We used to have the legendary North Sea Jazz festival in my home town of The Hague, but that was moved to Rotterdam. Fear not, there is now the The Hague Jazz festival - same venue, somewhat smaller programme. My wife's employer works for one of this year's main sponsors, so we got free tickets for Friday night, plus food and drinks - always nice!
Anyways - I thought we'd catch
Randy Weston's African Rhythms. In a word - wow! Just a piano trio, with bassist Alex Blake and percussionist Neil Clarke - they did four pieces, and kept things going gloriously for over an hour, full of zest. They seemed to be enjoying themselves too. The two side-men would hum out some of the tunes and solos, but not annoyingly.
Alex Blake was sitting on a drumstool, with the shoulders of the double bass at shoulder height, which looked odd, but it didn't keep him from playing the s* out of that bass. Neil Clarke was more a pillar of strength, keeping the momentum with the occasional flourish, and just one major solo near the end. And of course the genius of Randy Weston - perhaps the fingers have gone a little stiff with age, but the way he would sketch the outline of a full orchestra score, spicing it up with some terrific riffing, adding colors and textures ... When bass and percussion would be riffing tough for some time, he'd just plant one or two pretty quiet single notes, and they'd still ring out.
If they're coming your way, don't miss it!
