Freebie

Pick up tomorrow's De Morgen: in it you'll find a coupon for a free Jazztublieft! Een oor op jazz in Vlaanderen compiation CD. 14 tracks, 8 of which are taken from previously released albums (Kris and Bart Defoort, Jef Neve, Brussels Jazz Orchestra, etc.). Excitingly, that leaves 6 previously unreleased tracks, including some from groups/players that don't even have official releases: Robin Verheyen Quartet, Jozef Dumoulin, Bart Maris - Les Poubelles are all in the latter category, Maak's Spirit, Flat Earth Society and Octurn round out the program. I've had the CD for a few days, but haven't listened to it much yet. I can say, just from reading the track listing, that it spans styles (modern mainstream/avant-garde), means of production (acoustic/electric, small band/medium band/big band) and generations.

De Werf is organising a 3-day event featuring all fourteen bands, mainly, it seems, as a media "big bang" promo event. I was invited as part of the media (!), and it could be cool, but I really can't make three trips to Bruges in one week-end, especially not at current gas prices. And there's the Brussels Beer Weekend as well...