Bindu Tour diary – installation #3

When we left Paris on Saturday, I was feeling a bit out of balance. My stomach was a little upset, I just generally felt funky (the bad kind of funky). We flew to Milan, got to the hotel, and had a big dinner with the promoter scheduled for that evening. I laid down to see if some sleep would help. I soon realized that I had some sort of 24 hour virus. I’ll spare you the gory details, and just say that I missed the great dinner and conversation on Saturday, while laying in bed sore and feverish.

Our show in Milan was at 11am on Sunday. It seemed like an odd time to me, but apparently it works here. The show was sold out, and people crowded the stage for autographs after. I think the music went well, but it was 11 am and I was still not back to 100%.

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Jeb and Napoleon towards the end of the autograph frenzy.

The promoter gave us a great lunch at the hotel after the gig. These Italians can eat, and they do it quite well. Jeb had a great line in the dressing room before the concert. He filled his cup from a somewhat generic looking coffee thermos and said, “wow, they just don’t know how to make bad coffee in Italy.” The lunch was good and huge. My body still wasn’t quite ready to eat it all, but I had tastes and it was great, especially the saffron risotto in a parmesan cheese shell.

I slept the rest of the afternoon, and was finally feeling completely like myself again by 9pm or so. Jeb and I went for a longish walk, and I finally got to see some of Milan. We ended up walking by La Scala, which was cool.

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The statue of Leonardo in the square opposite La Scala Opera.

The part of Milan that we walked in has a great cool old city vibe, although there seemed to be a few too many McDonalds.

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I wonder if Milanese folks that are visiting New Orleans or Chicago say things like, “why would we eat at McDonalds here, we can do that at home.”

Bindu Tour diary – installation 2, or name dropping

We played the first gig of the tour tonight. It went very well considering that we made the record in May, and haven’t played together since. We ran some stuff at sound check, and the great musicians in the band did what great musicians do. Every cat in this band is absolutely world class, and it is a great pleasure an honor to make music with them. I’ll try not to assume that you know who I am talking about. The band is Hamid Drake on drums, Jeff Parker on guitar, Josh Abrams on bass and guimbre, Jeb Bishop and myself on trombones, and Napoleon Maddox on all manner of vocally created musical sounds.

Tomorrow we travel to Milan, where we play Sunday morning.

I have always heard about how these European festivals can turn into big musician hangs. Tonight we split a show with Kahil el Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble with special guest Neneh Cherry. Ernest Dawkins and Corey Wilkes were in Kahil’s band, along with Matthew Kent and Franck Orall. Also hanging out were William Parker, Billy Bang, Nasheet Waits, Flip Barnes, Rob Brown, and Rasul Siddik, plus a bunch of other cats that I didn’t get to meet. We are all staying at the same hotel, and ended up at the bar across the street after the gig. Neneh told me that her father, Don Cherry (the great musician and trumpeter, not the hockey guy), used to play the the Dr. John record with the Meters as the band (“Right Place Wrong Time”) all the time. Pretty cool.

Bindu Tour diary – installment 1

The Hamid Drake and Bindu Tour is underway. The first performance is tonight in Cachan (just outside of Paris). I left the US on Wednesday, and arrived in Paris Thursday morning. I was successful in my effort to not go to sleep until Thursday night, and I feel pretty good today.

Last night we went to a lecture/symposium at University of Paris Diderot. The subject was Don Cherry, the speakers were Hamid Drake and Kahil El Zabar. It was hosted and translated by Alexandre Pierrepont. The was a good bit of insight presented on Cherry’s life and music, and music in general and drumming in particular. I’d like to hear it again, minus the jet lag.

Earlier in the day, Jeb Bishop took me to a la Biche au Bois, which is a great little restaurant that has developed quite a following amongst the Chicago improvisers. The food was great, and I fulfilled my cultural study needs by getting a full on almost two hour long déjuner.

I started with les œufs aux mayonaise.

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Next was the coq au vin, which I was told is a must have at this place, and it was fabulous.

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Next was le fromage.

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…and I couldn’t pass up le creme brulé avec armignac.

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Lunch was followed by une promenade sur la Champs-Élysée, and my touristing was complete. I have rehearsal in a few minutes, so hopefully the next installments will be more about music than food.

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sports as a lens

It’s not likely that I will often link to ESPN from this blog, but the article linked below is a good read. He seems to get it, although I would get my oysters at Domilisi’s and roast beef at Parkway.

NFL: New Orleans Saints are the soul of America’s City – ESPN:

“The Saints aren’t encouraging people to rebuild, or providing comfort to a wounded city, or any of that. They are showing the world what has been rebuilt.”

End of year love, and a friend has moved

Richard Kamins, Connecticut based culture creature and lover of music, has a new location on the web. You can now read him at http://steptempest.blogspot.com. Richard has always been nice to me in writing, and he continues to do that by including the Jeff Albert Quartet in his 2009 faves list. He puts us in excellent company.

We had the pleasure of meeting and hanging with Richard when the JAQ played Middletown, CT last summer. In addition to having excellent taste, he is a nice guy and a cool hang. Read his stuff.

They Love Like Me

The online balloting is now open for the 2009 “Best of the Beat Awards” which are presented by offBeat Magazine. I have been nominated for Contemporary Jazz Performer and Trombonist of the Year, and Similar in the Opposite Way is nominated for Contemporary Jazz CD of the Year. It really is an honor to be nominated, but I also feel that I must tell you that you can vote here: http://www.offbeat.com/bob09/, should you feel so inclined. Let your ears and your conscience be your guide.