Room for Jazz (Riga) report

Room for Jazz
Riga (Latvia) September 2024, a report by Ellister van der Molen
On September 5, I left for Riga for two concerts with Deniss Pashkevich. Who would have thought that it would be the height of summer there that weekend? A good start in any case. I was picked up from the airport by the organization and dropped off at a more than beautiful hotel. Deniss has deployed a group of former students as well as his daughter to help with the organization. My driver from the hotel to the venue was a trumpet player who, under Deniss’s wing, learned the tricks of the musician’s trade, including the business side. When Deniss was growing up – under the Soviet regime – jazz was something that was listened to secretly. So there is hardly any deep-rooted jazz tradition. Fortunately, Deniss has lived in several places on earth and can bring a lot of knowledge from that experience.
The concerts were part of a festival and had a completely unique character. On Thursday we played with a local all-star line-up in a coffee roastery, where many chairs had been set up for the occasion. The audience was very interested and enthusiastically followed the announcements. In response to my argument to show your children how much you enjoy making or listening to music, a lady later posted the following on Instagram:
“I like going to concerts with my children. Mia hangs on her neck when it is time to film an important moment, buys lemonade, cake, sandwich and says she is still hungry, pushes a woman out of her chair in the front row with a “pop up and loses her chair”, has to leave early because her “eyes are tired”, but all the way home tells about Dennis and his concert “I thought it was great fun”!
I like going to concerts with my children.
It is not always convenient, but it is always useful.”
As a gift for his two students, Deniss had asked me to give a short workshop on Friday, where a young saxophonist also joined later. The second concert felt like a regular jazz club, complete with a closing jam session. The bassist and drummer from the first night had other commitments, but drummer Artis came to jam along at the end of the evening. It was extra nice that a few students came by whom I had met the night before at another stage of the same festival.
Luck was on my side: since I didn’t fly until Sunday morning, I had the whole Saturday to enjoy the nice weather, go to the market, cross the city center and get a bit of information about the current situation of the country, which is suffering from a population decline / brain drain, among other things.
The taxi was waiting for me in front of the hotel on time on Sunday morning, and with a Deniss LP in my hand luggage I said goodbye to this warm-hearted country.