November 2011 - 香港電台

COLUMNS 專 欄Sundays, 11pmStacey RoddaBenjamin Herman© Frank HanswijkJoin us for a look at the European jazz scene with 8 weeks ofperformances from the continent’s hottest clubs, concert halls andfestivals, including the spectacular North Sea Jazz Festival.Programme Host Benjamin Herman is one of the most original and productive jazz musicians in theNetherlands, exploring influences beyond the confines of the jazz world. This saxophonist’s fame spreadbeyond jazz circles (where he was a noted soloist) in the 1990s when he formed the groundbreakingensemble New Cool Collective and then his own quartet.6 NovemberProgramme One touches down in northern Holland for Dr. Lonnie Smith and the Concertgebouw JazzOrchestra. For over five decades Smith has furthered the sound of jazz organ. Jazz Times magazine recentlydescribed him as ‘a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a turban.’ This kind of description suggests thelevel of complexity that he exhibits in his music and the pure amazement that it elicits. Then we go on toAmsterdam for the Christian McBride and his Inside Straight Quintet. Bassist extraodinaire Christian McBridehas been regarded as one of the most important and most omnipresent figures in the jazz world for 20 yearsand he’s not yet 40. He’s worked closely with opera legend Kathleen Battle, bass virtuoso Edgar Meyer, theShanghai Quartet, and the Sonus Quartet. Then we land at the famous Melkweg (Milky Way) Club for thePloctones – a ‘four headed monster’ that’s currently Holland’s most successful band. The Ploctones express afeeling of liberation that can only exist in your wildest fantasies. Their music swings, howls, vibrates, bangsand whacks like nothing else.Dr. Lonnie Smith© Mark sheldon13 NovemberIn Programme Two, Dee Dee Bridgewater, winner of two Grammy Awards, kicks it off with an all-star bandat the North Sea Festival. Then from Slovenia come promising young talents of the European Jazz Orchestraand Michael Moore’s ‘Fragile’ Quartet onstage in Amsterdam. The saxophonist is a member of Amsterdam’svenerable ICP Orchestra.20 NovemberProgramme Three has sounds of Havana, Brussels, and Beirut. Cuba’s Harold is at the Bimhuis. The 24-yearoldLopez-Nussa was born into a Cuban musical dynasty - the nephew of famous pianist Ernan Lopez-Nussaand the son of drummer Ruy Lopez-Nussa. Harold Lopez-Nussa’s formidble technique on the keyboardearned him the Laureate Prize at the prestigious Montreux Jazz Piano Competition in 2005. The Brussels JazzOrchestra plays the music of trumpeter Bert Joris who put Flemish/Belgian jazz on the map. Finally an OrientalinfluencedDutch trio called Jungle Boldie completes this evening of live music from The Netherlands. JungleBoldie is the latest incarnation of the musical friendship between saxophonist Maarten Ornstein, bassist TonyOverwater and drummer Wim Kegel playing wayward/idiosyncratic jazz, deeply rooted in different culturesand styles.Dee Dee BridgewaterJungle Boldie© North Sea Jazz 2010 / Paul Bergen29 FINE MUSIC |November 2011