7/18/07: Greetings from Copenhagen! We just checked in to our hotel; an older place that looks like it’s been around for a long time but has been updated with 21st century amenities. Quite lovely with a white & gold exterior and interior that suggests a time way before the industrial age. My room is comfortable with a nice view of the streets below and a huge domed structure at eye level. Our ride from the airport to the hotel gave me a good idea of the beauty and history of this seemingly wonderful city. I am excited to take it in...
...after my nap.
Now, about the last few days.
We had a good show at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, Holland. In addition to the impressive array of artists that were on the schedule, equally impressive was how incredibly organized the whole event was. It was held on the site of a huge convention center where venues ranging from small and intimate, to larger theaters and auditoriums, were set up according to the style and popularity of the performers. Among the artists I was able to see were Marcus Miller, Randy Brecker (with an all-star band), and Dave Holland. Unfortunately, due to the stifling heat & humidity (the was no A/C!), I could only tolerate about an hour or so before I left. So, it was about 20 minutes of this guy and 20 minutes of that guy and so on. Words could not accurately describe how impressive the infrastructure of the whole thing was. From kiosks with computers where you could see where an artist was performing and get biographical information, to a whole mini-mall of music related merchants, to a booth where interviews were being conducted and broadcast over the flat-screen TVs that dotted the landscape...it was really something to take in.
As for our show, it went well. A packed house of about 60 or 70 people listened intently and reacted enthusiastically to the band. It was a nice feeling, especially with the likes of Mike Stern and Wynton Marsalis playing nearby. Anjani seemed pleased and I think everyone went away feeling pretty good about things.
After that, it was a day off and then off to Gent in Belgium for the Blue Note Music Festival where we were opening up for Elvis Costello (apparently a big fan of Anjani). Gent was quite an experience in that we were right in the middle of a yearly 10 day event known as the Festival of Gent. It’s sort of their Mardi Gras. I have never witnessed such mass drinking, by so many people, for so long, in my life! It doesn’t get dark till around 10:30pm there this time of year and it gets light around 5:30am. I walked outside around 6:30am and people were still at it. I heard sounds from my hotel room window that were, as one band member described it, “medieval” in nature. I won’t go into detail as to what the streets looked like but at around 7pm a street sweeper truck was making the rounds. This goes on for 10 days. People were staggering in the middle of the street at a time when most of the rest of the world is opening for business. Amazing.
The Blue Note gig went, for me, exceedingly well as I had the pleasure of playing a good bass - the best so far - that had a nice singing tone and playable action. The result was that I felt free to be a bit more expressive within the music. Though I play a German style bow, all the bows thus far have been French. Not a problem as I only bow on a couple of tunes and I have enough experience with the French to pull it off. For those of you who don’t know the German bow has a larger end where the hand is placed and is held with sort of a side-ways/underhanded grip, while the French is held much in the same way a violin bow is held.
Tomorrow is a club date here in Copenhagen which I am excited about as it will return us to a more intimate setting. I also feel that having just one day off between gigs will give us a chance to keep our musical engine warm and running smoothly.
That’s it for now!
Until next time...
Your friendly neighborhood bassist,
--Adam
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