With their monthly free concerts, guest dj's, excellent music, friendly atmosphere, cheap prices and bein' the home of the Born To Jazz Movement, the Komeet Planeet found itself packed every weekend. Bein' considered 'trendsetting', we got our shot to play at, and fill one room of the now (in)famous Eskimo parties. Magic was in the air with people dancin' to Rainer Truby, Alex Gopher, Bad Company…. and a packed BTJ-room! Fantabulous.
Short after, another big clash, MaleFemale… While thousands of people we're bangin' their…. to the likes of the Advent, Monika Kruse, T-Quest or Psychogène, platendraaier Skallie, Mustik, Sweet M&M and Saxman we're playin' finger poppin' music in the second room. What a ball. Courtesy by the Funky Teddiez.
Antwerp2000, then cultural city of Europe, the born to jazz movement is asked to help throw a party called Labdance (?). We called all cats, booked dj Snowboy for a true jazz dance session, a host of dj's from Belgium and France (Lorin, Sweet M&M, K-Bop, Troubleman aka Tlp, platendraaier Skallie, the Lounge Bastard…) ànd a live band. All the ingredients for a very big jazz dance partee we're there, when suddenly the location changed to the -really big, yet beautifull, but really really big- Handelsbeurs, and jazz, sadly, just isn't for the millions… But hey, we did it and a bunch of people loved it.
With the end of the KP in sight, Soon came rushin' in, mixin' the strange and the unobvious, leavin' most people dazed and confused… Enter the ninja!
Props go out to dj's Bee, Kinky&Spanky, 6, and Sexy Bones for bein' part of the early Movement days! Around the end of 2000 the KP adventure ended for Skallie & 'Tricia. BTJ began workin' with de Kreun and created a weekly clubnite on Thursdays called 'Flight n°9'. What started out with topic nites, decoration, dj's and free give aways, became K-town's only monthly jazzjam, hosted by the Mahieu-Vantomme quartet or Bart Maris & Moker. We had FN9-specials with Fertile Ground, dj Food, the Breakestra, dj Suv, Xploding Plastix, Sugarmen Three, Sharon Jones, Koop, Earl Zinger… (u name it, they've been there). And although these are all fun things to do, we had to land the plane after a five year flight… for now. Nice thing, the bArtender & señorita Lee, both (over)workin' for de Kreun ended up bein' part of la familia.
BTJ plays somewhere on any Sinxen edition (3-day party all over K-town), but we played the 2 most notorious Vlas Vegas nites. Spectrum and platendraaier Skallie we're killin' it with people dancin' to really anything, and shoutin' to Cab Calloway's Minnie the Moocha, when the coppers came to stop us way too early. Now there's always lots of drinks goin' round at Sinxen, but the amount of fluid flyin' through the air there and then was unseen. So, we kept quiet for a while, only to return stronger the next year… We changed the formula to 6 dj's & a saxophone and got people in a dance frenzy K-town should never forget.
Texas should have been 'Kortrijk's Jongeren Kunsten Centrum' by now, and was brewed in the minds of the Vlas Vegas/Geniep brothers, de Kreun and yours truly around 2001, but became megalomanic once the officials got involved. However we did manage to throw another big one called 'Texas - things we enjoy'.
Nuff respect to Gerald & Joris. Their place, de Charlatan, has been and still is the musical buzzin' center of Gent. They've been oh so supportive for many years. In 2001 platendraaier Skallie started out this residency at the Charly, playin' hardcore jazz, hardhittin' latin, old skool hip hop, nujazz, future funk and things you do not expect when goin' out. Cats liked it, Gerald loved, we still adore it! It did not take long for other dj's to come along, so nowadays it is called 'Anything goes with the Born To Jazz Movement', a meltin' pot of what's new, hot or classic, obscure and groovy. A monthly gig with partee shit onlee! The Charlatan has been a jump start for many other fine things in Gent. We play(ed) the annual Jazz&Sounds Festival, at the world famous jazzcafé Damberd, de Gentse Feesten is something we rarely miss…
For the last 2 years we we're booked at the Blue Note Festival. With a massive line-up this festival spans over two weekends. In 2004 we turned wax the first 3 days of the festival, playin' before, in between and after such artists as Ahmad Jamal, John McLaughlin, Branford & Wynton Marsalis quartet & bigband, Jacky Terrasson… For 2005 we bring you music on sunday with Terence Blanchard, Philip Catherine (wich we met playin' at Parkjazz a few years ago), Jef Neve trio and Charlie Haden! Take of your hat to Bertrand & his blue note fest crew for puttin' on the finest jazzfestival in Belgium.
Since 2004 the 'Beatnick Walk' is your weekly appointment on sunday. This is Sweet M&M's strictly jazz nite, very oldskool, very fusion, very swing, very souljazz, very jazzever. The Fuzzies is also one of BTJ's favourite hangouts… Other residencies are or have been BarOskar, 't Geniep, Anno'02 Meeting Point aka KP2, Volle Maan, the Warehouse, Belmondo, Gt, SameSame, CaféCentral, de Geverfde Vogel, Las Palmas, 't Fonteintje, Cream, BelgaQueen, Bal Moderne, Club Geluk, Zsa zsa, …..
In between all of this we managed to promote the 2 mega bands Aimus & the Secret Fez Society, but with musicians this well known and playin' in so many projects, Aimus is in sleep mode & the Society keeps low profile. During the end of 2004 a creative partnership of ambitious designers decided to build an alternative lounge for the world renown Interieur04 exhibition. The event, called 'Beaudoir', took place in the Kinepolis building with the participation of Giovanni Bauwens, the Bone Factory, La fille d'O, Feness, Raf Schoors, Bimbeau…… And guess who was responsible for playin' the right tunes? …Yep! Through all these years the Born To Jazz Movement tried to serve you jazz (in a way) even hardcore traditionalists must come around, so…
BTJ is the name, and they've arrived. That's the way the saying goes, all across the land. It is used to describe a very talented and open minded Movement, who has paid the dues and is ready to ask " Now, what's next".