'Ode to the Saxophone'
Page Under Construction.
Will deal with the summer music festivals in Flanders, with emphasis on Jazz music, and in particular Saxophone Jazz music, and performances in Brussels. Jazz is very popular in Flanders, with the yearly high point being the Middleheim Jazz Festival in Antwerp. 'Calypso' is a type of music from the Carribean islands. The lyrics contain hints of the Dutch "ABC" islands of the Carribean, including "bang", in place of "afraid", "de", in place of 'the', etc.
The saxophone was invented in Belgium by Adolphe Sax. Mr. Sax wanted to create an instrument that could bridge the gap between the "agile woodwinds and powerful horns".
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| "Zoot Notes"- Tress Jazz Band |
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| Super Calidocious Fingers - Belgian Django Reinhardt |
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| Calidocious Inc. describes the sound of the saxphone as being "Calidocious and Zoot"- a mix between delicate, subtle, grace and straightforward boldness. This is a good analogy for how Flemish bridges the gap between the Romance and Germanic languages.
Calidocious Inc. nicknames the saxophone a 'Zoofonium' or 'Zeuphonium', after a descendant of the saxophone called the 'Euphonium'. The saxophone can capture the essence of a foggy California morning, or a "Zoop" brunch, better than any other instrument.
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Interestingly, many of the names of major Flemish cities "fit" well with the word 'jazz', for example:
Antwerp Jazz
Ghent Jazz
Mechelen Jazz
Leuven Jazz
Ostende Jazz
Brugges Jazz
Limburgh Jazz
Calidocious Inc. uses 'Brussels Jazz' as the "Opitium" (or quintessential) of the Jazz events.
One could say that "'Flanders just jives (fits) with jazz."
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| Flemish Legend- 'Zoots' (Toots) Thielmans |
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| Calidociously Zoot!- Ed Wiley Jr. |
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| Another intersting side-note about Jazz vs. Flanders is that black & white photography "fits" both jazz and Flanders particularly well.
Color photography works better than black and white for most subjetcs, but with jazz pictures, color often ends up being a noisy distraction.
Due to persistant cloud cover, outdoor color photograpy in Flanders is difficult, but black and white photography can be quite effective.
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| Calidocious & Zoot |
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A final side note is that the name "Jazz" came from the California Bay Area- ie. 'Sarifornia'. 'Jazz' came into prominence around 1915 thanks to Bay Area newspaper reporters who used the word to mean "spiffy in appearance" or "full of pep and vigor". From California the word was transferred to the Chicago music scene.
Note: There likely was a similar sounding personal name, 'Jas', that was common among southern musicians in Chicago at that time. However, by 1918, "Jazz" had supplanted 'Jas' and had become the name of the new music.
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| 1916 Sheet Music |
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| "Zoot, Zoot, Zoot, Zooteo"- Passport Band |
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