Berlin 10/4/08 - late

Next we got a cab over to A-Trane. We were told it was sold out but we wouldn't have any trouble getting into the late night jam session. We had a drink in the nice Italian place across the street. We were paranoid about not making it in later, so we started a line at about 11:55. That was a good strategy because we were allowed in a little early and got the last 15/20 min of the Blues set for no cover. It was great. I danced up a storm.

EB DAVIS & THE SUPER BAND blues
eb davis (voc/harp) nina t.davis (keys/voc) willie pollock (sax/voc) don marriott (tp/flgh/voc) jay bailey (g/voc) carlos delalane (b/voc) lenjes robinson (dr)

The jam was even better than I expected. Someone on the AAJ board said it would be great and Kurt Rosenwinkel was likely to play. I kept thinking no way he'd be there on my night. I also thought if he was he'd only play a little, not the 2+ amazing hours he did play that night!

But I'm getting ahead of myself. It started with a phenomenal guitar trio. The drummer was awesome and really into it. They were all awesome. I heard them invite Rosenwinkel up, but he probably wasn't there yet. After a bit a piano joined. A singer came up for a couple. They had changed drummers by then. Then Johann Leijonhufvud came up with his guitar and soon Kurt joined him. Those 2 then stayed up there nonstop for over 2 hours. I was in my glory and eventually got up to dance. I hadn't danced since the blues earlier. Kurt got off just when the original Trio came back up. The owner said something to him and he came back up to play 1 more with them. They did one more after that with the singer and ended at 4am. That was definitely the highlight of the trip for me. Kurt Rosenwinkel was also the only musician I saw the whole trip that I've seen before.

He just appeared on my radar after he recently played with The Bad Plus. I said I had never seen him before, but later found out I saw him a few days before in the Brian Blade Fellowship. I just couldn't see him that night, but I was very impressed with his playing. I have a feeling I've seen him other times as well. I just checked his website and wikipedia page, and I feel I must have seen him at other times. I also see he is at Birdland this week, so maybe I should try to get there.