Throwback Thursday: Bel Air Jam Sessions during North Sea Jazz Festival
Late night Bel Air Hotel jam sessions (After party of North Sea Jazz Festival) In picture 1 you see me in the background next to my friend Stephen Edwards from London. In front from left to right: Roy Hargrove, Joshua Redman, George Benson. In picture 2, 3 solos further in the same tune, probably Delfeayo Marsalis with his trombone, a (french?) saxophone player and George Benson on the guitar. This is just a almost random situation of these late night sessions in Embassy Bar at the basement of Bel Air hotel which took place at night and sometimes until the morning, after the regular festival.
Let's go back a few years... my first visit was in 1995. 17 years old, traveling all the way from the south of Germany to The Hague by myself to see my sax heroes at the time, Maceo Parker and Joshua Redman. After the first festival day someone told me that there was this great jam session every night at Bel Air happening, just musicians jamming and some jazz lovers, managers and friends hanging out. It was incredible, I remember George Benson being the house band of the jam session, and Hans Dulfer and Jojo Mayer jamming, Roy Hargrove, Wynton Marsalis and other cats were playing and I met Maceo's guitar player Bruno Speight there. Also I met a couple of the people who would be at the festival and Bel Air Hotel all the time. For example Stephen Edwards, jazz dancer and saxophone player/repairer from London. He and his dancing friends/music lovers always came to North Sea Jazz Festival, every year. Darrell Tucker, music lover and entertainment division manager at Target, Minneapolis, United States. My friend Laura Fuchs who often joined me on our nightly jazz adventures, the The Hague jazz musicians of my age, some more musicians and music lovers I became friends with drummers Willie Jones III, Gregory Hutchinson, piano player Larry Willis, bass player Gerald Cannon and some more. Sometimes you would listen to the jam, jam yourself or talk about music and all of a sudden it would be 8.30h in the morning! From that moment on I was totally hooked on jazz and live music. During a couple of festival editions i only got 2 hours of sleep a night. This was it..
Also in the next years I got the chance to jam and talk with so many heavy jazz cats. What happenend here was so inspiring. World stars jamming with local and young musicians, often it was really on a very high level.. You got to see, hear, jam with and talk to jazz super stars in a very intimate setting.
At some point, probably around 2000 or 2001, everybody kind of knew that this was the place to be and de bouncers got very picky, all of a sudden you needed to have a special ticket to enter Bel Air Hotel. I remember dutch piano legend Cees Slinger being really upset when he saw me being rejected by the bouncer and waiting outside.. he knew I just wanted to jam. He gave me his daughter's ticket because she already went home. He understood that for me it was urgent to be at the jam session. Thank you in heaven, Cees! Of course I understand that Bel Air had to secure this place but I think that sometimes they sent away the wrong people. For example, in 2005 I was playing there with my band. Because my band was called "Susanne Alt Quartet" they would let me in, but my band members had trouble getting in and we had to prove that they were playing, showing the festival program and things like that. When all these night owls have a 3-4 day party an eye has to be kept. "What happenes in Bel Air stays in Bel Air".. And there were a lot of party-related activities..
In 2006 the festival moved to Rotterdam, they continued having a jam session, this time at Hilton Hotel, nice atmosphere, no hustle with the bouncers, just nicely and relaxed. But somehow the magic was gone, maybe also because not everyone was at the same place anymore? Hilton had this really nice big hall with good acoustics and lights while in The Hague the atmosphere was that of a jazz club. Rotterdam now hosts a couple of official and very nice afterparties through the whole city so people spread out more. Also the musicians don't stay in one hotel but are more spread out. Probably it's better and safer but just a bit less exciting for young jazz musicians. But jazz and the atmosphere around jazz changed a lot. People were so intense and passionated about jamming! Nowadays young jazz musicians are a bit cooler and rather go to sleep early so they can go practising in the morning and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. They don't smoke cigarettes and other and don't drink their brains out like people used to do in nightlife.
Here's a video from 2005, the last year, probably it was the last session at all on sunday night. I recognize Jerry González on trumpet, Michael Rorby, trombone; Robert Rook is trying to hypnotize the piano player so he would mov away and let him play. Kurt Rosenwinkel is walking around the stage. In that time, it was forbidden to film there, that's why we only have this fragment.
My question for you: Do you have more photos of the jam sessions, possibly with me playing? It would be great for my archive.
My latest mix is now online. Venus Tunes Sessions is a monthly mix by Susanne Alt on Freak31, aired every first Sunday of the month at 19:00h. In addition, earlier Venus Tunes Sessions shows are repeated every Friday between 20:00-21:00 and Tuesday 21:00-22:00.Freak 31 has around 250 daily listeners (less during the week, more in the weekend) and a total of +10.000 listeners every month. In addition to Mixcloud and Hearthis, all mixes are also available as podcasts on Deezer and iTunes.It was in 2015 when I had my first official dj gig and since 2016 I started to perform regularly. This took place in Amsterdam's Skyybar, Floor17 and The Harbourclub Zuid... bit by bit, other places like Momo and W Amsterdam followed, leading to club bookings as a dj and festival bookings with Venus Tunes Live in the Netherlands and abroad. All of this in addition to my normal life as a musician. I love dj'ing as it adds another facet to my musicianship.Listen to all editions of the Venus Tunes Sessions where you like; choose your platform: Venus Tunes Sessions is a monthly guest mix by Susanne Alt on Freak31, aired every first Sunday of the month at 1900h. Streaming Dance, straight from Amsterdam. - Late night Bel Air Hotel jam sessions (After party of North Sea Jazz Festival)In picture 1 you see me in the background next to my friend Stephen Edwards from London. In front from left to right: Roy Hargrove, Joshua Redman, George Benson. In picture 2, 3 solos further in the same tune, probably Delfeayo Marsalis with his trombone, a (french?) saxophone player and George Benson on the guitar. This is just a almost random situation of these late night sessions in Embassy Bar at the basement of Bel Air hotel which took place at night and sometimes until the morning, after the regular festival. Let's go back a few years... my first visit was in 1995. 17 years old, traveling all the way from the south of Germany to The Hague by myself to see my sax heroes at the time, Maceo Parker and Joshua Redman. After the first festival day someone told me that there was this great jam session every night at Bel Air happening, just musicians jamming and some jazz lovers, managers and friends hanging out. It was incredible, I remember George Benson being the house band of the jam session, and Hans Dulfer and Jojo Mayer jamming, Roy Hargrove, Wynton Marsalis and other cats were playing and I met Maceo's guitar player Bruno Speight there. Also I met a couple of the people who would be at the festival and Bel Air Hotel all the time. For example Stephen Edwards, jazz dancer and saxophone player/repairer from London. He and his dancing friends/music lovers always came to North Sea Jazz Festival, every year. Darrell Tucker, music lover and entertainment division manager at Target, Minneapolis, United States. My friend Laura Fuchs who often joined me on our nightly jazz adventures, the The Hague jazz musicians of my age, some more musicians and music lovers I became friends with drummers Willie Jones III, Gregory Hutchinson, piano player Larry Willis, bass player Gerald Cannon and some more. Sometimes you would listen to the jam, jam yourself or talk about music and all of a sudden it would be 8.30h in the morning! From that moment on I was totally hooked on jazz and live music. During a couple of festival editions i only got 2 hours of sleep a night. This was it..Also in the next years I got the chance to jam and talk with so many heavy jazz cats. What happenend here was so inspiring. World stars jamming with local and young musicians, often it was really on a very high level.. You got to see, hear, jam with and talk to jazz super stars in a very intimate setting. At some point, probably around 2000 or 2001, everybody kind of knew that this was the place to be and de bouncers got very picky, all of a sudden you needed to have a special ticket to enter Bel Air Hotel. I remember dutch piano legend Cees Slinger being really upset when he saw me being rejected by the bouncer and waiting outside.. he knew I just wanted to jam. He gave me his daughter's ticket because she already went home. He understood that for me it was urgent to be at the jam session. Thank you in heaven, Cees! Of course I understand that Bel Air had to secure this place but I think that sometimes they sent away the wrong people. For example, in 2005 I was playing there with my band. Because my band was called Susanne Alt Quartet they would let me in, but my band members had trouble getting in and we had to prove that they were playing, showing the festival program and things like that. When all these night owls have a 3-4 day party an eye has to be kept. What happenes in Bel Air stays in Bel Air.. And there were a lot of party-related activities..In 2006 the festival moved to Rotterdam, they continued having a jam session, this time at Hilton Hotel, nice atmosphere, no hustle with the bouncers, just nicely and relaxed. But somehow the magic was gone, maybe also because not everyone was at the same place anymore? Hilton had this really nice big hall with good acoustics and lights while in The Hague the atmosphere was that of a jazz club. Rotterdam now hosts a couple of official and very nice afterparties through the whole city so people spread out more. Also the musicians don't stay in one hotel but are more spread out. Probably it's better and safer but just a bit less exciting for young jazz musicians. But jazz and the atmosphere around jazz changed a lot. People were so intense and passionated about jamming! Nowadays young jazz musicians are a bit cooler and rather go to sleep early so they can go practising in the morning and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. They don't smoke cigarettes and other and don't drink their brains out like people used to do in nightlife.Here's a video from 2005, the last year, probably it was the last session at all on sunday night. I recognize Jerry González on trumpet, Michael Rorby, trombone; Robert Rook is trying to hypnotize the piano player so he would mov away and let him play. Kurt Rosenwinkel is walking around the stage. In that time, it was forbidden to film there, that's why we only have this fragment.My question for you: Do you have more photos of the jam sessions, possibly with me playing? It would be great for my archive.
