Klaipeda just loves its jazz festival

KLAIPEDA- Klaipeda loves its jazz and despite an extremely wet Friday
evening on June 9 at the opening of the seventh International
Klaipeda Jazz Festival, the crowds were out in droves to prove the
point. A sizeable crowd of over one thousand was already on hand by
7:00 p.m., just before the start of the opening addresses.

Christopher Robbins, The United Kingdom's ambassador to Lithuania
made a brave and successful attempt to address the audience in
Lithuanian and was greeted with hearty applause and cheers for his
efforts. "I am happy to be here. Jazz is full of life and brings us
happiness, just like Klaipeda," he said.

Klaipeda's progressive and popular mayor, Euginijus Gentvilas, also
spoke succinctly. "Let's not sleep until the end of the festival
Monday morning. Let's allow ourselves to be a little bit crazy,
within reasonable limits of course. Jazz is a music that loves
freedom but also the music of cultured and intelligent people," he
said.

France's Panoramic Blue from the city of Strasbourg opened the
festival, playing a soulful genre of jazz-fusion music. Their
performance was punctuated by moments of intense rain. The audience
would scatter and then reassemble a few minutes later when the
downpour would subside to a drizzle. The band itself was playing in
its first-ever international festival. "It was hard to be the first
band playing. We needed to earn the audience's respect and warm them
up. But the applause was great and I think the people here are very
open to jazz. In fact, I was a little shocked. Jazz in France is more
elitist and intellectual," said Gregory Ott, Panoramic Blue's
keyboard player.

Considering their average age of about 20 years, they were very
composed and comfortable in front of the crowd of several thousand
people. Jon Grandcamp, the drummer, was actually celebrating his 19th
birthday on opening night. He and his younger brother Jim have been
playing since they were 10 years old. "We've had very supportive
parents," they said.

The stars of the night were undoubtedly the Netherlands' veteran
Dream Team. They played a good deal of swing but also a generous
number of Louis Armstrong hits including a moving rendition of "You
don't know what it means to miss New Orleans." The band's trumpet
player and lead singer, Michael Varekamp, even bears a slight
physical resemblance to the young Satchmo. It was obvious from the
intensity with which they played that Dream Team is far more than a
cover band banking on nostalgia for mid-twentieth century music.

"When I play Louis Armstrong tunes, I feel something happening deep
within myself - it's almost spiritual. I can't really describe it
more than that," said Varekamp.

UK Ambassador Christopher Robbins was solidly behind British jazz
pianist Nikki Yeoh's Infinitum. Another emerging talent at the tender
age of 20, she gave a spirited performance, at times even dancing
around the stage in bare feet to encourage the crowd to sing along.
Robbins himself was up on stage snapping photos and congratulating
the group at the end of their show.

"The vitality of Klaipeda is a guarantee for its continuing success.
This is a young city with much instinctive independence and culture.
Because Klaipeda is a port city, there has traditionally been a
British community here and I come here a lot. All-in-all. every time
I come it is a dynamic experience," said Robbins.

Ben Smith, a New Yorker living in Riga, remarked: "It's unusual to
hear so much jazz around me. I just don't hear much of it in Latvia."
Perhaps the best summary of the jazz phenomenon in the city belongs
to the festival organizer, Vytas Grubliauskas: "Klaipeda simply
understands jazz."