Over in England

U.K is an interesting country. Maybe I should say England (sounds more royal?). I have been here for about a week now, playing with a traditional jazz band at trashy pubs and less trashy concert halls. The band I´m touring with plays old jazz – the average age on the audience is quite high, lets say… 93 years. That makes the gigs not too wild. Everybody in the audience is sitting with a pint in the hand and a big nostalgic smile all over the face. Some did not smile when I think about it. After the first set the nice old fellows in the audience tend to wake up a little; it is then time for the big raffle! The leader of the raffle, very often a big guy around the age of 87, takes place behind a microphone while I play a roll on the snare drum. Then he screams out the magic number of the evening and the roll gets louder. Suddenly a happy winner will rise and the battle is over. The price is very often some biscuits or a bottle of wine. After that we continue to play again. It is a challenge to play traditional jazz in a simple and groovy way for a modern cat. I have to say that the listeners here are very nice and polite!

Of course I brought a fly rod on the tour. Of course the guys in the band never stop the car and let me fish. The members of this band are more like… normal jazz musicians. It still feels nice to drive around all over England knowing that the rod is just under my seat. Today we drove up to Edinburgh, Scotland. Aaaaaahhh, what a trip! The landscape is really beautiful up here, it’s a shame that I forgot the monster camera at home!

So… no pictures this time! Instead you can take a look at this clip showing guys who play jazz in a really swingy way! Back in the good old days this was the pop music. People went out every night and danced! Who knows, maybe some people in this clip are the same guys that were listening and dancing to us in U.K. Jazz keeps you young!