This year I was so lucky to be able to celebrate my birthday in a special way. A concert was scheduled at the Berliner Festspiele, a Jazz Festival in Berlin on November 2. A great opportunity to combine sightseeing with a memorable performance - and a nice Italian diner afterwards.
The Michael Moore Quintet has released its first album Osiris
"...On his quintet recording Osiris, Moore unabashedly embraces melody and mood as well with a set of ten of his own compositions that are almost surprising in their straight ahead delivery and deceptively ornamented scoring. Lovely playing is to be found especially from pianist Marc van Roon and bassist Paul Berner." read full article (All About Jazz)
"...the ensemble does manage to excite throughout, particularly on the restlessness displayed on “Playboy”, which displays Hart’s keen depth—both when setting the fluid time or lively rumbling. Hart also lays down powerful rhythms on the urgent flow of “Tallwind To Kyele”, a workout for Moore’s bass clarinet and Vloeimans, as well as the tricky “Movement Specialists” and the record’s most varied piece, “Culture Warriors”." read full article (One Final Note)
After the success of the first Frog CD "Kikker Swingt", Tony Overwater's quintet has released their second CD "Kikker heeft the Blues" (Frog got the Blues)!
The first CD is a registration of a live concert in Utrecht, the Netherlands. During this event, Max Velthuijs, artist, illustrator and author, inventor of the Frog children's' books is reading his books to the young audience.
This information I found on the label's website:
Several years ago Tony Overwater started a collaboration with Max Velthuijs, writer of children’s books and creator of the world famous Kikker (Frog). In front of an audience of curious children, Velthuijs red out the adventures of Kikker, while Overwater accompanied the text with his quintet. "Kikker Swingt" (Frog swings), the first CD, was a huge success. So far 10.000 albums have been sold.
In 2007 the second CD, "Kikker heeft the Blues" (Frog’s got the blues), has been released featuring six new adventures of Kikker, such as 'Kikker is een held' (Frog is a hero) and 'Kikker is bedroefd' (Frog is sad). This time the stories are read out by actor Nico de Vries. The album is dedicated to Max Velthuijs who passed away in 2005 at the age of 82.
Read a review in Dutch. And another review.
Other Max Velthuijs 'Frog' children's books include:
Frog and Hare, Frog and Rat, Birthday cake for little bear, Frog and a very special day, Frog and the wide world, Frog and the Stranger, Frog is Sad, Frog in Winter, Frog in Love.
Talented Dutch saxophonist Tineke Postma's invited me to play on her third album “A journey that matters”. That was such a joyful experience. Her compositions are delightful and the other musicians in her band are all so inspiring! On her CD “A journey that matters” drummer Terri Lyne Carrington (known for her work with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Santana, Stan Getz and David Sanborn) was also joining in this 'journey'.
Album reviews: All About Jazz, Billboard, Jazz Podium.
We also performed at the Middelheim Jazz Festival on August 15th in Belgium. Video clips of this concert can be found at the Middelheim Jazz Website.
Two days ago, on Saturday the 8th of September, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's choreography 'Before After' had its Swedish premiere at the Gotenborg Opera in Gotenborg, Sweden. 
The music that I composed for this ballet is made up from different samples of audio recordings some of which have been recorded by my friend Joshua while walking the streets of New York City with Daffy the street poet and the Dera village in India. Other sounds have been added in the studio; a mix of noise sounds, voices, city sounds and Annabelle's voice.
The piece has been performed at the Fall For Dance Festival in New York the 28th and 29th of September one year ago. Reviews have been very good, including a review in New York Times:
"Annual Sampler Ranges From Tableaus to a Pas de Deux
By John Rockwell for The New York Times
Thursday night’s bill was particularly weighted toward big names and elaborate productions. Yet it could be argued that the shortest and simplest number (an eight-minute pas de deux in plain costumes on a bare stage) was the most moving, the most mysterious, the most heartily cheered."read more...,
a review in Village Voice: "The most arresting thing about Ochoa's duet to a score by Mark van Roon is the quiet, dramatically charged suppleness of Julie Gardette and François Rousseau. I'm not referring just to their limber bodies, but to their responsiveness to changes in the emotional weather." read article...,
and another on the Exploredance.com website: "The best piece of the night was from the Dutch National Ballet. The duet...was magnificent and blew the audience away...The music and simple costumes added to this striking and powerful duet. The techno beat by Marc van Roon, involved variable musical notes along with the words "before," "after," "just," and as the light changed the sound changed." read the article..
I found this amazing illustration by Gustave Doré. It shows Dante and Beatrice gazing upon the highest Heaven; from Gustave Doré's illustrations to the Divine Comedy Paradiso Canto 31
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