Without announcement, the revamped Tord Gustavsen trio enters the stage of Rotterdam’s packed LantarenVenster theatre. Gustavsen bends deep over the keys of the grand piano and begins a hushed arrangement of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Jesus Meine Freude. Drummer Jarle Vespestad and bassist Steinar Ragnes drop in simultaneously. The new bassist who has experience in rock […]
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Musical tribute to The Mystic Lamb
Dave Douglas composed a suite to celebrate the 600th anniversary of The Ghent Altarpiece by the van Eyck brothers. When the American trumpeter and composer plays in Belgium, he usually pays a visit to this impressive triptych in Ghent’s St Bavo Cathedral. Douglas was very impressed by the recently uncovered original version from which The […]
Still looking for the perfect note (bassist Ron Carter)
In July, a wonderful example of the power of limitation could be heard at the Rotterdam North Sea Jazz Festival. After the announcement that drummer Payton Crossley of Ron Carter’s Foursight Quartet would be absent due to Covid, an audible wave of disappointment buzzed through the packed Madeira hall. Bassist Ron Carter (1937) did receive […]
Visionary virtuoso John Coltrane (1927-1967)
“John Coltrane played in tongues”, said one of his fellow musicians about the saxophonist who died in 1967. Are Coltrane’s initials the reason why his admirers (like Johan Cruijff’s fans did) attribute superhuman abilities to him? The reference to ‘higher things’ did not come out of the blue in Coltrane’s case: after years of struggling […]
Wynton Marsalis: Good music is timeless
After my interview request with trumpet player and band leader Wynton Marsalis (1961), I do not expect him to reply immediately. However, a lady from New York is on the phone, saying: “Mister Marsalis will call you back within 15 minutes.” I quickly jot down some questions. The Jazz at Lincoln Centre Orchestra is mainly […]
A subtropical ruin on Ameland
From our holiday address, an apartment at Hotel Noordsee in Nes, Ameland, we look out on what must have been a subtropical swimming paradise. An impressively long tubular construction winds around one of the two domed buildings. You can imagine how a minute-long sliding ends in a spectacular dive into the warm water of the […]