5-5-04
Thanks to MARTIJN SCHOK for my inclusion in his first INTERNATIONAL BOOGIE WOOGIE FESTIVAL HOLLAND, held in Bussum on May 1st, 2004 at the five-star Jan Tabak Hotel- a smashing affair! Also on the bill were German boogiemeister AXEL ZWINGENBERGER, Switzerland's SILVAN ZINGG, JEAN-PAUL AMOUROUX from France, and, coming out of retirement for this very special show, the legendary LITTLE WILLIE LITTLEFIELD- also great piano contributions from JEROEN SWEERS, puttin' on some pre-show boogie!
The show was made even more special with syncronized swing dancing from Amsterdam's dance troupe SWING CLUB BOOGIEWORLD, and representing what, at least in the U.S., is seeming to be a lost art form, mezmerizing tap dancing ("claquettes") and vocalizing from France's PHILOU...
Martijn has a very outstanding group in the talents of his partner, vocalist GRETA HOLTROP (never sounding better!), tenor saxophonist RINUS GROENEVELD, and rhythm section of JAN FLUBACHER (upright bass) & THJIS VERWER (drums)...a real honor and pleasure to cause some musical trouble with these fine folks! The after-hours party went 'til 5:00 AM with four hands on two upright pianos (which I believed might explode at one particular point in the evening!), Rinus blowin' his brains out, and Sergy on the doghouse bass- toooo much!!! And up WAY past his bedtime was a new son of boogie woogie, the astounding TIM DEELEN- only twelve years old (!) and playin' like a locomotive (with his proud father looking on)...
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