vesterberg.se

The annual Jazz Festival in UmeÃ¥ has ended for the fortieth time. It’s a great experience with all kinds of jazz and its magnitude and the caliber of visiting artists competes with (surpasses) Stockholm Jazz Festival. Miles has been here, Duke, Ella and Coltrane also. Unfortunately I missed them, but I have seen John Scofield, Wayne Shorter, Mike Stern and Joe Zawinul. This year the highlights were Richard Bona, Etienne Mbappe and Robben Ford.

Richard Bona was great, of course. He played the whole range from the sweetest ballads to storming funk. He can do anything he wants with his voice and with his bass. In one song he sang together with himself (using a looping machine) in multiple voices. No instruments, just Mr Bona himself, from the lowest bass to the highest pitch. It was awesome and the audience was captivated.

Robben Ford gave us a lot of 12 bar blues roundups during two hours. But he and his crew were good, really good. During the concert I was placed so that I could see the hands of the bass player, Terry Carlton (son of Larry Carlton). Terry was a very nice acquaintance. I watched him groove during different kinds of blues songs and I was inspired and got something into my system. I will definitively push the limits a bit more, when we play the blues in my band. Lesson learned: Always place yourself so that you can see the bass player!