My expectations were high. I was sure that the man with the red horn and
his unit would fill the hall with their energy soon after they took place on
stage. However, frankly, it was not on my mind that they caught the tension of
the audience this much successfully and could stay on stage this much long
although they have another concert for the following day in Tblisi. This is
between you and me, I have said to Nils “It
is in my dreams to listen the solo performance for Ack Du Warmland Du Skona in
the album 1997 Live in Montreux at least once in my lifetime lively from you” some time before the concert. The
tension in the concert were so high that I thought that he could not manage to
insert this silent solo performance into the playlist. Fortunately, I was wrong
again. After the encore, as the last performance, he performed it for me and rest
of the audience and took a memorable place in my heart.
The personel in the concert was very similar to the last album’s. Nils
Landgren (trombone,
vocal) Magnum Coltrane Price (bass, vocal), Jonas
Wall (woodwinds,
back vocal) Sebastian Studnitzky (rhodes, trumpet, back vocal), Robert Mehmet
Ikiz (davul, back
vocal). Magnus Lindgren and Andy Pfeiler could not join the concert in İstanbul. We have
seen Mattias Torell on guitar, whom I met at Ida Sand’s concert. I can
say that they generally played from their last album, however I should add that
they sometimes went back even to 1997. Especially, the performances of Funk
for Life from last album and Ain’t Nobody from 1997 Live in
Montreux have caught the audience. Since Esbjörn Svensson was a
member of the unit once upon a time ago before his depressing passing away, his composition Six Beauties on a Rooftop
is also performed. The harmony between Mehmet İkiz, Mattias Torell
and Magnum Coltrane Price was incredible. The fact that Mehmet is usually
playing with Mattias Torell in Ida Sand’s concerts has a certain contribution
in this harmony. For trombone, we found the chance to listen to the one of the
best living trombone players, Nils Landgren. Jonas Wall was
certainly more than what I expected in saxophone. They usually used loop
machine with Nils Landgren. The effect used by Magnum Coltrane Price to reach
deeper bass and his rap vocal performance through the end was noteworthy. The
solo performance of Mehmet İkiz at the end of a piece was memorable. The band
is recalled to the stage several times by the audience. It was nice that Mehmet
came to stage alone and triggered the audience for ovation by shouting the name
Nils. I really wonder the capacity of 56-year-old Nils Landgren’s lungs,
considering the last solo performance that I have mentioned in the begining. (In
this solo performance that he does sometimes, he starts to play a traditional Swedish
tune first, then rises the tension by a funk rhythm which even includes some
partitions from Smoke on The Water of Deep Purple. Then he starts to
disassembly his trombone at the middle while he is still playing. First the
bell is removed and Nils gets closer to the microphone with the rest of the
instrument. Then the rest is removed leaving just the mouthpiece in Nils’
mouth. At last, Nils starts to perform with just his mouth. He even puts some
rhythm in his performance with a sound he created by detaching the main slide
from the tunning slide. Then again from the beginning the trombone is assembled
and Nils makes the end by the same traditional tune with a complete trombone.)
The interest of the audience in the musicians were intensive also after
the concert. I am not sure but I suppose many CDs are sold last night. Nils
Landgren has signed his autograhps for a long time. I have told Nils Landgren
that I really would like to help for a concert in Ankara to be organized and I
would do my best for this. We have talked about the following Christmas with
My Friends concerts in Germany. As a last word before saying bye to the
musicians I said “Do not be surprised if you see me among the audience in
Germany Nils” and he answered me “It may be, I believe, because you are crazy”.
As a summary, November 23rd night was an incredible night that is full of good musicians. I hope the audience in İstanbul and the band think so and we can listen to them soon again.
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