It was the 21st of august 1988. I remember it as it was just a few weeks ago. My parents and I went down to Talavera/Mainwiese in my hometown Würzburg where Michael Jackson was performing during his "Bad" tour. I was 10 years old and for some months already proud owner of this masterpiece of Quincy Jones. Oh man, did they rock this show!! Amongst others in the band: Jennifer Batten on guitar, Ricky Lawson on drums and Sheryl Crow on backing vocals. I even found some videos and photos of this performance. Actually we didn't go down to the concert area, but we went up to the vinyards, where half of the Franconian population was sitting. That had to do with the fact that there was a minimum age to enter the concert. But then I wouldn't have been able to see the stage, the view from the vineyards was much better. It was one of the first shows with big screens so we saw everything and actually didn't miss a note. It was breathtaking.
During the concert night fell. So atmospheric..
The album "Bad": After a short Beatles phase with my friend Isabell, "Bad" was the record I got addicted to. I had in on cassette. It was still in my pre-english period. The song "Bad" itself was so catchy that I had to listen to it again and again. Play, rewind, play, rewind... Phonetic English days. I made up my own meaning of the lyrics. The music is so good that even without the lyrics, it's hypnotizing. Jimmy Smith is playing Hammond B3 on it, Greg Phillinganes plays a synth solo. Other songs I loved were "Just good friends" with Stevie Wonder, "Liberian Girl", "Another part of me" and "I just can't stop loving you". A few years ago I was asked to play a piece of music I normally don't play with my band. I chose "I just can't stop loving you", here it is. A Michael Jackson song in a Susanne Alt Quartet acoustic jazz version:
This is the title track called Dark Horse. Just as in the album version it features sax and piano solos. It's a pretty wild performance, matching today's start of the Chinese New Year: THE YEAR OF THE FIRE HORSE!Live at Bimhuis, we added a drum solo. Afterwards, I decided to seperate it from the song and post it as an extra video below. Why not in one video?Because the video would become very very long and experience shows that people will not stick around for longer that 6-7 minutes. Yoràn's free drum solo is actually really great and in this seperate video, the true drum lovers can watch and learn from his drum story telling. Sometimes people ask me; What are drummers doing in their solos? To give you an idea of what Yoràn is doing in his solo: He starts with a pattern, an idea. He keeps the pattern going and plays variations over it. Then he combines it with soloing over it with call and reponse phrases and slides in new patterns. Technically it's interesting because he demonstrates a lot of independence and speed, as well as dynamics and sound colours, while telling a story, which means in musical context that the solo has certain elements which can be recognized by the (trained) listener. Many people in the Western part of the world miss the melodic and harmonic context during a free drum solo. It's fair to say a free drum solo without any accompaniment is like an abstract painting. Within the given context you can hear and see what you can manage, depending on your own frame of reference and expectations. In the end, it's about: does it resonate with you? Because both, the painting and the free drum solo, they lack a clear subject (no lyrics, no recognizable image), both forms are highly subjective and open to the interpretation of the audience. They function as a conversation between the artist's feeling and the viewer's/listener's perception.But you also can listen to it with a pure analytical drum ear and try to follow the patterns and phrases. As a musician and human I (try to) do both :-) Enjoy!More info:Susanne Alt: sax, Matthijs Geerts and Ike van Bergen: keys, Thomas Pol: bass, Yoràn Vroom: drums, Helene Jank: percussion Performed at 16th of January 2026 at Bimhuis, Amsterdam, Recorded by Onno Prillwitz Filmed by Robert Glass and Albert Nooij. - It was the 21st of august 1988. I remember it as it was just a few weeks ago. My parents and I went down to Talavera/Mainwiese in my hometown Würzburg where Michael Jackson was performing during his Bad tour. I was 10 years old and for some months already proud owner of this masterpiece of Quincy Jones. Oh man, did they rock this show!! Amongst others in the band: Jennifer Batten on guitar, Ricky Lawson on drums and Sheryl Crow on backing vocals. I even found some videos and photos of this performance. Actually we didn't go down to the concert area, but we went up to the vinyards, where half of the Franconian population was sitting. That had to do with the fact that there was a minimum age to enter the concert. But then I wouldn't have been able to see the stage, the view from the vineyards was much better. It was one of the first shows with big screens so we saw everything and actually didn't miss a note. It was breathtaking.During the concert night fell. So atmospheric..The album Bad: After a short Beatles phase with my friend Isabell, Bad was the record I got addicted to. I had in on cassette. It was still in my pre-english period. The song Bad itself was so catchy that I had to listen to it again and again. Play, rewind, play, rewind... Phonetic English days. I made up my own meaning of the lyrics. The music is so good that even without the lyrics, it's hypnotizing.Jimmy Smith is playing Hammond B3 on it, Greg Phillinganes plays a synth solo. Other songs I loved were Just good friends with Stevie Wonder, Liberian Girl, Another part of me and I just can't stop loving you. A few years ago I was asked to play a piece of music I normally don't play with my band. I chose I just can't stop loving you, here it is. A Michael Jackson song in a Susanne Alt Quartet acoustic jazz version:
