Trumpet & Travel #2 - Monk'estra in Europe Part 2

Welcome back to Brian Swartz's Trumpet & Travel Blog! For my 2nd installment, I'll be covering July 7th & 8th, 2017 and the performances by John Beasley's Monk'estra at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam.

I know it seems awfully "touristy" of me, but since I'm not the one driving, I enjoy taking pictures of the cities that I'm visiting while being transported to gigs. On this day, July 7th, the Monk'estra was being taken over to the Rotterdam Ahoy Convention Center, the location of the North Sea Jazz Festival. Here are some pictures I snapped of the streets of Rotterdam while on the shuttle.

Rotterdam streets 1

Rotterdam streets 2

Rotterdam streets 3

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Rotterdam streets 9

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Once we arrived at the venue and got checked in, we made our way to the Hudson stage where we would be performing at 5:30pm.

Up close and in person.

Back stage at the North Sea.

Back stage at North Sea.

Here's a link to a fan video that was posted on YouTube of our performance at North Sea.

Monk'estra at North Sea Jazz Festival 2017 featuring Dontae Winslow

After our performance, several of the guys in the band went to hear Wayne Shorter's Quartet with the Casco Philharmonic.

Wayne Shorter performance

Wayne Shorter back stage

Corea, Shorter, Beasley

John Patitucci

The next day, July 8th, I had the chance to walk around the neighborhood around the hotel. The streets of Rotterdam are full of sculptures and interesting architecture. My walk was timed pretty well, because as I was leaving, Herbie Hancock was checking in and I snapped a picture of him talking with saxophonist Bob Sheppard.

Herbie Hancock & Bob Sheppard

Brian Swartz & Miel Adams

Some of the local art.

Industrial art 1

Industrial art 2

Outdoor shopping

Donna Li

Dodgers?

Police station

Subway entrance

WWII sculpture

Sterker door strud

Rotterdam Stadhuis

Wall sculpture

Block near Hilton1

Across the street

Rotterdam Hilton

Street Sculpture

10:30pm sunset

Connstellation in the window

That pretty much brings our trip to the North Sea Jazz Festival to an end. In my next Trumpet & Travel blog entry, I'll show you July 9th & 10th when John Beasley's Monk'estra traveled through the "chunnel" to London to perform at Ronnie Scott's.