Tuesday, November 13, 2007

And you think you've seen it all...

They played for the king. And then yesterday they played in Khon Kaen. Quite the occasion. A jazz band way out in Khon Kaen. A New Orleans Jazz band for that matter. For free. One that played at Carnegie Hall. One with a banjo and this guy with a huge afro on sousaphone. For most people in Khon Kaen that is the embodiment of culture shock. But it went down well.

And yes I said banjo. I know. But this was no dixieland. No white guys with weird straw hats, suspenders and bow ties. This was prime marching band -style funky old school jazz with a lot of heart and root and 100% authenticity. It got the (Thai!) crowd jumping on their chairs and I could have sworn I saw some even shake their thang.

My personal fav: an improvised rendition of Parliament Funkadelic's Tear the Roof of This Sucker that popped up amongst a fun mix of traditionals, spirituals, warped standards and swaggering blues tunes. And although Khon Kaen couldn't help but clap on the 'one' instead of the swinging 'and', I'd say the French Quarter was at Khon Kaen University last night.

Want a taste? Here you go!

1 comment:

Rob said...

Het kan gekker, als 'Jeckyll en Hyde' jouw kant op jumpen, dan... ja dan heb ik alles gezien!

Je krijgt trouwens de groeten van de grote zwaai-kat die bij BNN in Dennis zijn porno-hoekje staat.