[Dixielandjazz] Red Sea Jazz Festival

[Ministry of Jazz]

Shalom Jazz Fans,

I have just returned to Jerusalem from my visit to the Red Sea Jazz Festival
in Eilat (Israel). I had the great privilege to meet listmates Tom Wiggins
and Steve Barbone, and to see again Bob Romans, Bud Apfel and the rest of
the crew who came over to fill in for the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, who
had to cancel. Our "Ambassadors of New Orleans" 8 piece band did a super
show for I'd say over 2,000 very happy customers, under the stars at the
Eilat Seaport, including a grand entrance from the back of the audience New
Orleans funeral style to the tune of By and By.

There was an all night jam session that turned out to be for the most part a
waste of time musically as they focused only on modern jazz and gave no
chance to OKOM. But it was heart-warming to see the audience full of young
people, many of whom made a point to tell the Ambassador how much they
enjoyed their show, and one of them even recognizing me from having heard me
play in Jerusalem, and I got his email address for my mailing list.

The band performs again tonight, but I had to run back to Jerusalem for a
gig of my own, so we managed a very full day-long visit with a little
touring and lots of swapping of stories.

I cannot tell you how much it means to us over here to have performers come
and visit, and not cancel their shows just because we have a little
excitement along the borders now and then. My only regret is that the guys
could not come up to Jerusalem after the festival. I hope some of them will
come back another time, and anyone else from the DJML is welcome. I can't
promise paying gigs, but I can nearly always arrange a chance to perform
somewhere at least for tips and a great experience. Anyone planning or
considering a trip please feel free to contact me.

Now if you'll excuse me, between the overnight bus ride to Eilat, the all
night jam session, and a late night gig last night, I haven't hardly slept
in 3 days, so I'll ... ... ... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Your jazz contact in Israel,

Elazar Brandt
Dr. Jazz Dixieland Band
Tekiya Trumpet Ensemble
Jerusalem, Israel
www.israel.net/ministry-of-jazz
+972-2-679-2537