Thoughts from the European Jazz Festival
I finally decided to head downtown yesterday and pay my annual visit to the European Jazz Festival (on my first chance since I got back). This time I decided not to do my typical preparation (bag full of cocktails) and kept the alcohol to a minimum (only a few beers). Hosted in Gazi, the place was packed with all types of people (most of who pay no attention to the music whatsoever), from students (majority) to faking intellectuals and plain pretentious wankers. Ok, I’m sure there were some people that actually do like jazz in the place (I just love exaggerating).So I first spent almost an hour touring around the exhibitions before trying to find a spot to rest and enjoy the music. Finding a spot took a while and of’ course I couldn’t listen to anything with all the crowd and poor sound setup. The first band I got to hear was the Deodato Siquir Trio from Denmark with their African influences (due to their drummer/singer). Not bad but no mater how much the singer tried, the crowd never got into the music and at the end they just gave up. The second band was The Eric Ineke Jazz Xpress from the Netherlands. I have the idea that they actually put the crowd to sleep but then again most of them where just looking for an excuse. Finally, the Wildbirds & Peacedrums from Sweden came out. A drummer and a singer that have more of a rock than jazz sound. I was already too tired from the whole scene that I only gave them 10 minutes but they didn’t manage to convince me (they try to blend rock with ethnic and avant-garde elements…but it just sounds like a rock wannabe-band who can’t find a guitarist to join them). Better luck next year (or perhaps I’m just not into all that jazz after all)..
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