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

  • Jul 7, 2017
  • 2 min read

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
  • Rotterdam streets 4
  • Rotterdam streets 5
  • Rotterdam streets 6
  • Rotterdam streets 7
  • Rotterdam streets 8
  • Rotterdam streets 9
  • Rotterdam streets 10
  • Rotterdam streets 11
  • Rotterdam streets 12
  • Rotterdam streets 13
  • Rotterdam streets 14
  • Rotterdam streets 15
  • Rotterdam streets 16
  • Rotterdam streets 17
  • Rotterdam streets 18

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.

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.

 
 
 

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