Larry Harlow in the Netherlands
by Larry Harlow

I left my apartment on the west side of Manhattan at 3pm September 30th, heading for Kennedy Airport and KLM/NW airlines. My ticket was a prepaid Electronic ticket and I did not expect any problems. BUT...the prepaid was in the name of Lawrence KHAN, not Kahn, my real name that is on my passport. Sooooooo it took 45 minutes to get this together and of course I had to sit in the last row of the huge 747 plane. Next to me was a young man maybe 22 years old named Vasily (Basil in English) who was from outside of Moscow, Russia. He was visiting the US for the first time, and had been traveling the country alone for 3 months. He could not stop talking about the places he visited and the people he had met. He is a computer addict and we had lots of things to talk about as well as music. His English was very good and we exchanged CD's to listen to. His classical and mine naturally Latino and Jazz. We will stay in touch via e-mail . Six hours later we were arriving in Amsterdam (of course with NO sleep) We arrived at 6:45am Saturday Sept 30th. After a long walk through immigration and baggage claim I went out to find a large sign reading LAWRENCE KAHN staring me in the face. Reinoud Hulzebosch, Dutch conguero and his bassist Hayo my internet friends and fellow musicians were there to meet me and drive me into the Centrum. We had never met before in person and had much to talk about. Being so early we went to a coffee shop near the flower market that opens very early and chatted about their Salsa band SABROSO and the Latin scene in general. I of corse told funny stories about some of my travels across the globe with famous musicians and the Fania All-Stars stories. We drank several coffees and and got to know each other for a few hours. At 9am they drove me to the apartment of Saskia Laroo, a wonderful talented female trumpet player from Amsterdam, with whom I would be staying Saturday evening until I left for Rotterdam. Saskia'a apartment had a guest cottage where I stayed overnight. We played music and played together and caught up on the months we have not seen each other. We talked for hours and listened to great music. At 7pm Saskia and I went to meet Astrid Rosales the wife of Gerardo(who I play with in Holland) for dinner at the Gaucho steak house. The food was marvelous with steak and Salmon being the main courses. For desert we went to the BULLDOG, the most famous of the "coffee houses". As usual the weather was gloomy. Drizzling then a downpour etc. etc. I finally slept and tried to turn around my internal clock for Sunday. Reinaud picked me up at 5;15 pm for a dinner with members of his orchestra. There were so many new faces and names to remember I hope I can remember them correctly. We had dinner at a wonderful small Spanish Tapas restaurant with a great paella and drank good Dutch beer. At 7:30 we all left for the De Kleine Komedie Theater at 56-58 Amstel in Amsterdam, to see Cuartro Estaciones de America Latina, a new suite in 4 movements; 1- Elementos 2-Amor America 3-La Marea and 4- Sangre Calinte- all written by members of Rumbata from various countries around the world including Colombia, Holland, Uruguay, Cuba, Germany, USA and Puerto Rico. I knew several members of the orquesta and we met after the performance to say hello. The music was very interesting. The second half of the concert was Rumbata's salsa program. All had a great musical time and the first performance of this suite went well. There were to be 8 more presentations of this suite throughout The Netherlands in different cities. Reinoud drove me to Rotterdam to my next stop called the Tulip Inn. We arrived at 1:30 am. Then he had to drive back to Amsterdam. My room was small but cozy with a great view of the new Bridge and a small balcony overlooking the canals which lead to the huge harbor of Rotterdam. Jan Hartong, the director of the Rotterdam Conservatory Latin American Music division and also the music director of Nueva Manteca, a great Latin Jazz group from Holland picked me up at 8:30 am for our power breakfast where we discussed the plans for the week as far as teaching and discussed all of the students.

I would be teaching a Latin Piano class from 10-12 in the morning and a Salsa Band class from 2-4pm for 3 days then the last 2 days would be spent recording the band in the new recording studio. Recording tricks, record production, mixing, mirophone placement etc. etc. etc. I had sent 5 arrangments a month before for the students to rehearse before I arrived. The hogeschool voor muaiek en dans / Rotterdsam Conservatorium was a brand new building located on several floors of the Doelen, where the wonderful opera and symphony play (in the Centrum). It is the only school where world music is taught as well as reggae, Turkish music, jazz and Musica Latina. Of course there is classical music department and the New School of the Dance. So there were many talented and beautiful looking students running around between classes for the entire week. The piano had students from Germany, Venezuela, Holland and Finland among others. The band students came from Cyprus, Finland, Curacao, Portugual, Greece, Slovania, Spain, Surinam and Belgium. All of the students spoke English as well as Spanish and their native languages. Most of the students had already been to Cuba on an exchange program with Cuban students form a conservatorio in Havana or Santiago and were familia with fundamental Bata and Lucumi chants. We held classes for 3 days and then entered the recording studio. In the evenings, I had wonderful gourmet meals in Rotterdam's finer restaurants. We began recording what we learned the past 3 days and the music all started to come together. I taught them how to produce a CD as fast as I could, pushing my 35 years of producing experience into the final 2 days. The studio is new and not constructed very well and there were many problems with the recording. But in the end all came out wonderfully. I was not able to mix the final but I am sure after I left all was done to perfection. I would like to mention some of the students: Singers: Atte Kekkonen- Finland Claudia Copier- France Paulina May- Finland Yannine La Rose- Surinam Piano: Tomas Boteher- Germany Bass: Stanley- Cauracao(forgive me for forgetting your last name) Ritmo: Mattias Hoffner-Germany Christian Ferre- Holland Maxim Zettel- Germany Horns: Tbite Montele Rob V.D. Wasly Woude Laura Loel Boukestein Fleo Rakers Piano Class: Anabel Febles, Juri Kuffner, Joao Falcato, Vincent Plasweijk, Thomas Bottcher and Mark Bischoff who helped me organize the classes and helped them learn my arrangements before I arrived. Friday eve I went again to Amsterdam to see Sieera Maestra, a great SON group who have been together some 20 years. They were performing at the Meltweg (Milkey Way) club. All the band members from Sabroso and several students went to the show. My dear friend Dr. Ira Goldwasser, a shrink as well as a Latino radio personality and Mambo dancer spent the day with me as well as showed me around that Saturday and opened his home to me overnight. We went for brunch and then to hear some Live Jazz in the center of Amsterdam. Saturday evening, the students and I had a jam session at a local club in Rotterdam and I had a ball playing piano with them. I took the train to the airport in Amsterdam , which only about 50 min and leaves you off under the airport .. all you have to do is take an escalator one flight up and you are in the middle of the main terminal. How civilized....The flight back was used to write these notes before I forget . But I could NOT forget the wonderful 9 days in the Netherlands. Hasta la Proxima Harlow's News LARRY HARLOW El Judio Maravilloso