I am....not so much into jazz at beleuvenissen
It's july and it was Friday...so it was "Beleuvenissen" in Leuven. The theme at Beleuvenissen was Jazz on this second evening. I've never really been a jazz fan. I still remember my first class of 'Western Civilisation' in Canada : my teacher was playing some jazz and we had to write down associations. I had written down 'ugly screaming saxophones' on my sheet in Dutch. My teacher turned out to be a real jazz fan and ...understanding Dutch as well :p. We had a good laugh about it and Western Civ became my favourite class during my year in Canada.
Anyway despite my Jazz aversion and illiteracy 10 years ago, I wanted to see whether any of the performances could change my opinion and together with Jan and some friends, we headed downtown. After the real crappy weather we've had lately, the temperatures had finally risen to some more acceptable "summer" levels. As a result everybody seemed to be having the feeling that they had to take advantage of the good weather with an "outdoor" activity. So we were not the only ones downtown.
We first stopped at the tiny square near the Domus brewery where 'Iris and friends' where performing. The brochure predicted lots of swinging enthousiast musicians. I wonder if the author had actually seen them performing before. Iris and friends resembled more karaoke singing Mme Toussauld statues that were neither swinging or enthousiastic. Especially the contrabas player was remarkable in his unflappability. Don't get me wrong: they sounded pretty good! It was quite enjoyable to have a drink on the square and enjoy the music, with your back to the stage :p. And the basist got a lot of attention and photographs taken. When he did a little solo, the people all started clapping and cheering. It was quite funny really.
Anyway despite my Jazz aversion and illiteracy 10 years ago, I wanted to see whether any of the performances could change my opinion and together with Jan and some friends, we headed downtown. After the real crappy weather we've had lately, the temperatures had finally risen to some more acceptable "summer" levels. As a result everybody seemed to be having the feeling that they had to take advantage of the good weather with an "outdoor" activity. So we were not the only ones downtown.
We first stopped at the tiny square near the Domus brewery where 'Iris and friends' where performing. The brochure predicted lots of swinging enthousiast musicians. I wonder if the author had actually seen them performing before. Iris and friends resembled more karaoke singing Mme Toussauld statues that were neither swinging or enthousiastic. Especially the contrabas player was remarkable in his unflappability. Don't get me wrong: they sounded pretty good! It was quite enjoyable to have a drink on the square and enjoy the music, with your back to the stage :p. And the basist got a lot of attention and photographs taken. When he did a little solo, the people all started clapping and cheering. It was quite funny really.
Afterwards we went to see the Brussels Jazz Orchestra. I am sure that they are excellent musicians, but they reminded me more about the ugly screaming saxophones. Hmm don't think my opinion about jazz has changed substantially.
We closed the evening at the Vismark where we finally have found some free chairs at a terrace to sit down and to listen from a distance to Doug Jay & The Blue Jays, who performed quite nice blues. I didn't obtain tickets for the Rhythm & Blues festival this weekend, but I did get to listen to some live blues :).
It was a great summer night! Finally!
.jpeg)
Comments