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Arriving
in the heart of the old historic city of Ghent late
Friday afternoon, we walked into the hectic annual Gentse
Feesten, with tourists roaming the streets, women
singing to taped pophouse beats from large stages and
thousands of people filling the canal cafes, trying
to ease the sweltering heat with a few cold drinks.
Arriving
at The Blue Note Festival was the perfect antidote to
the stress of the buzzing city centre. The courtyard
of the old Bijloke monastery by the -Kaai
canal strait had become home to a village of white tents,
serving everything from champagne and beer to healthy
food, selling records and merchandise and exhibiting
photographs. Coffee tables filled the central square,
which was surrounded by screens and speakers, ready
to channel the sound and image from the concert stage
and the speakervan DJ booth. A special kids area had
kitchy plastic cows and a farm atmosphere. In the concert
tent, three trees gave an organic and natural feel to
the setting. People slowly began arriving and soon the
festival site was filled with smiles and chatter, in
the relaxing and happy mood that suited the music and
soul of Blue Note perfectly. The same laidback vibe
would find its way into the concert tent for all shows,
with the audience showing enormous respect to and appreciation
of the music on show. In two words : peaceful bliss.
From
the outset, the Blue Note Festival programmers had their
line-up and timing perfectly right. The flow of energy,
from downbeat enjoyment to upbeat partying, was mercurial
and the 45 minutes between each show was just time enough
for a few refreshments and not long enough to get us
bored. We could not believe our ears when we first heard
the clarity and tone of the festival sound system, enhanced
by specially built wooden flooring in the concert tent
and a carpeted stage. This perfect setup would help
bring the concerts of Meshell Ndegeocello and Nicola
Conte to 'not in our wildest dreams' unexpected heights
and made listening to an entire concert effortless and
soothing... it was nothing short of the perfect festival
sound. After checking into the cool temperatures of
the press office, we were left to relax and wait for
the music to begin.
A
coupe of champagne and a beer later, we were ready for
Zap Mama, who had the honour of opening the All That
Jazz? weekender. Burdened by the low and gradually rising
turnout for the first gigs of any festival day, the
Zap Mama crew still managed to whip up a delightful
good-vibe showcase of their African soul fusings. For
a full review and and interview with frontwoman Marie
Daulne, click here.
Anticipation was enormous for the next gig, with Meshell
Ndegeocello showcasing her jazzfusion Papillon Project
with the Spirit Music Sextet. This truly fantastic breed
of musicians rekindled our love for jazz fusion and
sparked waves of awe, fascination and pleasure both
through their well-composed instrumental pieces and
the stunning musicianship and technique. Read our full
review and see pictures from the gig here.
The concert tent filled up fast and to the brim for
Friday's headliners George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic.
We were suffering from a partyfunk overdose dating back
to 1998, but George Clinton got us back on the wagon
with an energetic display that belied his 63 years on
this earth. For a full photo feature from the gig, click
here.
Walking
back to our hotel at 1AM, the canalside boardwalks were
engulfed in a wave of yellow and green samba parties,
complete with extensive shot-drinking and energetic
dancing. Through our tired eyes, the colour melted together
into a frenzy of energy that our weary heads and legs
could barely survive. We needed a good night's sleep
after the first Blue Note day...
Ghent opted for a long morning lie-in during the Feesten.
On Sunday, the elderly and the morning people congregated
in large tents for a breakfast menu to the sounds of
live bands playing schlager classics. On Friday and
Saturday, the streets were empty and being cleaned from
the previous night's partying. Most shops didn't open
until 2PM but to our delight, Ghent's premier vinyl
dig Music Mania was open from 11AM on Saturday. The
calm of the city and the Blue Note Festival's perfect
7PM concert starts afforded us ample time to go digging
before enjoying a few Kriek cherry beers in the sunshine
of the canalside cafés. Music Mania is a cosy
four-storey recordstore across from the wonderful marble
hall palace that is the Vooruit concert venue (where
we took in a Sonar Kollektiv party at the 10DaysOff
Festival that same evening). The record jackets on the
three top floors don't seem to have been dusted in years,
adding to the ambiance and the digging experience -and
the view from the fourth floor is magnificent. We managed
to find the double vinyl reissue of the Digable Planets
classic Blowout Comb (which, even as a reissue,
is becoming a rarity), some Freddie Hubbard, the Parrish/Dixon
JR et al. Three Chairs project, the new Nicole Willis
album and a few other gems -we particularly enjoyed
the cover of The Cure's A forest on the Peacefrog
label's Nouvelle Vague album. We were also
very impressed by the most friendly record store staff
we have met in a long time -and the refreshingly ingenious
lift system used to bring records out from the stock
for our listening pleasure. Sunshine, great cratedigging
and beer by the waterside made our perfect day... and
a young boy playing his saxophone on the sidewalk launched
into Dave Brubeck's Take Five, his selection
earning him a few Euros from our pockets...
The
Troublemakers were first on stage Saturday evening and
on the back of the excellent Express Way film
and album project, we had high expectations for their
live show. We weren't dissapointed... read the full
review and our interview with Troublemaker duo DJ Oil
and East here.
Määk's Spirit followed up with an innovative
stage entrance that saw their Moroccan collaborators
Gnawa Express dance through the concert tent, playing
their African drums, before joining the Belgian musicians
on stage. Their fusion of North African rhythms with
Belgian jazz was interesting and the happiness of the
musicians lifted the concert, which was however not
amongts the most memorable moments of All that Jazz?.
Angie
Stone headlined the Saturday night and was also the
centre of most of the media coverage of the Blue Note
Festival. Eight interviews in one day, she explained
to the crowd, in which she had constantly been asked
about the spirituality in her music. Her answer was
given in deed, with a deep soulful performance focusing
on her latest album Stone Love, but picking
out gems from her back catalogue as well. It was a fitting
'ease down'-end to another energetic day at the Blue
Note Festival.
The
first few clouds of the weekend gathered on Sunday and
a light all-day drizzle only let up just before Frederic
Galliano & his African Divas took to the stage at
6PM. Only a few people had made it out this early, but
the band played on bravely. We never really got into
Frederic Galliano's records and his show unfortunately
suffered from the same somewhat monotonous house beat
too easily fused with sporadic African instrumentation.
A disappointing concert, but pretty much along with
our expectations.
Nicola
Conte was our second most anticipated concert of the
Blue Note Festival -and turned out to be the best jazz
concert we have ever seen. Mr Conte showed himself in
a whole new light (and one we would like to think is
his true self) and had the audience screaming for encores
with a modal swing set infused with worldwide influences
and performed by a band so tight and so passionate about
their music that they filled the concert tent with an
intense joy that we had never experienced before. This
was, quite simply, magnificent and a historic moment
in the history not only of the Blue Note Festival, but
of jazz festivals in general. And we were blessed with
the opportunity to talk to Nicola Conte himself in Brussels
the following day -a conversation you can read about
here.
We
unfortunately had to miss the much-anticipated exclusive
live showcase of Marc Moulin's new album that closed
the festival. As we left the festival site to catch
our train back to Brussels, it almost felt like we were
leaving a piece of ourselves behind -that the Blue Note
Festival had become home to us. But we were comforted
by the inevitability that the Blue Note Festival will
return next year. And so will we...
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