Logo Susanne Alt Official Website
Susanne Alt
Photo: Robert Glass

On Track

Cover On Track - Third Album
Released February 7th 2009

Delight

Cover Delight - Second Album
The second album released
September 20th 2007

Nocturne

Cover Nocturne - First album
The debut album released October 11th 2004

Welcome to Susanne Alt’s Website!!!

You may know Susanne from different festivals where she performed with the Susanne Alt Quartet. You also might have been to a house club or an outdoor festival where Susanne performed with a dj or another live band. Or maybe you were hanging out at one of the major cities’ night bars+ jazz clubs where Susanne sat in jamming with local or famous jazz, funk, soul, r&b, blues or songwriting artists. Susanne Alt can be found in many different contexts.

In 2004 she released her debut cd “Nocturne” with compositions written by herself and the other members of the Susanne Alt Quartet. Her second album “Delight” was released in September 2007. In February 2009 she released her third album “On Track” which features guitarist Bruno Speight (Maceo Parker, SOS Band) and Fred Wesley (musical director of James Brown and funkiest trombone player of the world).

Read the bio, listen to the tracks, watch the pictures, check out the links, leave a message in the guest book, and buy/order the cd’s!!!

News Archive

16-10-07

Dear people,

thanks for being at the release concert at Bimhuis 20th of september. It was a great experience and it wouldn't have been possible without all of you. Almost every seat was taken and I sold many cd's.
For the ones who want to look and listen back, go to my links-page on this site and click on: Susanne Alt Quartet at Bimhuis 20-09-07 Audio and Video. VPRO was so kind to record it and you can listen to the whole evening, and also an extra hour of favourite music I put together. There's 3 video clips online, too.
Within Europe you can order the cd "Delight" and of course also still "Nocturne" via this website, just click on the order-link.
If you don't want to order it online and you live in Holland go to the page on my site with all the shops in Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, Utrecht and Breda.
If you live outside of europe you'll have to be a bit patient, it will be available via Itunes, CD-Baby etc, I'll let you know.

Right now we are updating this homepage, just come by sometimes and you'll see that we'll add reviews, photo's, concerts and other updates.

Love,
Susanne

11-09-07 - Counting down !

Just a little over a week and Delight, the brand new cd of the Susanne Alt Quartet, will be released at Bimhuis in Amsterdam!!

As of right now you can already find more information on Delight on the website. You also have the chance to pre-order Delight which means you will get it as soon as it's released!!

We will release audio samples of the cd on the site this week, so make sure you keep an eye on it!. I hope to see you all at Bimhuis in 9 days!!

X
Susanne


25-07-07 - BEIRUT TRIP !!!

In the week before North Sea Jazz Festival a mail reached me from my Myspace-friend DJ Aphreme from Poland. I’ve recorded a tune with him a few months ago. He was approached by a club scene promoter: if he would know a female sax player so they ended up with me. His name is Alphonse. He wanted a female sax player to play in Beirut at a party and it had to be fast!! If I could make it the weekend of july 13th. No, of course not because I had to play twice already at North Sea Jazz. If I could make it the week after. I was able to shift my appointments. Oh yes and if I knew a nice male saxophone player as well who could come with me and play one of the 2 gigs with me. After looking at websites of my sax friends and looking at their agenda’s and calling a few I found Cyrille Oswald. I met him a few years ago at the Dutch Jazz Competition. We were both in the final and had a nice little chat after performing. That’s it, further I didn’t know him.

Alphonse later explained to me that people in Beirut have to plan last minute because of the political situation which is stable at the moment but you never know exactly. What they know is definetely: Party party party as long as you can!!

Thurday 19th was a travel day, Friday I soundchecked and practised with dj Georgio and they explained to me that I had to play on a crane outside the building which would become erased to the same lecvel as the roof top bar… I can tell you it was kind of scary. I am not afraid of heights but yes, a crane, standing freely outside a building, about 10 meters away from the actual building… okay… to make my appearance even more special they installed fireworks on the crane. So imagine, somebody slightly neurotic like me being put into the situation of a) being on a meterhigh crane and b) having fireworks around me…that’s nightmare stuff, first fall then burn etc etc.. I have a rich fantasy. Well. It worked of course and it was a big succes. I just never had such shaky knees before in my life.

Next day, Saturday, the same procedure exept from Cyrille being on another crane and playing with me along the dj. It also worked. Of course. The party people were mainly Lebanese people which live abroad because of the political situation and enjoy summer in their hometown and visiting family. Skybar is one of the places to be in town, even Fashion TV Arabia came along and filmed us and the party people. At clubs like the Sky Bar money seems not to be an issue and beautiful women, beautifully dressed are average. I’ve never seen so many fasionable and well-taken-care-of women especially in a such big concentration as at Sky Bar. Men are ok, too, but women really stand out. That were the gigs, 2 nights playing a set on the crane with dj and fireworks.

Cyrille’s and my flight was Tuesday night so we still had a lot of time to see some of the country. Sunday I went to the beautiful beach at the city and read a book. Later that evening we went into the old town of Beirut, beautiful and well-rebuilt. We had some nice cocktails and met some nice people. Monday Alphonse took us to his parents’ house and at noon we went to the east to visit Baalbek, the oldest roman ruin ever found. We met some very friendly local people which introduced us to local habits and food. We enjoyed the beautiful valleys we drove by and finished the evening at the countyside house of Alphonse’s family with a lot of great food and Arak, the Lebanese drink.
Tuesday we went to a beautiful beach oasis north of Beirut, it was a kind of an insider tip, no fashionables and fancy people, just very down to earth ones.
We swam and played saxophone for Alphonse’s friends and had some more food and Arak and took the plane back home.

I learned that nothing is like it seems in Lebanon, that non-lebanese people can’t understand and judge on the politics. It’s a great country, there is fantastic food and drink and very lovely people. It’s so european and so arabic and so mediterranean and so different and people are rich and poor and party or don’t party at all, are politically involved or not at all. Very outspoken. Holland and Germany don’t have that extreme opposites, people and habits are a lot more mellow and similar.
As you can see it was a very interesting trip!
Stay tuned for video clips, I will post it soon at Youtube. Just type: susanne alt skybar beirut, and then you should find something….
Peace,
Susanne

16-07-07

North Sea Jazz Festival 2007
It was fantastic. I played there 3 times: With DJ Maestro (featuring Lex Empress (vocals), Lennaert (keys), and Femke Krone (perc)), as a guest with Wicked Jazz Sounds (feat. Berenice van Leer and Paul van Kessel (both voc), Gilian Baracs (keys), and Laurens Priem (git)) and with the Amsterdam Jazz Orchestra.

On first day I stepped out of the train at Rotterdam Central Station and who did I see stepping out of the Thalys? Johnny Griffin! He needed some help getting to the taxi and I was glad to be able to help this saxophone giant.
Friday I also went to the musicians after-session where I got to jam with Marcus Miller, Roy Hargrove and many more great people. I got to talk with some of my musical heroes such as Rodney Skeet Curtis, Dennis Chambers and Kirk Whalum.
I got surprised by a great female saxophone player I didn’t know yet. Sunday I stood talking to some friend, tired, not knowing which concert we should check out, we walked into the hall where Randy Brecker played and there she was: Ada Rovatti, a fantastic tenor player playing “Sponge”, my favourite tune by the Brecker Brothers!!!

And I saw the backstage arrival and depart of Sly from a 3 meter distance. It was a crazy circus with loads of photographers, camera men, famous musicians who couldn’t wait to catch a glimpse of mysterious Sly.
Snoop Dogg played right after Sly so I saw him arriving, too. He’s the coolest of all. He’s the only man on earth who looks cool with 2 braids and a (I call it) soup dress..

What more could I wish? I can’t think of anything. It’s been an incredible experience and I am already looking forward to next years’s North Sea Jazz festival.

X
Susanne


10-04-07

The new cd is recorded and mixed!
I am very happy with the result. You'll have to wait some time until it's released: We just got the official confirmation from Bimhuis to have a cd-release concert there! So make sure to write down in your agenda:

20th of september, 21h, Bimhuis, Amsterdam.

I'll keep you updated about the process...
x
Susanne


31-01-07

Hi everybody,
Finally we set a recording date for the new cd, it's going to be beginning
of april. Hopefully I can release the record in september/october
depending on the schedule of my favourite jazz venue, Bimhuis. I really
would love to have my release concert and party in there... I'll keep you
updated!
x
Susanne


November 22nd, 2006

I am going to replace jan Kooper (http://www.jankooper.com) for a couple of gigs on his tour with Willeke Alberti (http://willekealberti.nl). Justgot the music yesterday and now I have to practise the tunes... I am sure it'll be fun to do the gigs, there's some really great musicians playingin the band.

Stay tuned... I am working on some interesting stuff but it's too early to tell you yet.
x
Susanne


August 25th, 2006

Yesterday the Susanne Alt Quartet had a gig at Alto where we played all new material. It was very refreshing to play new band compositions!
Klaas van Donkersgoed, our previous drummer has left the band a few weeks ago because he wants to develop his own music. Fortunately I found a new drummer which is at least joining us for the next couple of gigs: Steve Altenberg from New York! He lived in Amsterdam before. Then he moved back to New York and now he again lives in Amsterdam because he’ll be teaching drums at the Conservatory of Groningen (NL). You’ll find more information about him if you search him on the internet. He has a weblog on Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/stevealtenberg
There you’ll find some of his music.
For those who live in Holland: Don’t miss the gigs with the “Tribute to Bob Marley” Band. You can find the dates in my “concerts” section.
Take care….
Susanne


June 26th, 2006

The Amsterdam Jazz Orchestra (with a.o.me on 2nd tenor) won the BigbandFestival Concours in Alkmaar! So it appears to be a lucky bigband! 2competitions won within a couple of weeks!
During the last year the bigband was applying for some funds and we gotone for recording a cd. Great!

I'll work on some music and hopefully the Susanne Alt Quartet will be ableto record a new record in autumn!!!

Have a nice summer!
greetings,
Susanne


June 6th, 2006

The Amsterdam Jazz Orchestra won the Bigband Competition in Enschede!In this band I play tenor sax. Check out my agenda for new dates. In thelink section you also find a link to the website of the bigband.


April 25th, 2006

I just discovered MySpace a few weeks ago and I have to say that it’s great! Become a member and you can become friends with a lot of great musicians and music lovers. I uploaded some music which you probably don’t know yet and if you check out my video clips you can see some live performances of me. You only have to become member to see it.Membership is free.
Go to: http://www.myspace.com
Find me on: http://www.myspace.com/susannealt
Enjoy!
Susanne


March 15th, 2006

Yesterday I had a green screen shoot for WickedJazzSounds. What’s that? I can imagine that not everybody knows what it is… Maybe some of you have seen “The Making of” of some movies where people can fly, jump 50 meters high or things like that. They first film actors with a green or blue background and put them later into the actual background and scenery you see in the movie. The VJ’s of WickedJazzSounds will make a compilation of all the shoots of every artist and “mix” it with different frames and backgrounds. The miracle is that the green or blue background will disappear…they use this colors as a contrast and to give us a healthy tan I guess…I hope I explained it well, haha! The result of it will be displayed on the 3 big screens at the weekly gig at Sugar Factory. Curious? Come and see (&dance&listen) every Sunday to Sugar Factory (www.sugarfactory.nl). Next time I play there is April 9th.


January 19th, 2006

Hi there,
The Ivo Niehe tv program thing on Talpa is now definitely happening, the Ivo Niehe Theater Show Band will join him on several dates, not all of them though. I don’t know the exact times yet but I guess it’ll be anyway on Thursday and then in the evening. Check your TV Guide or the internet for more information.Here’s a list of dates where we probably play:
“Ivo op Donderdag”
26-01-06
02-02-06
09-02-06
02-03-06
16-03-06
30-03-06
13-04-06
The show is going to be recorded at Nieuwe De La Maar Theater in Amsterdam. Nice for me because I can go there within 10 minutes by bike. It’s possible that we join him more often but those dates seem to be fixed…. You never know, it’s television… always last minute decisions…On the theater tour I played alto sax, soprano sax, flute and electric bass and the funny thing is that we probably always will play the song where I played bass!!!!!! Susanne Alt on bass! That’s different…haha….I hope to get a chance to play my sax as well… you and I will see! Check it out!
Love,
Susanne

January 6th, 2006

Happy new year!
I finished the theater tour with Ivo Niehe, but he has plans for a TV show on Talpa. It’s not very clear yet but it seems that he wants the band also on TV which he used in the theaters. That would be an excellent start into the new year!
12th of January at 21.00h the theater show will be broadcasted on Talpa!!!!!(It was recorded at December 22nd in Drachten. Also go to: www.detheatershow.nl to get more details about the whole thing.
There are also plans for a new theater tour in fall but let’s see how things develop…
Technically the DVD of my concert at the (old) Bimhuis is finished, now we still have to design a cover and bring it to the press. Editing it took a while because some laptops crashed and there were difficulties with the sound. Well, we fixed it and there it comes…I hope to be able to present the DVD within … let’s say 2 months.
I started finishing unfinished tunes and ideas to get another record out. One of the things I want to do this year… and which I promised to myself is going to the studio and make a second record. Keep it going!
That’s a good sentence for you all and everyone in 2006 I hope:
Keep things going…
X
Susanne


October 20th 2005

We have published new photos ! Click here to visit the gallery.


September 19th 2005

What’s new… ? Within the next few days we’ll put a couple of new photo’s online… it’s a mix of different gigs I did during the summer, mostly taken by Moos with my or his flashy mobile phone which has a 2.0 mega pixel camera. That’s why some pictures are not 100% sharp but it was about the atmosphere and not about the perfect shot. I hope you don’t mind… it’s about what’s on the photo…Maybe it’ll inspire some of you photographers to come by and take some professional pictures…. ;-) You are always welcome!
Well I had a good summer break. Between end of July and middle of august I didn’t do so much except from relaxing; I had a busy year. We played a couple of times with the band, also at Uitmarkt in Amsterdam, the annual festival where performing artists show a part of their show as preview on the new season. AT5 made a little special about me; I played a ballad with Sven Schuster and I had a little interview.
“My” drummer, Klaas van Donkersgoed, went to study in New York and I find that a pity. He’s supposed to come back at the end of December and I hope he enjoys it there! Some other drummers will replace him, for example Joost Kesselaar.
The rehearsals with Ivo Niehe have started and it’s turning out more and more how exactly the show is going to be. It’s a very interesting progress. It gives me the possibility to contribute to all the arrangements and to manage to switch between playing 4 instruments: flute, soprano sax, alto sax and electric bass.

The summer is almost over, I thought it would be nice to put some of my favorite going- out-spots on a line:
I was glad to hear that the New Cool Collective bigband starts to play again once a month at a location; they start 17th of October at the “Sugar Factory”, Amsterdam. It’s a very cool band and I always used to go to Meander, where they used to play every 2 weeks. If you can, check it out! Also on Mondays: the jam session at Old Quarter at the Warmoestraat, Amsterdam.
And nice, too: the Wicked Jazz Sounds Sessions every Sunday at Sugar Factory, starting at 0.00h.
The jam sessions at Café Museum (Saturdays at 15.00h) and Engelbewaarder( Sundays at 16.30h) started again; they had a summer break. Café Alto is always a good place to go to… sometimes the band s are amazing or famous musicians are joining the band after just having played at the Paradiso…
Besides from music: Not to forget the “Brouwerij ‘t Ij” at the windmill in Amsterdam East where you can drink the most tasty beer. Try “Zatte”! It makes you happy. They are open Wednesday-Sunday from 15.30-19.15h. I guess they invented those strange opening times to avoid hardcore alcoholics…

Now it’s time to pick up everything again and write new music, think about the next record… of course I’ll keep you updated!

Take it easy…
X
Susanne

July 9th 2005

North Sea Jazz Festival, for the last time in The Hague. I am very pleased that our group has been invited to participate. It’s the cream on the cake (is that correct?… but I guess you understand what I mean) on my efforts I made during the last year. I played at the Spiegeltent, a nice podium with an incredible sound engineer. After my concert, Hans Dijkstal invited me to play in his radio show with a great band, consisting of: Jasper Soffers, Joris Teepe and Erik Kooger. He also interviewed me and I was very pleased to be in his show between all the big stars. We filmed everything and I hope to be able to put some video clips of my performances online soon. You all take care! Keep visiting my site!
Susanne

June 2nd 2005

Dear people,
Last time I posted a message was when I just got a new appartment and I thought I would be living there after 2-3 weeks cleaning and painting. But since I have so many window frames and a new wooden floor which had to be painted I am still working on it. What drives me crazy is that I thought it would be much less work! We spent so much time just removing old ugly dark red, purple and pink frame paint that it was a crime. But now I start to see te results. In the end I get something back for it....a beautful and peaceful place to live.
What’s new:
We are currently working on mastering the sound of the dvd which will hopefully be released before July, I’ll keep you updated.
Because of the whole renovation procedure I didn’t really keep my website updated. Hereby are some new dates.
You all take care... and please keep visiting my site!
xxx Susanne

April 13th 2005

Latest news:
I will play at the North Sea Jazz Festival In The Hague this year!!! It's a big honour for me because it's the last time the festival will be held in The Hague; next year they are going to move to Rotterdam. As I've been visiting the festival for 10 years now I feel very proud after already having participated in the final of the Dutch Jazz Competition in 2004 on North Sea Jazz to perform there with my group for real!!! Date and time of course to be announced...

I am going to do a theater tour between with famous tv presentator Ivo Niehe between september and december 2005. Soon the first dates will be online as well.

Whatelse... finally I found a permanent place in Amsterdam, the city I love but...everybody who ever tried to live there knows how hard it is to find an appartment which is affordable and permanent. Everybody who tried to live in this beautiful city has some nightmare stories and so do I. It's a big relief I can tell!!! Right now I spend every free moment in renovating, steaming off the wallpaper and nice stuff like that...I have support from people with good vibe.

15th of april is my birthday. I share this with 2 very close friends of mine so I am sure I will have a good time.
Everything is fine... life is good to me and I enjoy it. I hope you guys enjoy, too!


Greetings,
Susanne

March 5th 2005

Dear friends,
Time flies…finally we have the photo’s online and new ones will follow, soon.
I got a lot of press attention and I am still working on a way to get it online…I hope you guys from the Netherlands saw the article in “Het Parool/PS van de week” about German jazz musicians living in Amsterdam (written by Robert Slagt, photo’s by Klaas Fopma) and the article in the “cultuursupplement “ of the “NRC Handelsblad” (written by Amanda Kuyper, photo’s by Vincent Mentzel). I’ll try to find somebody who can scan it in and put it online after I’ll get back from the tour with Insa Rudolph. A good review of “”Nocturne has been published in the march edition of the German jazz magazine “Jazzpodium” I’ve been told; I haven’t read it myself yet but I’ll add it to the site when I am back.
We changed the category “Reviews” to: “Press” which is divided in “Reviews” and “Articles/ Interviews”.
In the new part “Articles/Interviews” you can read a portrait which was published by the Austrian magazine “Concerto” (written by Martin Schuster).
The dvd is almost finished. We only have to master the sound now and think of a nice cover…it’ll be out before the summer.
What else is coming up: We are working on some brand new compositions written by ourselves and probably at the end of 2005/beginning of 2006 we can record a new cd.

One more thing: Don’t be so shy and leave me a note in my guest book…! I like to get reactions on my stuff. If I don’t like a comment I simply take it off ;-)!
Take care and see you soon.

January 25th 2005

Dear friends,
I just want to keep you guys up to date what I’ve been doing the last weeks:
I had 2 great concerts with pop singer Do where I was replacing the sax player who was on holiday. New years eve I played with Brickhouse which was great fun, I love the band members! At the beginning of January I went for 2 weeks to New York City to catch up with old friends and to see some concerts such as: Shirley Horn, Jeff Tain Watts Quartet featuring Joe Locke and Ravi Coltrane, James Carter Organ Trio, Stefon Harris Blackout, Christian McBride, Dave Douglas with Han Bennink and Uri Caine, Paul Motian, Robert Glasper Trio, Branford Marsalis Quartet and many more… I got very inspired to see so many great musicians in so little time. I feel like composing new music for my band!
If you like jazz here comes a recommendation: Don’t miss the next concert of “Shooster”, the band of “my” bass player Sven Schuster (see link on the link site)!!!! I heard them play 23th of January in Purmerend and this band is so incredible! Pure energy! It’s so great to see 4 extremely musical musicians interact and kick ass! And they are fun guys, too…
2 other tips: The jam session at Café Restaurant Museum, Linnaeusstraat, Amsterdam, every Saturday 15-18h and the jam session at Engelbewaarder, Kloveniersburgwal, Amsterdam, every Sunday 16-19.30h. Both sessions are hosted by Sean Bergin, Jacko Schoonderwoerd and Victor de Boo. I recommend those sessions because they are not boring at all. Normally jam sessions get boring because people just practice their chops in public which is not the meaning of making music.
We are still working on the live dvd. I surely will tell you when it’s out. A photo gallery will be appearing online soon.

We are still in januray so I wish everyone a very happy new year! May all of your wishes come true!
Susanne

December 16th 2004

First concerts for 2005 are now online.

November 30th 2004

Starting today NOCTURNE can be ordered in the United States and Canada through the services of cdbaby.com! Go to www.cdbaby.com/saltquartet to order your copy.

November 11th 2004

A new review has arrived! Read it!!!

November 3rd 2004

Today I was watching the video recordings of my cd release concert. We will make a dvd out of it which probably will be released in spring 2005. What else…I am sending cd’s and info material around the globe to promote our band. And: When photographer Natalie den Hollander gets back from holiday we’ll select some old and new photo’s. In a few weeks I hope to be able to put a little photo gallery online. Keep visiting my site to stay up to date!

October 26th 2004

I am happy!!! Today I got a call from an agency who has been contacted by a Japanese guy who found my record in a shop and wants to sell some home in Japan! Also the records I dropped at record store Concerto in Amsterdam, are sold out so I have to bring some more! So people actually like my music!

October 20th 2004

The first review of "Nocturne" arrived!

October 16th 2004

Dear people,
What’s new:
You can listen to samples of some pieces on my cd here!
You can check out the equipment I am using!
What I’ll do now after the cd-release: Concentrating on practicing again, playing more on my superduper King Super 20 Tenor, dealing with press, hoping to get (good) recensions of the cd, trying to get more gigs with my band and working on new material. This is just to begin with… The cd release went really great though I was really nervous in the beginning. –The whole preparation went so well that I had the feeling that something had to happen during the concert! But I didn’t fall from my high heeled pumps, though my knees were shaking as hell in the first piece we played! The only thing which went wrong was that in the state of mind I was before the concert I gave Sven, the bass player, the charts not in C concert but in Eb or in Bb so I had to sort in out LIVE….poor Sven…it looked like he made a mistake but it has been my fault… Hereby I want to thank everybody who made the whole thing possible, from recording the cd until making this website, taking foto’s , filming the gigs and consulting me when I was and am not sure was to do. Thanks also to the people who help me networking.
Thanks a lot to the people at the radio stations, journalists and record shops for showing interest and being helpful. I also want to thank my friends for distracting me at the right moment and go for a beer or two… PLEASE LEAVE A NOTE OF THE GUEST BOOK! I am always happy to get (fair) feedback! I hope I see many of you at one or more of my following concerts!
Love
Susanne

October 8th 2004

Just a few more days untill the cd release at Bimhuis in Amsterdam. We now have a guestbook online.

September 25th 2004

The Portugal-Tour Between September 8 and 20, I went on tour with the Susanne Alt Quartet. It was a great experience because it’s the first real tour I was on and also the first tour I organized. I’ve been to Lisbon 3 times before so I knew that I only could take care of things to a certain degree because the Portuguese mentality is a different one from the German or the Dutch. Fine….I am glad I knew because otherwise I easily would have panicked a bit…. Everything takes more time in Portugal and probably in other countries also! But you become treated very well and get loads of love. First we played 3 nights at the Hotclube de Jazz in Lisbon where I played 2 ½ years before with a Portuguese band. Hotclube is great because it’s a cozy place where people love jazz. The day after we played at Cervejaria di Camoes in Leiria where appeared that there was a misunderstanding: I thought they’d have a piano or keyboards but they didn’t have one!!! It was my mistake…Ricardo, the programmer of this place fortunately found somebody in town who borrowed us a keuyboard…. Then we had 3 days off, Klaas and Thijs went to the Algarve, the south coast of Portugal for 2 days and Sven and I went for one afternoon up to the castle in Sintra. When you are at the highest point you have a beautiful overview. There’s a forest you can see and it seems enchanted, magic because it’s so dark and the buildings in there look like a vampire place…Probably that’s the reason why you can’t go up the castle hill at night; it’s closed… Next we played at the Centro Cultural de Belem in Lisbon which had an incredibly good acoustic. In the evening I went to Bairro Alto to see a concert of the band Tora Tora, led by Johannes Krieger, trumpet, and Lars Arens, trombone. The result is a incredibly funky Afro-Latin dance music with a lot of winds and great solo’s. That evening the great Portuguese saxophone player Jorge Rais joined them and played a heavy solo. We finished the tour at Projecto Jazz in Pombal with Afonso Pais on bass because Sven had to go back to Holland. Afonso took me for lunch- actually it was breakfast to this lovely restaurant 90km north where I had grilled chicken and he had chicken offal with chicken blood and rice… nice breakfast! But seriously, I ate the best chicken in my life! In the evening we Rudolfo, the club manager took us to a very good restaurant where we ate incredibly good octopus. Yes yes, good food is important! The second night in Pombal ended with a long and wild jam session where we traded instruments, Klaas sang, played piano and played on my soprano sax, I played bass, Thijs played harmonica and drums, and Afonso played piano and drums. We were joined by a jazz lover called Laurienne on piano who seems to go to every single concert of Projecto Jazz. You bet it was big fun!!! Before we flew back to Amsterdam we went back to Lisbon for one night where I caught up with friends. It was a great trip! Now I am back in the cold fall of Amsterdam preparing the cd presentation…

September 10th 2004

These days I put all my energy in preparing our tour to Portugal and promoting the cd presentation October 11. There’s a lot of big and little things which have to be taken care of.

Get back to the news when I come back from Portugal, I’ll definitely write a short essay about how the tour was!