LOWLANDS – List’nin’ Room, Friday, 15October 1999

 

On the hot Friday, 6 August 1999 I went over from London, England with an old Hong Kong friend of mine – whose surname happens to be Spain – to what I consider the heart of the LOWLANDS, Belgium and Antwerp, to be precise. Lady Diana Princess of Wales took us there. An old friend and Antwerp resident, Hugo, met us and eventually drove us up to the Zuid Poel/ South Pole for the first sweltering night of Fred Van Hove’s FREE MUSIC XXVI.

 

01.     Pijp/ WIMprovier Track 4: ballade voor honger en onrecht/ FvH at the organ of St Marien Stadtkirche, Torgau, Germany in April 1997. 09:05

 

We paid our entrance fee and got, amongst others -

 

Highlanders, Irene Schweitzer and Pierre Favre; here, she is with ‘a different drummer’* -

02.      Irene + Han Bennink/ Intakt CD 010/1995 Track 1: Gnash 07:54            (17)

En passant, this was the first time in over twenty years that I saw Pierre Favre. The previous occasion was in Hong Kong during the tour of ‘Solo Now’, with Gunther Hampel, Albert Mangelsdorff and Joachim Kuhn. I remember him ‘doingBaby Dodds with knitting needles… The concert lasted for some four hours, but that’s another story…                

 

The André Goudbeek Quartet with Phil Minton, and, as luck would have it, they had there a hot-off-the-press, new CD -

03.      Andre Goudbeek 4/ WIMprovijf Track 7: Kras 07:00                             (24)

AG, as, bclt, bandoneon; Dirk Wauters, pc; Peter Jacquemyn, b; Bert Maris, t, flhn.

04.      AG4+Phil Minton Track 2: How do you like your tornado, sir? 06:34   (31)                                 

Next evening, we paid again and got our dose of Free Music, Night 2. This time, it was, amongst others, –

Lokomotiv Konkret’ that ran by us first, three Swedes-

05. LK/ Leo Lab CD 011 Track 1: Our Lokomotive 07:05                              (38)

Dror Feiler, reeds, pc; Soren Runolf, g, co, pc; Tommy Bjork, d, pc.

 

The little fest ended with ‘Open End’, (Fred Van Hove, Ivo Vander Borght, Luk Mishalle and Paul Vlamink).

Here’s Fred with IVB

06. Lust/ WIMprotwee Track 8: Orde en rust op aarde 07:35                (46)

 

They opened, then ended with various combinations into which were injected at various points the likes of the four Swedes, Mr Goudbeek and Peter Jacquemyn (bass). They called this final fling, ‘These Poolish Things’! You’ll have to imagine them.

 

The following day (Sunday) Eric Spain and I visited Brugge/ Bruges then Loppem and the Heidelberg Inn. It was around 1730 when we slid in through the back gate in a break in the rain and the garden party was in full swing. Host and hostess, more old friends of mine, Tony and Marleen were very surprised to see us. There it was that on 4th May this year I heard a solo session by Joe McPhee. He gave me a disc then and here’s something from it –

07. The Brass City/ okkadisk 12025 Track 10: The Roswell Incident

(for Roswell Rudd) w. Jeb Bishop, tb. 08:00                    (54)

 

But really, that was another story, too! As is how Roswell has found new breath and is playing so well these days…especially in the LOWLANDS!

 

I’ll finish where I started, with -

08. Fred Van Hove Pijp/ WIMprovier Track 3: les strapontins 08:30      (63)

The organ of St Marien Stadtkirche, Torgau, Germany in April 1997.

 

[Next week, we’re off to Amsterdam for DB w. HB and youngster Tristan H (who achieved 50 this year) at the BIM and possibly the current Sun Ra Arkestra and possibly something over at Eindhoven… but that’s going – perhaps, as Holderlin used to say – to be another story!]  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bandoneon:

B & O neo N - B an do neon - B an don eon - B an done on - B and on eon -

B and one on - Ba ‘nd on E on - Band o’Neon - (A)bandon eon - Band 1on

Bandeau ni un!

Ban dough knee ‘n!

(A)bandon (hop)e (all y) e (wh) o (e)n (terrier!)

 

Dolly Phoenix Rises

To Salute The Left

On Lamma

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FAX

To HUGO

From Roger

Date: 991218

Subject: Pijp/ WIMprovier (FvH etc)

 

Hugo!

Most grateful I’d be

if you could bring for me

a copy

of the captioned CD

for a friend here!  I’ll see

you straight when I get my new glasses – or when you I see!

 

R

 

P.S. 3 Jan 00 is a Pubic Holyday in this jurisdiction; you’d better be making arrangements toot sweet!