Bimhuis has
always been in my must-see-list. To be honest, I found it strange and a little
bit pity for myself that I had not been there since last night - although I
have been in Amsterdam several times before and I started to live in
Netherlands two months ago... We can all blame the incredible North Sea Jazz
Festival in Rotterdam for this since it had basically been the main reason for
my travels before, saturating my appetite for jazz and preventing me from asking
for more during my one-day-sightseeing-visits around the Dam. Well, it seems that
the Jazz God was waiting for the right time in order to make a memorial night
for me.
It was more than
5 years ago when I decided to start to write a jazz blog and
even I am not good at designing catchy blog lay-outs, I was aware of the fact
that I needed a meaningful photo that carry some
memories for me within itself. My long time followers were expecting to see a
snapshot from my all time favourite trio E.S.T at that time, but I chose
a concert from London Jazz Festival 2011 instead. It was a concert dedicated to 50 years
of Impulse! records and the legendary McCoy Tyner was on
piano. Chris Potter was the special selection of that night on the saxophone,
carrying this well-deserved honor at the spacious performance hall in the
amazing Barbican Center. I should confess that I had not heard a lot on him
till that night but I was lucky enough to join the interview of BBC Radio 3 with
him just before the concert. One thing I will never forget about that concert
is the long standing-ovation for McCoy Tyner, which started right after his
entrance to the stage and lasted for minutes. I think that was the time that I
am impressed a lot by the enthusiasm within the idea of jazz and its
not-so-many supporters both from performers and listeners side. That was the
time – as far as I remember – that I decided to share what I feel about the music
I love listening to. It was without any purpose and I wasn’t expecting anything
in return. It was the first artistic feeling I get – a deep and priceless
satisfaction with no pragmatic prejudgments.
Thus, it started
like that and with so many peaks and deeps I kept on writing within this blog.
I feel so lucky and humble that I have been able to join so many performances
and listened to so many jazz albums – all around the world. Now, while writing
these lines on the last train from Amsterdam to my home in Eindhoven, I feel
the same satisfaction. Once again, thanks to the great performance of Chris
Potter Quartet in Bimhuis, Amsterdam last night, I feel complete and full
enough to keep on sharing. It is hard to give a single reason why I am so impressed
and got emotional. The elegant and modest tone of Chris Potter both from tenor
and soprano sax, his great compositions in the last album from ECM, Dreamer is the Dream, the
amazing Nasheet Waits on drums, the great solo performances of pianist David Virelles and bassist Joe Martin,
heavenly acoustic conditions of Bimhuis right next to the Amsterdam Port and -last but not least- the unique
view of wide glass background of the stage letting you see the busy Dutch trains
landing on and off to the Central Station... They, all together, pushed me to
write these lines which can be defined as the ones connecting the blog back to
the roots that I have been feeding from for a long time. It is this connection
and idea indeed what make me to keep on writing – who knows, maybe for forever.
Stay connected for following posts which will be on some very good jazz albums that I have listened to lately.
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