Summertime lingered with us for a while this year which I enjoyed immensely. The weather has been incredible and I really can't remember ever having such a wonderful working holiday. Though I never had any chance to do any summer activity like swimming or diving (my favorite sport), there has been a lot of travelling and, oh yes, music!
 July began with the excitement of the release of my latest CD “Non-Stop To Brazil”, the launch live series, and receiving the Swing Journal's Gold Disc Award. A highlight during this period was the show held at JZ Brat in Shibuya where I had a wonderful opportunity to perform with the best Brazilian rhythm section I can possibly have in Tokyo. This fantastic group was led by Paulo Gomes on piano, Manabu Oishi on keyboards, Koichi Osamu on bass, Kazuhiko Obata on guitar, Fujioka Masahiro on saxophone, Francis Silva on percussion and Tommy Campbell on drums! Plus a string ensemble adding rich string harmonic arrangements headed by Hiroko Yanagawa, made the evening's performance unforgettable. The music we played was dynamic and lively but an intimately romantic mood was also created by the moving and passionate Spanish version of Acaso and Anos Dorados. This project is another dream come true and I'm very proud of it. I would like to thank all the people who came to listen and stayed to congratulate me on my latest accomplishment.
 Still reveling from the whirlwind excitement, I had to pack up and get ready for my trip to Europe. This longtime dream of mine to fly to this continent to do a gig finally came true. It would have been easy to visit as a tourist but I somehow strongly felt an opportunity awaited me to bring my music. I flew in mid July from Tokyo to London for a few hours stopover then onto Warsaw just to spend the night, I had to suppress my excitement at the sight of these two big cities but I will check them on the way back.
My first itinerary was Krakow where my good friend, Jan Jarczyck who was born here came to pick me up at the airport. Jan is a pianist, composer and teacher, who has been working extensively in the United States and Canada for more than 25 years now. While in Boston, he worked with several Boston based musicians and taught harmony and composition from 1980 to 1985 at Berklee College of Music. He now divides his time between composing, performing and attending to his teaching duties as Professor at McGill University Faculty of Music.
We first met when I performed at the Montreal jazz festival. We then met again here in Japan when we performed together during the promotion tour for my CD “A Time for Love”. It's been a while since then when almost two years ago I received an email from him asking me if I was interested in coming to Poland. This exchange led me to the performances at the International Jazz Festival in Krakow and a teaching gig at the International Chodziez Jazz Workshop.
 My first glimpse of Krakow was one of awe and amazement. It is not a simple task to describe its' unique character primarily due to it's rare cultural heritage. Once inside the city walls, I couldn't help feel a sense of time slip seeing centuries old impressive landmarks, lovely vistas with it's distinct medieval architectural layout. During the Renaissance, Krakow became the center of new ideas and culture that attracted the most outstanding humanists, writers, architects and musicians. Having retained a wealth of architecture from different periods, this is a city alive with character and soul.
City life focused around the Market Square, the second largest in Europe after St. Mark's Square in Venice, where I walked to find the Cloth Hall, the world's oldest shopping mall, it has been in business for 700 years. This too, is where I found big posters of myself advertising the festival. It was quite flattering too see so many of them posted all over the square, I couldn't resist the temptation to take pictures.
My performance was at the Radio Hall with Jan Jarczyck trio turned out to be a very exciting one. The audience was very warm and friendly, the interaction we had was so enjoyable. Jan brought such a level of musical maturity into all the songs we played which I found so comfortable. This was another musical journey for me and I really had a wonderful time and a lot of fun. I met some very interesting people here both artists and producers wanting to get out into the world to express themselves and be known. This place has every potential to expand its' world of music and culture.
My next stop was Chodziez, a small town 70 km away from the city of Poznan. The International Jazz Workshop in Chodziez first started in 1970 and has since become very popular due to the special atmosphere, which is the result of the communication with art, made possible by the contribution of first class professors. The workshop started to function as an international one in 1996.
It was with great pleasure when I accepted the invitation to be part of the 2004 workshop. I came here to teach and to learn as well and got what I came for. There are a so many things I discovered each day that it would be impossible to write them all down. Meeting my new students mostly Polish and some Germans was a lot of fun, it was a joy to discover each personality and to help bring out the best in themselves.
I arrived on a Sunday afternoon and was shown around the campus. Later that night, students, faculty, technicians and staff had a general assembly, promptly followed by a jam session, a sort of introduction of the teachers to the students by way of music. I guess I gave a good impression because the students whistled and cheered after I sang, giving me a boost of confidence. It's a wonderful feeling to be able to make the connection especially among musicians the minute one's music is heard. It was truly a very motivating set up and I was so happy to be there.
There were classes for most instruments for rhythm and brass section. For the vocalists, each day started with vocal training from 11 am to 1 pm, have lunch then go back in at 4 pm to practice with our own rhythm section. Each night, members of the faculty had to present their individual shows by putting together a band with members of their own choice. This was always followed by jam sessions till way past midnight, it was a never ending music affair.
My show was scheduled on a Friday night and was somehow one reason why it felt like the whole townspeople had turned up. The place was fully packed! For my band, I decided to use my own class rhythm section, very young but brilliant, promising musicians. They are bursting with energy and seem to be tireless. I asked Leszek Zadlo, the camp's director to do saxophone solos and Jan Jarczyk on piano to play one ballad with me. It was fantastic! The whole faculty congratulated me and told me I did a great job especially when I brought most of my students onstage to sing choruses of Summertime with me at the end.
That weekend we had a concert by the lake with selected student performers then later a barbecue party, which was great fun. Intensive training followed the next few days to ready the students for the final concert. It was hard work but I always looked forward to my lessons. I constantly amazed by the high musicality level especially of the Polish students, so much talent just waiting to be discovered.
The final concerts were held for two consecutive nights at the ampitheater outdoors and lasted past midnight. Thank goodness, the weather was perfect! There were at least 18 groups on the first day, then 14 more on the next. My students did their very best on their solo performances and we all sat together cheering for each other. We had a real blast especially when we all went onstage to sing an arranged version of This Little Light of Mine for our finale. I guess our spirit was so infectious, the artist director came up to me grinning widely and said “I feel so happy and inspired with what you've done for these kids.” We just truly enjoyed each minute and for me it wasn't really much about who were good and not, it was all about the heart of music that brought us together.
My students hugged me and gave me a beautiful present telling me they are all so proud of me. What a wonderful feeling! The chief administrator officially invited me to come back next year and when I told them I will have to check my schedule with my office, they replied they'd call me everyday!! Great!!
The Chodziez workshop ended beautifully with all members of the faculty playing a knockout performance. The crowd's cheering was endless.
A great thing happened here and it has enhanced my capabilities not only as a teacher but mostly as a performer. Teaching gives me a whole new way of looking at things and a great learning experience. It was fun exchanging ideas with intelligent minds here, especially with my colleagues, they were super!
I can't believe how fast the days flew, I thought different in the beginning. It's been a LOT of work but this experience has given me a great sense of fulfillment. Memories here will definitely stay and I'm almost certain it has opened doors for more to come.
Charito
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