jazzahead! Day 1

I finally arrived in Bremen on Thursday after I had to cancel my train ticket. Turned out that the guy I contacted via blablacar was a bassist from Poland who drove us to Bremen on a smooth ride. Participants were getting ready setting up their booths, there were a lot of familiar people and friends and some colleagues I saw for the first time even though I’d been in contact with them for years and years. But only via email. And of course a lot of new contacts already.

France is this year’s partner country so they had an opening reception last night where I had a great Sauvignon Blanc. In terms of music, the French night started with a rousing concert by the Orchestre National de Jazz. Leader Olivier Benoit directed his band members in a free-flowing, intensive, and very entertaining set. Unfortunately, I couldn’t witness the rest of the evening because I bumped into more colleagues and friends.

There will be a lot of showcases today and a lot of meetings and the official opening so stay tuned. To be continued!