Fab Morvan’s life after Milli Vanilli
‘Don’t cross the Milli Vanilli line,’ reads the advice for using ChatGPT when writing texts. The pop duo Milli Vanilli’s name became proverbial. Fab(rice) Morvan, one of the protagonists of the 1990s musical drama says in retrospect: ‘Lies shoot up in a lift. The truth takes the stairs, but eventually gets to the top as […]
Ebba Åsman back in Rotterdam
In 2020, Ebba Åsman suddenly disappeared from Rotterdam. Early that year, jazz club Bird organised a series of jam sessions around the Swedish trombonist, but the last night, she didn’t show up. Åsman, who studied at Rotterdam’s Codarts, had got off to a flying start in the previous year: she played at North Sea Jazz […]
Mark Guiliana’s deviant drum patterns and Warholesque visuals
Mark Guiliana loves Rotterdam. One of his pieces even has the intriguing title: ‘The Mayor of Rotterdam’. Towards the end of his solo concert at LantarenVenster in this Dutch city, the American drummer confesses that this is one of the best venues for him to perform. Indeed: ‘When I imagined trying to pull something off […]
Branford Marsalis brings Keith Jarrett’s masterpiece back into the limelight
Pianist Keith Jarrett signed with ECM in 1974, where label manager Manfred Eicher helped him put together a new quartet. With Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek, Swedish bassist Palle Danielsson (1946 – 2024) and Norwegian drummer Jon Christensen (1943 – 2020), Jarrett recorded the impressive album Belonging. The group called itself The Belonging Quartet because Jarrett’s […]
An abrupt end in Ostend
Our stay in Ostend ends rather abruptly. We have a nice room on the top floor. Above our bed is a life-size reproduction of James Ensor’s cheerful Ostend beach scene. Looking out, we see the boulevard and the Kursaal on the left. A little further to the right is the art-deco façade of Hotel-Brasserie Du […]
Along the Belgian coast
In April 2025, we explore the Belgian coast. Our journey begins with a visit to the seaside resort of Ostend. We reach the beach via the huge Kursaal – Casino where Marvin Gaye recorded the music video for “Sexual Healing” in the early 1980s. The American soul singer stayed in a flat apartment along the […]