24.10.2013. with an excellent performance of the Big Band RTS with Bert Joris and a good performance of Cassandra Wilson in a reasonably filled Sava Centre in the Serbian Capital Belgrade the 29th Jazz festival has started.
Bert Joris the Belgian composer and trumpet player made an excellent performance together with the most experienced big band in Serbia the Big Band RTS. It was like they played together for years so strong was the connection and the creativity between Joris and the big band. Joris played with passion and respect for his colleagues and musically it was exciting.
The 2nd part of the evening was for Cassandra Wilson and her band the Harriet Tubman Trio. The trio was named after a female Afro American activist fighting against slavery. It was therefor no big surprise that most of the songs were written and composed around this theme and during the concert many images and videos concerning slavery were shown on a large screen. The passion on freedom on fighting injustice could be read from the face of the bandmembers including Cassandra making the songs sometimes rough and straight from the heart. That made it a good show even when Wilson seemed to be tired (hopping off the stage after 5 songs) and gave much space to the band to perform in a great way with guitars like in a huge rockconcert. Not really jazzy but music straight from the heart song with passion and power. It shows the great skills of this artist even when not being in the best shape.
Jazzphotography Holland 