FABULOUS BIG JAZZ NIGHT BREDA

The Meeús Big Jazz Night in Breda last Saturday night was a perfect evening of great jazz!
Four bands were featured, all showing their own talents and style.

The event opened to a perfromance of Happy Feet Brassband, a New-orleans style street ensemble, two trumpets, 2 trombones, 2 saxophones, 1 sousaphone & 2 drums. Cool stuff they played, well balanced & fairly entertaining. The interaction with the audience could have been a bit more though, especially for a band that is playing right within the crowd.

On stage the highlight of the evening (to my honest opinion) was the Louis, Louis, Louis! project of Jazz Connection with additional guest artists Frits Landesbergen on vibraphone and British clarinetist Andy Cooper. A tribute to musical virtuosis Louis Armstrong, Louis Prima and Louis Jordan. Speaking of virtuosis... the members of Jazz Connection have managed to steal my heart for the last number of years,.. but Landesbergen and Cooper are incredibly gifted musicians!

Especially enjoyed Cooper's solo featuring some interesting instrument control creating the craziest sounds with just air.

Loved the musical book! Hope this will be published on CD!

Hometown drummer/percussionist Chris Strik brought his New Orleans Xperience to the Breda Mezz stage, featuring Tineke Postma on saxophone and nico Schepers on trumpet.

Fast paced rhythms from the two-piece brass section highlighted the gig. I couldn't keep looking at the crazy faces Chris made while he was playing. As if drumming hurts at times. Oh well...

Excellent guitar work and cool solos throughout the performance. For the last piece trumpet player Daan Bogers (who brought his big band BOSCO Swing Collective to the Big Jazz Night stage last year) was invited on stage to play along with the band.

Grupo Cuba Libre is an absolute must if you like Salsa & Merengue! This 12-piece band knows how to get everyone's hips going alright! A brass-section consisting of 2 trumpets, 1 trombone and a female saxophone(s) player fit right in the tyopical South American style, though lacked that little bit of extra emotion the songs needed. Lead singer Carlos Joseph, perfectly dressed in white, kept entertaining everyone from start to finish.

DJ Ser-V filled Mezz with his well-varied collection of music from the turntables, which had uite a few people swingng on the dancefloor till closingtime. I especially enjoyed the Gypsy Beats & Balkan Bangers!

Enjoy,

HK