February 27, 2019 In Uncategorized

NY Artist Q&A: Louis Alexander Gasser Londoño

For this series of bloggy interviews, I’ve shared questions with young artists and musicians living in New York. This time: bass player Louis Alexander Gasser Londoño. I’ve met him through Berklee College of Music, since we were studying at the Global Jazz Institute together and I’m excited that he wanted to be part of this little Q&A – couch session. In addition to the questions, we met up and played a few songs in my place in Brooklyn together.

 

Q&A with Louis Alexander Gasser Londoño

* WHERE ARE YOU FROM, WHAT DO YOU MISS ABOUT HOME?

Born in Lincoln Nebraska but raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico I miss my circle of friends/craftspeople/artists, the warmth, people’s accents and the laid back yet somehow productive pace of life.

* FAVORITE PLACE IN THE CITY

Toniña’s (on Grand Street)

* FAVORITE NEW MUSIC

Aaron Burnett and The Big Machine! Check out Anomaly, just released!

* FAVORITE OLD MUSIC

Brian Ferry Orchestra

* WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE NON-MUSIC THING TO DO

Includes gathering friends to cook a meal, reading, being silly in public, dancing.

* WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON MUSICALLY

Trying to improve my bandstand listening/arranging/following/remembering skills and learning tunes. Solo guitar/voice Album of original songs on the back burner

* WHAT’S YOUR GREATEST FANBOY MOMENT?

At a press conference for the 2013 Puerto Rico Heineken Jazz Fest I got the chance to publicly acknowledge Danny Rivera’s presence at said event and express my gratitude for his version of the Puerto Rican classic, Villancico Yaucano.

Louis Alexander Gasser Londoño

Louis Alexander Gasser Londoño

* CRAZIEST GIG EXPERIENCE

I almost played a gig In Vienna. This was our first stop of the tour. Being late to the show, our bandleader insisted on a soundcheck through about 3/4 of the other act’s time. After an exchange that included bandleaders yelling in a language I didn’t speak, warnings and death threats, our bandleader was punched in the face. The concert was canceled.

 

* WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN 10 YEARS?

In debt but very healthy.

* YOUR WEBSITE

http://michaelbaldwinbruc.wixsite.com/louisalexander

* LINK TO A VIDEO OF YOU

January 19, 2019 In ChocoJazz

ChocoJazz on National Japanese Television NHK

We were ready for Christmas when we got a message from Shiho; ‘NHK, Japanese Television wants do to a mini-documentary about ChocoJazz, do you have any events coming up?’ Obviously, her deadline was approaching and the holidays were approaching, but we said: “yes, we love to be featured!”

And there we went,.. filmed while going to the galleries, enjoying some art, at the Market in the Bronx, picking up some microgreens from Koppert Cress, in our home on the big blue couch and yes, during the ChocoJazz show at Der Pioneer in Brooklyn. The feature became a 6-minute Japanese introduction of our project, and here you can see it!

We want to thank all our friends as well as Bjorn and Greg from Der Pioneer, Original Beans, Le Nouveau Chef, Koppert Cress, and Catalonia Plates and of course Shiho from NHK – catch.

https://youtu.be/xoIR6cJ-GMY

November 10, 2018 In Uncategorized

Speaking at the National Fulbright Conference in Mexico

Here are a few pictures of my trip to Puebla, Mexico for the National Fulbright Conference. There were around 400 super inspiring people from all over the world, specializing in different fields of work. I did a 10-minute plenary talk about the synergy of chocolate and jazz.

My talk contained different listening examples of my improvisations and I made the audience guess within different categories what the sound example represented. “What color is this sound-bite“, or “what texture“, or “what would be the weather“, or “what is the emotion“, or what is the”flavor of this sound-bite“. It was remarkable to see that in almost all the examples was a unanimous answer in the audience. I really loved it because I felt it really described the process I go through when I’m live, improvising and composing while in the moment. Many things can inspire me to make certain sounds, or use certain apps or chors, rhythms and obviously, there are always different versions possible. Take for example the different shades of colors, like purple, which might be very close to what blue would sound like. Better said, in a 15-minute composition that is supposed to sound blue, there might be moments that might sound purple. Anyway, it was very fun to explain what we are doing with ChocoJazz; exploring new ways to express our art and even discovering a new genre in performance arts.

Puebla was a wonderful city and it was also very fun to be there for the ‘day of the dead’ celebration. After the conference – since Teddy was able to tag along – we decided to explore Mexico City for a couple of days and had an awesome touristy time before going back to New York.

robin koerts collab
November 2, 2017 In Uncategorized

Robin Koerts Electronic collaboration – Video!

Let me tell you a little bit about my collaboration with Robin Koerts. You might have seen some clips or pics on the internet of us performing at various shows, but it’s pretty hard to get what we actually do on stage. And It’s actually one of the most inspiring things I do musically!

Koerts, Robin Koerts

My collaboration with Robin Koerts is a very diverse one. Every time I try to explain what we’re doing I come to the same conclusion: you have to see and hear it, to get it. First of, you need to know that Robin Koerts is one of best bass players in the Netherlands, and definitely one of the best bass players I know. Being a huge Jaco Pastorius fan, he has this groove over him, which trickles down in everything he does. Second of all, he watches a lot of movies, like a lot. The funny thing is, in these movies he hears or sees something that has a groove or a rhythm.

And then he tends to implements that in his music. Third, he makes short musical clips for one of the best watched talkshows of The Netherlands (De Wereld Draait Door) and they’re called ‘Soundbites’. In these soundbites clips he takes a small snippet of video material of something that he recently saw in the news. It could be a politician saying a sentence or a word, a host that is sighing, piece of the news where something went wrong. He loops these snippets and lays them over each other, making a groovy, looping song out of it.

So back to the part where Robin watches a lot of movies. In these movies he hears something that he could turn into a groove. It could be a guy from ‘King of the Hill’ that says:”I don’t know if we can save this engine” or he puts all the moments when people slap each other in the face in a loop so that I becomes a drumkick. Think the same with 150 snippets of car-doors closing. The guy is a walking drum computer.

In the shows that Robin and I do, we mix his and my creations up. I sing parts of my songs and he puts parts of his songs in his loop-pedal so he can start a video of his own made face-slapping, digeredoo playing, trumpet buzzing or car-door slamming groove, whenever he wants, whatever he wants. Sometimes the base for our songs is one of his originals, and sometimes it’s one of mine. But we always leave space for improvisation. A song that starts of as one of my originals, mixed up with his “I don’t know if we can save this engine” can turn into a snippet with the Beastie Boys, me playing my Korg R3 synthesizer and looping my voice at the same time, while Robin is grooving on his electric bass guitar..

Below is a video compilation of one my shows in the Netherlands with Robin Koerts which includes a lot of cool parts that show. But it’s best to just come to one of our shows and enjoy this cool collaboration between us! See you there!

March 6, 2015 In ChocoJazz, Uncategorized

Jazz & Chocolate in NYC

2015-01-24 23.57.47Ok, a little update for now. After graduating in Berklee I had a long break – almost 3 months – in the Netherlands. It was so great to be back and see my family and friends and have some quiet time in my new house.

I’ve been in Boston for the last few days jumping from airbed to couch to cat-sitting-house… Had superfun hangs with my Boston friends, and also working with Kenny Werner has been super intense but also amazingly inspiring.

And yesterday, finally, my Dutch boyfriend Ted – alias ChocoTed – got his contract an he will start May 1st as a pastry intern at this amazing restaurant in NYC… So next week I’ll go to NYC and start my adventures of working on a new project and wait till Ted gets here by the end of April.

I must say life after Berklee is a rollercoaster, but I’m determined to follow my heart and pursue my dreams.

 

March 20, 2014 In Uncategorized

NYC March 2014

2014-03-02 21.38.17There comes a point that I really need to go to NYC. Sometimes that city will mix you up and you’ll always get some new inspiration. I wanted to see my friend Joanne, and guitarist Joe Cohn, and my Parisian friend Felix Lemerle (who will study guitar on a Fulbright in NYC next year!)

Also there were some Dutch people in the City I would try to meet, Hans Mantel, Mirjan van Leijenhorst and Ahmet Polat. They were on a trip for Jazz festival Delft to meet some people for their project “ the jazz dream“ connecting renowned artists with young talents. (http://www.thejazzdream.nl)

The plan was to stay with Joanne, but I hadn’t clearly communicated my stay, so on saturday afternoon I needed to find a place to sleep, but, its NYC, anything could happen. I went to have a coffee with Sajda, a friend that studies art philosophy in NYC, then went to the after diner hang with the Dutch jazz – peeps and Mirjan told me (thank the lord!!) that she had a hotel room with two beds, and I could just stay there 🙂 …

I went to the concert of Joe Cohn in a sushi place where I met Felix and after hanging with Joe for a bit I went with Felix to another jazz – restaurant where we sat in, singing a bit.

The next morning it was really nice to have breakfast in the hotel with Hans Mantel and catch up a bit. Then I talked for a while with a art journalist from the Gardian (UK) which was really interesting. I went to see Joe Cohn’s concert in Brooklyn and had an amazing diner in that place. That evening I would stay at Joe’s place so we went to his house to drop off my bag and make some music. Joanne was performing in this acrobat show in Brooklyn and it happened to be a really cool show, people juggling, trapeze, aerial hammock, aerial straps, Chinese pole and fire eating … wow.. .that was really something else!
http://www.themusebrooklyn.com

Here some pictures 🙂

November 15, 2013 In Uncategorized

Concert Metropolitan Room NYC

Screen Shot 2014-02-10 at 11.50.52 PM

November 2013 I played my first gig in NYC, in the metropolitan room in Manhattan. A full hour concert with all original songs. Really exciting! I spend a lot of time working out the program, doing the marketing and preparing the show.

This opportunity arrived last year, when I went – after a long day of recording sessions – with bass player Ray Parker to a show in the Metropolitan room NYC. Annie Ross was performing. I am big fan of her, so I was really excited to see it. Ray was friends with JP the sound engineer and after the show we all had a drink. He listened to my cd – polaroid – and thought it was so nice that he told the programmer. So it happened, my first gig in NYC… I planned for November.

My wish was to play with Florian Weber who I met in NYC when he was playing a show with – Dutch trumpeter – Eric Vloeimans. Florian liked my compositions and we talked a lot about composing, lyrics and life.

Then it was finally there, that weekend I traveled to NYC, and met up with Florian for a rehearsal on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. The concert was on Sunday night and it all went well, but I must say; playing in NYC is a whole different thing. Here are the recordings 🙂

December 17, 2012 In Jazzopinie, Uncategorized

NYC – Greg Hutchinson, Jimmy Heath & Jason Lindner

7/8/9/ dec NYC
Net voor (en na) de grote storm – de tentamens en Sandy – moest ik toch nog effe naar NYC. Ik kwam donderdag avond aan bij Joe. En hij was een beetje hyper, dus het zou een late avond worden. We keken een film over drugs handel in Mexico. En we hadden mijn bed op de vleugel geinstalleerd, want het was een beetje een rommeltje in de woonkamer (m.n. op de bank waar ik normaal slaap). Het sliep relaxt want het is lekker hoog van de grond, maar je moet natuurlijk niet halverwege de nacht je omdraaien en dan van de piano afvallen. Gelukkig is dat niet gebeurd.

Vrijdagochtend ging ik naar Brooklyn, om te ontbijten met Jason Linder, hij was de hele maand op tour geweest naar Japan, Italie en Israel. Het was leuk om bij te praten, het is een inspirerende pianist. Hij heeft jaren les gehad bij Barry Harris en weet precies wat jazz is. Maar op dit moment maakt hij meer modernere jazz, wereld muziek, odd meter, en gaat het hem vooral om vernieuwing, en gebruik maken van verschillende kleuren… Je hoort rock en blues en gypsy in zijn muziek. Na de lunch zijn we met de taxi naar Manhattan gegaan, hij had repetitie voor zijn concert waar ik hem savonds weer zou zien. Ik heb toen de hele middag n beetje door de east village gelopen, en ben toen savonds naar Drom gegaan, waar het concert van Jason was. Hij speelde met Panagiotis Andreou, Mark Guiliana het materiaal van zijn cd NOW VS NOW. Kijk op zijn website: www.jasonlindner.net

De volgende dag ben ik naar de kerst markt op union square gegaan. Superleuk, allemaal handwerk en exclusieve, creatieve mensen. Houten stropdassen, sokpoppen, en kerstkransjes. Savonds Lasagne gekookt voor Joe Cohn en wat vrienden van hem.

Zondag uitgeslapen, en wat gestudeerd. Toen naar de Blue note gegaan waar ik Gregory Hutchinson trof. Samen gingen we met de auto naar zijn concert met Jimmy Heath, Jeb Patton in the First Presbyterian Church (Mount Vernon, NY). Tof concert, vooral om ook backstage de verhalen van Jimmy te horen, hij heeft net een nieuw boek uit, over zijn leven, “Walking with Giants”. Jimmy is geboren in 1926…. en echt een opa, maar wat een energie, grappen vertellen aan de lopende band… Na het concert ging ik met Greg weer naar Manhattan, en we stopten even in Smalls waarna ik door ging naar Fatcat. Joe Cohn moest daar spelen met Ehud Asherie. Daarna heb ik nog wat pool gespeeld met Joe en Floanne, dit duurde tot laat, en toen ik de volgende (maandag) ochtend de bus van 7 uur pakte had ik dan ook maar weinig geslapen…

November 11, 2012 In Uncategorized

NYC mannen en wederom nachtelijke jazz sessies…

12 oktober 2012

Ik kwam dus rond 5:30am terug bij Joe, en hij was nog wakker (?!). Hij vertelde me dat hij wel 10 uur piano had gestudeerd en dat hij klaar was om piano te spelen. We speelden liederen van Mozart, Bach en Schumann, en toen hebben we nog quartemain gespeeld op de piano, het werd 7 uur, toen 8 uur, en was het tijd dat Joe pasta ging koken. Ondertussen had ik mn pyjama maar aangedaan en was op de bank gaan liggen – waar ik altijd slaap – en was al bijna half in slaap toen Joe zijn contrabas pakte en me vertelde dat we nog wat jazz moesten spelen….Zingend vanaf de bank… “night bird” .. Rond 9 uur viel ik in slaap. Tot ongeveer 11 uur, want toen werd ik wakker van de stofzuiger… we zouden Tom en Joanna te eten krijgen op maandag, dus er moest schoongemaakt worden – vond Joe.

Rond 12 namen we ontbijt, en we fietsten naar t klassieke concert in YMCA concert hall. Mozart en Dvorak en een exotische componist die ik nu niet meer kan herinneren. Joe was ongemakkelijk en ging halverwege weg, hij moest naar huis om te douchen en zich klaar te maken voor zijn optreden in Fatcat later in de middag. Ik ben naar Fatcat gefietst na t concert en daar zat ik gezellig met Tom van der Zaal naar Joe’s optreden met pianist Ahood te kijken. Later hoorde ik van Joe dat Ahood had gevraagd of Joe het met mij “deed” waarop Joe ongemakkelijk antwoordde dat dit verre van het geval was. Joe zou dat nooit doen, we zijn vrienden, hij heeft helemaal niet de intentie om ook maar iets met mij te proberen. In antwoord op Joe reageerde Ahood geagiteerd en zei Joe dat hij mij niet moest “Cockblokken” … wat een zak.

Mannen in de jazz. Dit is een openbare blog dus ik weet niet zeker of ik het wel moet schrijven, maar het valt me soms zwaar dat ik in zo’n mannelijke omgeving zit. Er is een chronisch tekort aan vrouwen in de jazz, en de mannen zijn dorstig. Ik moet vaak nee zeggen, tuurlijk charmant, en goed voor mn ego, maar op een gegeven moment is het genoeg. Ik ben in New York voor de muziek. Zo.

Na Fatcat ging ik met Tom van der Zaal uit eten. We hebben eindeloos gepraat over de Nederlandse jazz scene, en over de verschillen tussen Nederland en Amerika. Savonds ging hij dan naar Smalls en ik ging naar Aaron Goldberg zijn Concert met Guillermo Klein in the Village Vanguard. Guillermo is een latin singersongwriter en twas een super intens concert. Er was een braziliaanse zangeres, wow, wat een kracht, bijna schreeuwen en huilen op het podium. Een heel andere manier van muziek maken dan ik zelf doe.

Hierna even gedag gezegd aan Aaron en toen ook naar Smalls gegaan. Ik liep naar binnen en kwam de Small Cat tegen, wat een schatje… Ian McDonald (pianist) maakte er een mooie foto van. Er was jamsessie en ik heb but not for me gezongen. Ze vonden het goed. En ondertussen was Joanna alweer weg. Ik ging nog wat eten met Spike en John, die samen een interessant gesprek hadden… kuch… het was tenslotte alweer diep in de nacht. Ik ben rond 4 uur naar Joe gefietst en die was nog op. We speelden Bach, Beethoven, Schuman liederen. Joe vertelde verhalen over zijn jeugd en carriere, we speelden quatre mains op de piano en ik viel uiteindelijk rond een uur of 7 op de bank in slaap.