Moments for Miel

Last Friday I went to a tribute to Miel Vanattenhoven with my dad, Hammy and my man Reck. Miel Vanattenhoven was one, if not thé, leading forces behind the Jazz scene in Belgium. He has run Jazz Middelheim up until his untimely death not so long ago. During his lifetime he has helped many musicians in Belgium and he has introduced many others to each other.

In honor of his work, the Flagey organized a tribute concert with a.o. Freddy Thielemans, Fred Van Hove, The Brussels Jazz Orchestra, Toots Thielemans and a few members of Grazzhoppa's DJ Bigband.

We arrived a bit late, so we missed the first concerts. Fortunately we were in time to see the divine Toots Thielemans play. For those of you who don't know who Toots is: shame on you if you're a Jazz fan!, if you're not check his website. He played with the Brussels Jazz Orchestra once more. They started off with arrangemants by Maria Schneider, an excellent contemporary composer. They played more laid back orchestral arrangements. After the first tracks, Toots joined them to play his (Dat Mistige Rooie Beest, Bluesette, ...) and other's (Summertime, Wonderful world, ...). As usual the man was ûber dope. Especially when he was talking about how Jazz is like a virus (Grafitti headz know what I mean).

After the concerts a jam between the DJ Bigband members and Toots and other members of the bands that played took place. This was interesting to see, although it didn't really go anywhere. It was clear that neither the DJ's nor the musicians were used to playing together, especially when switching styles (turntablism vs. jazz).

At any rate it was a lovely evening and I think Miel would have approved.