The second concert in this minitour is 350 km to the west of Neuburg. On a beautiful spring day we follow the river Donau until we get to Villingen. A nice little German town where the Jazzclub is as small as the town is. The fully packed concerthall in the cellar of an old building in the historic centre of Villingen gives room to around 60 real jazzfans. This is one of the old Jazz clubs in Germany with a history of 35 years of Jazz. Pictures on the wall and arches tell a rich history of German Jazz life. Most of the fans seem to have been a frequent customer ever since the beginning of the club. An almost distinct sort of jazz lovers including beards, pipes and curdoroy pants that I only know from the German jazz scene is still alive and kicking. With a good knowledge of Jazz history they keep an open mind to all forms of modern jazz. But also some younger people are present and the atmosphere of the club is like in the old days. A nice and steaming concert, dry acoustics, and an enthousiastic warm response of the audience. It’s great to be here. I play so strong on my poor bass guitar that I end up with a blood blisters on my fingers. Playing bass guitar is quite different from playing acoustic bass, using other muscles and other part of fingers. I need at least a few concerts to really adapt again.

Sunday we are driving back home. 10 hours straight. Luckily it’s a sunday and the highways are wide open. Back home and a nice suprise on my doorstep. Filmmaker Jonathan Herman finally send me a dvd of the video clip I made for him in 1998. Worth watching.

Met z’n vieren razen we in mijn oude volgepakte Ford Mondeo over de Duitse autobahn. Er is iets met mijn stuur wat af en toe uit zichzelf gevaarlijk naar links of rechts zwenkt. Vanavond spelen we met Wired Paradise in Neuburg an der Donau, een club diep in het Duitse Beieren. Ik heb er veel zin in. Eindelijk spelen we weer met deze band. Ik heb voor dit optreden meer dan 2 jaar moeten bellen met de nogal stugge clubeigenaar.
Het is vrijdag, de vakantie is begonnen en na 5 uur rijden lopen de wegen vast. We staan meer dan 2 uur letterlijk stil voor Würzburg, het is 7 uur en we moeten nog meer dan 200 kilometer rijden. Ons optreden begint om half 9. We nemen een B weg maar ook daar is het druk. In dorpjes staan we stil en ik begin me steeds meer te realiseren dat we na nu al bijna 12 uur in de auto te hebben gezeten we dit optreden (het enige goed betaalde optreden van de twee concerten die we dit weekeind in Duitsland spelen) gaan missen.
Het is 8 uur en we bellen de club. We mogen iets later beginnen. Het volgende uur bellen we om het kwartier de club opnieuw en proberen onze aanvangstijd telkens met 10 minuten te verlengen. Het lukt en de wegen worden leger.
Het laatste stuk snelweg (nog steeds 80 km) raas ik met het zwenkende stuur en stijve schouders door.
We komen om 5 voor 10 bij de club, bijna anderhalf uur later dan dat we moesten beginnen maar het publiek zit er nog en we spelen een goede lange set. Wat een dag.

We left this morning for Neuburg an der Donau. A 700 km trip by car. We left early leaving enough time to travel. But never underestimate the German highways. They seem to be working on them all year around and German traffic is even more hectic and busy than Dutch traffic. After a few mild traffic jams we were still not really worried until we hit Wurzburg… We spent two hours in the car watching the pavement not moving an inch. It was five now and we were suppose to play at 8.30. Still plenty of time. But suddenly now it’s seven and the German radio is giving no signs of a relieve. The road is blocked. We slowly start to panic. We call Frank Mobus the other guitar player who is traveling by train and who will be there in time. He’s at the club and they are getting worried now. We still have 200 km to go. We manage to get of the highway and take the national roads. Through little villages and also under heavy traffic. We really start to worry now and actually count on missing the concert. The last time that happened to us was 12 years ago, when we were traveling through Norway by camper. After 2 days of heavy snow and slipsliding the roads of Norway and Sweden we had a car accident 2 hours before the concert was supposed to start. When we arrive, 30 minutes late and still trembling from the shock of the accident, the organizer walks out and tells us that he already sent the audience home, which wasn’t that much work because there were only four people….. With this story in the back of our heads we are desperately pushing Joost’s old car to it’s limits. After eight o’clock most of the traffic is gone and we step on it. We finally arrive at 10 o’clock 2 hours late. Luckily the audience is still there and we promised them a cd each for waiting. People clap when we walk in and after 20 minutes of building up we start playing, no dinner, no drinks. Still we manage to play a good set with even a very nice encore. But what a day, after 12 hours of driving without a break playing a concert is something else. But at least we made it

Tomorrow morning early we are leaving for Germany for 2 concerts in the south. I just finished programming Yuri’s new site. (http://www.jazzinmotion.com/). I am pretty wasted. I think I spend more time behind the computer than behind my bass these days. I am happy to tour and do some concerts. Before I’ll go to bed I will study some bass guitar. I need to be in shape to play those fast lines.

We will play our first concerts with the new ‘Meet your Demons’ repertoire. It will be a blast. Great music. For me quite a change to playing acoustic and jazz. Many repetitive lines, no impro’s. More like a zen meditation.

Our video’s are now on line. check it out!

The rehearsals

The concert

Tonight we had a concert at a beautiful palace close to Tunis. In a beautiful intimate court we played our concert for about 200 people. A full house. The sound of the room was great. The stone floors were covered with persian carpets and the wooden walls of the small courtyard made it sound superb. Tomorrow we’ll fly back. We met some interesting people and we will definitely come back soon. To do some more concerts and workshops. (concert picture by Mili Anis)

Today we gave a workshop for the jazz students in Tunis. Playing and explaining the blues. It was the first time I had to give a workshop in French. Quite a challenge but really nice to do.

In front of the Conservatoire de Tunis.

First we play a blues for the students.

Than I am trying to explain in French what we are about.
Zjoost Leibaaaardd, il a dix-sept ans. Yurii Ooniiing, saxo ténor.

Joost teaching the drummers some how to accompany in Jazz style

Yuri explaining how to improvise with scales.

Tomorrow we are leaving for a short visit to Tunisia. We are playing at a festival called Jazz à Carthage, a big international festival. Tunisia will be our 45th country we visit.

We had two more concerts in Dehli. One at a amphitheatre at a mall and one at the IIC (India International Centre). Our last concert in the garden of the IIC was a special one. Many people we met the last days, at the other concerts and at our workshop showed up. Unfortunately we had to leave straight after the concert to the airport for our flight back home. As I am writing this I am back at home sitting behind my desk. Our Next tour will be to Tunisia in 2 weeks. We’ll be keeping you updated with a new weblog.

The Old Delhi is a lively place; markets, churches, mosques, temples. Joost and I visited a Sikh temple and stayed for an hour sitting on the floor looking at all the people passing by. Two singers and a tabla player were performing while people where worshipping. It also took us in a state of meditation and peacefulness. My mind was blank, just slowly processing the events of the past days. One thought comes to mind repeatedly, a quote by John Lennon. ‘Live is what happens to you while you are making other plans.’ Even though not actively religious it always is a great feeling to get to a temple, church, mosque or any other holy place and let your mind concentrate on higher thoughts. We couldn’t make pictures inside so we just have this less attractive picture of the outside.

After this we went across the street to the silk market buying some presents for our families. Little dark streets filled with shops with silk and kasmir, at least that is what they say it is.

At the end of the market, between old houses a beautiful ruin and an old man.