ECM Online?

I have heard that ECM is online. Though, the first thing I did after this news is to pull another ECM album from the shelf and I immediately went back to some weeks ago when Bobo Stenson Trio played in Rotterdam. I still remember that moment... It was around the first 30 minutes I guess, right after another amazing piece and Anders Jormin opened his eyes with a deep look over the audience in dark, asking "any questions?" He was really like one of my professors at the university - you know also the hair style etc... Bobo, for instance, was like the modest instructor at physics course, whereas Anders was the smart-stubborn high voltage guy. I mean, that's what they are doing for a living. That's what they have been educated for. That's what they have invested in. That's what they are challenged for. That's what they struggled to create the best out of it. That's what they have done for a long time not only for joy and satisfying their inspired souls but also for a well-deserved decent life. Musicians play music for several reasons and earning their life is one of them. Earning life is essential and the best way to do that is to do what you can do and sell well. I care about musicians who play the music I like listening to. So I keep on pulling albums from the shelf... 

So What's Next? 3-5 November 2017, Eindhoven

I feel honored to be able to write about a jazz festival from the city that I currently live in. So What's Next is the young festival - 5 years old - of southern Netherlands and having North Sea Jazz organization behind the production, it looks like it is really aiming to be a prominent jazz festival of the country. This year Eindhoven had chosen to allocate first weekend of November. I could only join the Saturday and Sunday part but there was also an opening night on Friday with the name Kovacs Curates. The center of gravity for the festival was on Saturday with so many impressive names such as Jacob Collier, Kamasi Washington, Donny McCaslin, Avishai Cohen (trumpet), Mark Guiliana, Ambrose Akinmusire, Steve Lehman, Shabaka & Ancestor... The festival was basically using Muziekgebouw Eindhoven as the headquarter and all the concerts in Saturday had been performed in 6 stages (2 concert halls, 1 jazz club and 3 stages) in this important music place of Eindhoven. 

For me, the best performance of the festival was from Mark Guiliana Quartet with Shai Maestro on piano, Chris Morrisey on bass and Shabaka Hutchings on saxophone. Especially the first trio part of this performance was one of the best I have seen recently. I have listened to these musicians with different settings several times earlier but the organic vibes that the trio reached at that day was really something special. I am totally impressed by Shai Maestro's solo and Mark Guiliana's precise timings and groovy hits on really nice compositions. Shabaka's soft touch - which is not like I got used to from his ancestor project - to the trio was a nice accompaniment to the organic sound of the band. Ambrose Akinmusire Quartet with Justin Brown on drums and Avishai Cohen Quartet were other impressive performances on Saturday night.

Sunday was basically a down-town festival where mostly young and new musicians were performing in several stages around the city. Aruán Ortiz Solo performance in the stage Meneer Frits and Motion Complex Trio in Fifth NRE were among the prominent performances.



I am really looking forward to seeing the next year's line up of this modest but amazing jazz festival for which I just need to bike some kilometers.