea, whom Frans has now heard perform on 3 different continents. Yay for Chick and yay for Frans!

Cultural Istanbul

We visited the Blue Mosque, then spent some time standing in front of Aya Sofya and Topkapı, trying to decide whether we could care less. It turned out we couldn't.

Instead, we visited the art museum at Istanbul Modern and went to a "caz" (jazz) concert in the evening. No glorious dinners, because we had to hurry, but our quick pide was rly tasty.


Alp Ersönmez trio featuring Alexandre Tassel.