North Sea Jazz Festival, Rotterdam, Netherlands
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Now in its 36th year, Rotterdam’s North Sea Jazz festival shows no signs of ageing.
The name North Sea Jazz conjures up images of a cold and draughty festival exposed to the elements with not a little discomfort. Nothing could be further from the truth - most of it takes place indoors and you can even sit down on comfortable chairs. The venue is located in the suburbs of Rotterdam a short metro ride from the centre, and they keep the trains running all night so you can always get back to your hotel whatever the hour. It’s a mammoth undertaking with thirteen stages running simultaneously and as many as 70,000 people attending over the weekend. It still runs like the proverbial clockwork.
In Britain Jazz is often the exclusive preserve of the elderly male beard and duffle coat brigade but here there’s a healthy spread of ages, with an emphasis on the young. And given Rotterdam is a multicultural city, there’s a range of ethnicities so it does really feel like a big international event. And compared to British festivals, everyone is extremely polite – if they want to stand in front of you, they ask you your permission. Food is varied too with a wide range of fresh fruit on offer, as well as Caribbean, Indonesian, and Chinese, and there’s even a selection of fine wines.
This year the bill was extremely varied and you could argue that their definition of jazz was slightly elastic with headliners like Prince, Snoop Dogg and Paul Simon. But it doesn’t really matter since you can easily spend the whole weekend with a strong diet of the real stuff. John Scofield, John McLaughlin, Joe Lovano, Herbie Hancock, Dave Holland and Wayne Shorter were some of the heavyweights but there was a huge dollop of the experimental thrown in as well. I particularly enjoyed Norwegian Terje Isungset band’s set on frozen instruments– you’ve heard of air guitar, but what about ice guitar? And another favourite was Tia Fuller, clad in a gold lame mini- skirt, teetering on high heels, pushing her saxophone to the limits.
What I enjoyed most, though, were the intimate moments. It was always possible to get to the front and sit on the carpet, a few metres from the musicians. A late night encounter on Friday between Pharaoh Sanders and Robert Glasper‘s trio was extraordinary – Sanders feeding the odd line and pushing Glasper into further feats of virtuosity. Similarly the interplay between Joshua Redman and Brad Mehldau was nothing short of telepathic. Even though Redman was suffering badly from jetlag, he showed just what an accomplished performer he really is
And I do have a confession to make. I did deviate from my diet of hardcore jazz to take in Paul Simon’s set. These days he looks like a renegade from Curb Your Enthusiasm but is still in fine voice. It was greatest hits set with a healthy dose of the Graceland album thrown in, and he did get the audience singing along. I know they say, “It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing” but I think he just about qualified.
Useful links
Dutch Tourist Board
Rotterdam Information
The North Sea Jazz Festival 2012 at Ahoy Rotterdam will be held on 6th, 7th, 8th July.
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