Since North Sea Jazz 2020 has been postponed for a year (you feel that the sentence is not right, but it sounds promising) we look back on the 25 most memorable moments of the festival days I have visited since the nineties. Music is not a competition, but when I studied the programme overviews of earlier editions, I concluded that these 25 concerts had made an unforgettable impression.
- Sting (Sunday 14 July, 2013, Nile, 10:00 PM – 11:30 PM)
Sting can’t be pigeonholed. After leaving his band The Police, Sting wrote classic songs like ‘Fields of Gold’, ‘Fragile’ and ‘An Englishman in New York’. Since the singer and bass player has worked as a soloist, the amount of jazz in his music has increased. Sting managed to gather the best musicians around him. At the North Sea Jazz edition of 2013, he invited saxophonist Branford Marsalis, who had played with him on ‘Englishman in New York’. Sting did missionary work by getting pop music fans interested in jazz.
- Anouar Brahem Quartet (Friday 10 July, 2015, Madeira, 5:45 PM – 7:00 PM)
The Tunisian ud player Anouar Brahem mixes jazz with traditional Arab music. His sound is modest, because the ud is meant as an accompanying instrument. However, Brahem uses it as a solo instrument and if you give his music a chance and open up to it, it’s as if time and place are no longer important. In 2015 Brahem brought a musical tribute to the ‘Arabic Spring’ of 2010. At that moment in the beautiful Madeira hall we really seemed to be heading for a better world.
23 Shabaka and the Ancestors (Saturday 8 July 2017, Congo, 9:00 PM -10:15 PM)
Shabaka Hutchings is one of the leading musicians of the thriving London jazz scene. The saxophonist brought along Caribbean musical influences from his native country Barbados, but in 2017 he collaborated with musicians from South Africa, who gave a new boost to his playing style. Shabaka and the Ancestors brought the atmosphere in the Congotent to its boiling point by descending to a primeval musical core and they let their animated sounds flow out like a volcanic eruption.
- Cuby & the Blizzards (Sunday 15 July 2001, Paulus Potterzaal, 00:45 AM – 1.45 AM)
The performance of the blues band of Harry Muskee became a tribute to Herman Brood. The former pianist of the band had jumped off the Amsterdam Hilton two days before. In 1999 (July 10, Statenhal) Brood had performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival with a big band “I’m going to quit now, because my drugs are finished”. Brood was known as a pop singer and visual artist, but thanks to his love for jazz he also aroused my interest and I am still grateful for that.
- Amy Winehouse (Saturday, July 14, 2007, Nile)
The singer didn’t show up and she was replaced by bass player Marcus Miller and DJ Logic. Miller started their show playing ‘Rehab’ and turned it into a jam session with Candy Dulfer and Roy Hargrove. The audience appreciated that very much, although the pain of Winehouse’s staying away remained. That feeling of regret became all the more intense when Amy Winehouse died on 23 July 2011. I missed her only performance at North Sea Jazz, July 11, 2004, in the Paulus Potterzaal.
- Roy Hargrove ‘Inner Circles’ (Saturday, July 15, 1995, Jan Steen Hall, 7:45 PM – 9:00 PM).
Roy Hargrove (1969 – 2018) also died too soon. Since the nineties Hargrove had performed at North Sea Jazz almost every year. He was an eager young trumpet player who seemed to have a lot of fun playing. Hargrove was always present during the nocturnal jam sessions in the Bel Air hotel not far from the Congress Centre. Hargrove had a bright tone, which sounded lively and fresh. Hargrove mastered many styles: jazz, bebop, blues, Afro-Cuban music as well as hip hop, soul and R&B.
- Joshua Redman Quartet (Sunday, July 16, 1995, Jan Steen Hall, 5:45 PM – 7:00 PM)
Joshua Redman often played at North Sea Jazz. He never plays smoothly, but his popularity is great, which says much. Redman’s saxophone always sounds clear even when he’s looking for new directions. The Jan Steen Hall was the legendary low hall in the Congress Hall where, during every performance ‘Zitten!’ (Sit down!) was shouted at people who obstructed the view on the musicians, which often resulted in bewildered faces among the performing artists who had no idea what was going on.
- Mathias Eick Quartet (Friday 12 July 2013, Yenisei, 8:00 PM – 9:15 PM).
Trumpeter Mathias Eick has found his own musical style in which his Norwegian roots can be heard, but he doesn’t hide his love for American folk music either. Eick loves experimenting with electronics, but his music always sounds tranquil, cinematic and thoughtful. Nowadays he plays in larger halls.
- Stevie Wonder (Sunday, July 11, 2010, Nile, 11:00 PM – 01:00 AM)
Stevie Wonder had the difficult task to perform after the audience had watched from a big screen how the Dutch football team lost the World Cup final. Thanks to Wonder’s overwhelmingly good performance that featured the highlights of his leading albums Innervisions and Songs In The Key Of Life, we forgot the football match and my daughter Deborah and I cycled home in a happy mood.
- Larry Graham & Graham Central Station with special guest Mark King. (Friday 8 July 2011, Nile, 11:45 PM – 01:00 AM)
This concert was fine, but wouldn’t have made this list if not Prince had unexpectedly entered the stage. I can be brief about Prince’s performance: five minutes before he showed up I was on my way to the next room. There I read on Twitter that the genius guitarist from Minneapolis was playing along with Graham, but then so many people rushed to the Nile that the doors were closed. Prince had played on 8, 9 and 10 July 2011 after North Sea Jazz and made a huge impression by playing completely different shows each night. Prince died on 21 April 2016.
To be continued
Pictures: Ron Beenen