The DRBB was asked to play in Toronto at the International Association of Jazz Educators(IAJE) convention in January 2003. This IAJE is a worldwide organization of people in the field of music and music education. There were 7000 people participating in the convention, coming from 35 different countries. There were lectures and workshops, concerts and a large presentation area with the newest instruments and CDs and music books. There were concerts during the daytime with many of the school, college and military bands. In the evenings there were concerts with professional bands. The DRBB performed with the Canadian pianist Renee Rosnes, with Jim McNel conducting. We were on tour to promote a CD to be released in the early spring on the Blue Note label featuring the music of Renee arranged and conducted by Jim McNeely.
Renee was also a featured soloist in several other concerts during the convention. The night we played, she played with the fantastic bassist John Patatucci in a small group concert. The concert was in a large concert hall with about 2000 people listening. It was a very demanding audience, every person there was a musician and music teacher ! The concert with the DRBB went very well, with a very positive response from the audience. We were one of the main attractions in the row of evening concert features. I had a chance to meet with saxophonist Bob Mintzer (known from the Yellowjackets, as well as his own big band projects among many other things). He was going to come to Copenhagen to work with us later in January, and he had much praise for the sound of the DRBB and our playing.
We stayed for the three days the convention took place, and heard lots of fantastic music. I attended a very interesting lecture by salsa pianist and arranger Mark Levine, about arranging music in "clave," the specific rhythmic structure which is so important in Latin music. It was a very interesting lecture.
We flew from Toronto to Boston to play two nights at a jazz club called Ryle's. Ryle's is very close to the Berklee Music School. So again our audience was made up of very many musicians and students. The club was very nice, it had a long history and very many famous bands had played there over the years. We could see on the program that one of our former chief conductors-Bob Brookmeyer-would be playing the following month. It was fantastic playing in a small club, instead of a large concert hall. The atmosphere was very close, and we were sitting so close to our audience that you could see all the reactions people had to the music as we played it. This is always very inspiring !
Our last stop was in New York City. We had a very nice bus trip from Boston to New York. It was great to be able to see the beautiful New England countryside. It was very nice for me, since I am originally from Connecticut, so I was able to see my home state on the way. In Japanese you have a wonderful word "natsukashii" to describe this wonderful feeling of seeing something that brings back nice memories !
Our final concert in New York was in Greenwich Village at a club called "Joe's Pub." This is a club which seats about 200 people. There was very little space on stage for the band but somehow we managed to fit all our instruments and ourselves on stage. We had people almost sitting on top of us ! But again, because we are so close to the audience, the band was very inspired. I think this was the best concert of our tour. Renee played beautifully and our rhythm section followed her all the way through her solos. I could see the reactions of the audience, people had not heard our band before and I could see they were impressed ! I felt very proud of our performance that night.
The famous jazz critic Dan Morgenstern had the following comment :
"The Danish Radio Big Band is without a doubt one of the finest jazz orchestras in the world-- perhaps THE finest. I've had the good luck of hearing them in a wide variety of musical situations and settings, and while the personnel has changed over the years, the caliber of the musicianship always remains the highest. These cats (and chick) can play anything that's worth playing and make it sound as good as the composers, arrangers--and listeners--could hope for. This is one hell of an ensemble !"
These words made all of us in the band feel very proud !

Upcoming projects with the Danish Radio Big Band :
Our next project we are working on now is with the famous American saxophonist, writer, arranger and bandleader Bob Mintzer. He is known from his work with the band "Yellowjackets" as well as with his own big band, among many other things. We are touring Denmark. soon and I will write more about that later. We will also be doing a tour of Europe with David Sanborn, playing the music of Gil Evans. This will be conducted by the female big band conductor and bandleader Maria Schneider. A tour of Denmark and a CD recording with saxophone legend Benny Golson is also on our schedule. As you can see, we are very busy playing lots of exciting music !
I will try to keep sending news from the Danish Radio Big Band. Viva La Musica !

Ethan Weisgard
February 1, 2003