News from Brussels
29/02/08 - Hi Fred,
Just spent a very enjoyable hour or so reading the postings on your site. Amazing. It really is a pleasure to see how much the musicians and the listening public are prepared to contribute.
Brussels jazz scene at a bit of a low ebb at this juncture. We used to have a very good traditional jazz club called - Preservation Hall - it was run by an ex dancer called Yeves ,who had sad to say, a overwhelming penchant for alcoholic beverages so much so that it killed him and the club closed. Most beer here is a least 6% ++.
There is a good club in central Brussels called -The Music Village- and though the agenda tends towards the more contemporary they do feature quite a lot of NO -
Mainstream.
I wonder if you remember the magazine -The Jazz Times- edited and distributed by a lady called Alice? I would like to get hold of a complete run of the magazine. I contributed the crossword puzzle to it for a time. It was a great archive and would be a delight to have a complete set.
I spent around six month in the UK up until around February 2007 whilst working on a web project and managed to get in quite a bit of playing - including some paid gigs! Am back in Brussels at this time working on a very protracted web development project on behalf of an NGO. It is possible that some time soon in the future I may move to Zagreb - My Son Adam, his wife, and my granddaughters live there. Looking forward to the adventure.
Not really perhaps your music of preference but I have recently been in touch with Tony Croft. He was a bass player on the Manchester modern jazz scene. Latterly he was a master and Harrow School and for a short time towards the end of his teaching career at Eaton. Well having retired he is now devoting a good deal of time to his music archive. He has sent me some amazing stuff from the 43 Club including great recordings by Johnny Griffin, Slide Hampton, and Maynard Ferguson. It really is astonishing to recall just what Manchester had to offer during the period 1955 to the mid sixties. On my infrequent visits to the UK and Manchester I get rather sad walking down Market Street to see what a retail sink it has become and think of the Thatched House -the scotch bar downstairs the name of which I cannot remember- The MSG. The Bodega. All within a few minutes walk of each other.
I am not sure if you already know about this website:
http://www.manchesterbeat.com/shops_music.php
If not it might be of interest to you.
Best Regards,
Peter Maguire.