North Sea Jazz @50 – Day 1

There is a lot to celebrate this year for the 50th edition of the North Sea Jazz Festival, like an interactive journey through time with music, images, archive material from the golden years at the Congress Centre in The Hague up to the present. And there are indeed a lot of great memories since we’ve been visiting the festival for way over 30 years now (we’re all getting older I guess). So what’s in store for North Sea at 50? Another great programme I might say and it all started with a funky and soulful set from Questlove with Robert Glasper and Christian McBride. Opening with an incredibly fancy version of Herbie Hancock’s “Butterfly”, I knew that we were in for something special. Questlove also invited two former horn members of The Dap-Kings and wanted to name the group “The Pre-Marital Sextet minus One”.

Master pianist Kenny Barron, who has played a million times at the festival over the years (who also mentioned the good old, special times at The Hague), played another classy set at the Madeira hall, one of the smaller stages with great acoustics. Supported by bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Gregory Hutchinson, the trio delved deep into Kenny’s own compositions, but also played really heartfelt renditions of Charlie Haden’s “Nightfall” and the standard “How Deep Is The Ocean”. Since Kenny always had a knack for Brazilian rhythms, he also debuted a new composition of his own which was full of bossa bliss. At 83 years old, he still amazes with his chops which are totally convincing during the slower, tender pieces as well as the hard-swinging bop-style numbers where you can literally follow his outstanding experience and outreach. His latest album, “Songbook”, features a lot of different singers interpreting the Barron songbook and so he asked one of them, Ekep Nkwelle, on stage, to sing his beautiful song “Illusion”, making this another perfect set from one of the most consummate artists around these days. He never disappoints.

I went to see a few moments of Bilal‘s set who more and more reminds me of the late great Prince with his showmanship, some sort of cute bravado, and a perfectly-mixed balance of different genres which can not really be categorized. I was really looking forward to trumpeter Brandon Woody who released the excellent debut “For The Love Of It All” on Blue Note last year. His pieces are full of suprises in terms of arrangement and style. He could literally pound on his instrument, speak through it, play elongated phrases and notes, but also step back where needed to let his bandmates take over. Troy Long on piano and keys, and Quincy Phillips on drums both excelled with the way they pushed the pieces forward, with plenty of solo space too. Bassist Michael Saunders also contributed lots of finesse and earthiness to the proceedings. But the main focus was Brandon who also defies comparison. If at all, the only other trumpeter who sometimes popped up in my head was Woody Shaw.

Roy Hargrove, one of the most influential trumpeters of his generation and a longtime audience darling here at North Sea, who tragically died in 2018, was feted with the original band members of The RH Factor, his pretty unique band which was chock-full of funky, neo-soul, and r&b grooves and beats. Sporting two drum sets, various keyboards (from clavinet to Rhodes, from a Yamaha Montage to a Korg Kronos), and a four-piece horn section, the band skillfully and convincingly brought the music of the RH Factor back to life. It was not really all eyes and ears on the trumpeter Wayne Tucker, but he was exceptionally amazing with his playing tearing the roof off. Never one to try to imitate Roy Hargrove, he clearly had his own way of moving through the repertoire, which mainly consisted of songs from “Hard Groove” (2003), and “Distractions” (2006). Singer Renee Neufville, who was also playing keys, had her own special solo spot which convinced me again that she actually needs a lot more attention. Why not make a solo album (she was a member of the 90s r&b duo Zhané)?

My final stop on the first day of the festival was an interesting storytelling and music-playing set of the UK’s premier producer, DJ, label head, and curator Gilles Peterson. With his labels Talkin’ Loud and Acid Jazz, he was the first to sign Bluey and Incognito, 10 years after their debut “Jazz Funk” (1981) came out. It was interesting to hear the story how they met and started to work together. In between his stories, Rob Galliano threw in some verses and rhymes. Gilles also played some obscure records which he found over the years, crate-digging through uncharted vinyl stores as far away as Trinidad & Tobago.

I was profoundly happy to find my bike in a sea of a million bikes which flooded the entrance area of Rotterdam’s Ahoy and look forward to the second day.