Jazz Connection live in Bonn Germany
Recensie / Review / Rezension
English-Network Bonn Germany (English).
John Hurd. 20.07.2009
Free Jazz is all around in Bonn, Or so it seems these days. The Rheinaue Season is well underway and the Sommergarten Sunday shows in Museumsplatz are also a regular (fortnightly) attraction. In the end what to see or not to see depends very much on the weather. Friday threatened rain so I headed to Sundays show next to the KAH in Museumsplatz. You’ve guessed it… the rain arrived on Sunday.
The musicians from Jazz Connection though were so nimble on their feet they could easily have dodged between the raindrops.
Jazz on the Roof wasn’t, as it happens threats of a downpour meant the show was moved and the General Anzeiger ‘tent’ pitched up in front of the rather grander ‘tent’ that is the Museumsplatz Stage. Actually this turned out to be a good thing because Jazz Connection like to ‘roam around’ during their sets. During any given number a sax player or trombonist is likely to ‘take off’ for a walk round the audience, instrument in hand.
Synchronised ‘Blowing’ from the Band
For you non-Jazz buffs out there a bit of detail and classification: Jazz Connection hail from Breda in Holland and play under the ’sub-section’ of Jump Jive. It’s a title I’m familiar with through an excellent Joe Jackson record from way back that centred around the Music of Cab Calloway and Louis Jordan who along with Ellington and Basie was one of the prime movers of Jazz and Swing in the 1940’s. Jordan has been dubbed the King of Rythm & Blues which is maybe why I like his Jump Jazz style so much and why I also enjoy the music of Jazz Connection.
It’s an energetic style which is a refreshing alternative to the aging face of jazz that tends to dominate the beer gardens these days. In keeping with this the band itself is comparatively young too – with only trumpet player Jurgen Feskens sporting a full head ofwhite hair (okay, trombonist Peter VanSteen has no hair at all so we’re not talking teenagers here, but young at heart and fit they all are).
There is of course a large helping of Jordan classics – ‘Jack, You dead’, a surprisingly low key version of ‘Is you is, or Is You aint my Baby?’ and of course a storming version of the Jordan classic ‘Caldonia’. Quirky songs like ‘Nosey Joe’ and ‘Feets too Big’, classics like ‘When You’re Smiling’ and ‘Just a Gigolo’ and even a surprise offering of Van Morrison’s ‘Moondance’ – well maybe not such a surprise since they played a set of Morrison numbers here two years ago, the project ‘A Morisson Feeling’, is now available as a (very enjoyable) CD in it’s own right.
Taking it to the People – Sax player Rob Henneveld
The band could give The Jackson Five a run for their money where synchronised instrument playing/dancing is concerned. One trombone going left as the trumpet goes right and hell would break loose. It’s a dangerous life playing Jump Jazz for this band! Everything though seems, as always when it’s done well, effortless and by the shows end I’m thinking this is one of the best acts I’ve seen at a Sommergarten show – and I’ve seen plenty. If they come down your way don’t miss Jazz Connection. And if you don’t start tapping at least one foot after the first song then – ‘Jack, you dead!’
