Mark DiFlorio

From November 24 through December 21, 2007 I toured with Devin Phillips, Andrew Oliver and Eric Gruber through 5 countries in Africa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Guinea, The Congo and The Democratic Republic of Congo. The trip was supported by the U.S. State Department and  Jazz at Lincoln Center. Here are my original journal entries from the tour as posted on a previous website.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Dakar, Senegal

Well...I'm in Africa, sitting in a pretty swank hotel in Dakar. There were no difficulties in entering Senegal and being here is surreal as you may imagine. Immediately at the airport we were surrounded by about 30 people all offering help with our bags some going as far as holding onto our bags. We walked through the crowd ,saying no thank you or just ignoring the offers. We arrived at 5:15 AM and  were met by embassy escorts who were extremely friendly and efficient in getting our gear and luggage into the cars and taking us to the hotel. Even at 5:30 AM the streets and clubs were crowded. Apparently it's a late night town.
Today we spent the day being tourists going to an outdoor market and then taking a ferry to Goree Island, one of the most prominent slave trading centers of Africa.
We had an awesome guide leading us through the city and discouraging the beggars and insistent market vendors when they became too pushy. The market atmosphere is wild. We are constantly being badgered to purchase things and I mean constantly. People tugging on our arms and following us for blocks asking us to purchase things. Bargaining is a must when purchasing and everything is expensive.
Tomorrow our programming starts with a master class in the morning and a performance in the evening.
Can you believe it? I'm in Africa! It's still hard for me to believe.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

St. Loius, Senegal 

I can't beleive we have internet!
The band is now in St. Loius, Senegal, about 4 hours north of Dakar. I'm just in from our second gig of the tour. Yesterday our programming began with a master class in the morning at an arts school in Dakar. It's the only school of this type in the country. We were set up in a small classroom and eager to play. The room was filled with music students, sitting, standing and lined up in the doorways. We played a few tunes to warm up, opened up the communication with our interactive presentation on the blues and by the end of the session we had a handful of local musicians sitting in, playing some jazz and teaching us some local music. The day ended with hugs, pictures, email exchanges and I received a knuckle on the head which I've been told means that the giver of the knuckle believes you're a gifted musician.
Later in the day we did a sound check at "Just 4 U", an awesome open air club that hosts all of the great African bands. Sound check was a little rough, getting good monitor mixes and setting the front sound appropriately for the jazz. We had a fantastic Kora player and a singer come by the rehearsal to prep for the evenings sitting in. Show time and the club had a good vibe. We were dressed clean in suits and ready to play. We had a good first set although the stage sound was a little challenging. Set break and we socilaized. Some students from the states, embassy people, a bunch of local musicians and even a guy from Philly who grew up 10 minutes from my childhood home.
We came out strong on the 2nd set and invited guests on stage. The Kora player performed a blues with us and St. Thomas(amazing!) and then we played one of his songs. Oh the crowd loved that. Andrew got a knuckle on the head right on stage during his solo. We also had a Sabahr(sp?) percussionist on stage with us who was the real deal.
Out too late and up too early we made our way to St. Louis. This town is very similar to New Orleans in the color of the buildings and the balconies. Sound check and the gig. Again more musicians sitting in as the exchange continues.
The crew who has been coordinating all of this as well as driving us around, moving our gear, setting up, breaking down and doing sound is AWESOME! Chad, Coya, Sila, Ivan and a few others have been incredible in helping us stay safe and moving forward. Billy Banks, our tour manager has been an essential support.
AFRICA! WOW! The cities are colorful with the clay painted buildings and the women's clothing. The Senegalese people are a peaceful people, genuinely nice and polite and often in great need. There is tremendous development going on but it is often random and left unfinished. There is garbage everywhere and the pollution is bad. Driving is crazy and dangerous, very few rules and not one working stop light(I've only seen a few). Crossing the street is wild. The buses are rickety and packed often with someone hanging out of the back door. There are goats on the streets. In a few weeks is holiday that celebrates when Abraham slaughtered a goat instead of his first born and soon these goats will have a similar fate. As we drive around the city and country we see the differrent neighborhoods, the streets filled with people, markets, cooking on the side walk, dyeing cloth on the sidewalk, large furniture for sale...on the side walk. This place is dusty and dry.
Back to Dakar tomorrow for some press interviews and our last gig in the country. Then to Siere Leone for a solid week. Internet in Sierre Leone? Possible, probably...I'll let you know.

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Freetown, Sierra Leone 

We arrived in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on Thursday evening Nov. 29 after taking 2 flights and a helicopter from the Lungi airport.  The helicopter was a Russian military vehicle that held about 18 people with our luggage in the center. It was a short ride, about 7 minutes. It was LOUD and thrilling. Before getting on the helicopter we had to deal with our first tour glitch. Our bass and piano didn't make it although they will be here in a few days. For our first day of workshops and performance the embassy people found us an electric bass and short keyboard and although this was not ideal it worked. We first went to the U.S. embassy to meet the ambassador, June Carter Perry. The ambassador was welcoming, interesting and intelligent and it was pretty exciting being in her office. The embassy is an unattractive compound looking building with tight security who asked me to delete the photo I had taken of the sign upon arrival.
Onto our workshop were we played a whole bunch of New Orleans music for an all girls brass band. At first we played for them, sax, electric bass and sticks on a chair while we waited for the drums and piano to show. We knew it was going to be good because we already had some of the students dancing. We performed some tunes and then had them perform for us. They played British marches and an arrangement of The Beatles tune, obla-di-obla-da. We explained that the slaves in New Orleans, brought from Africa, played similar marches and that, combined with their own music and drumming the music evolved into New Orleans jazz. We demonstrated the swing of New Orleans music, had them dancing and clapping and then had the drummers playing some. It was awesome! The girls had a great attention span and were inspired. We did well.
Off to sound check in the outside amphitheater that was decorated in red, white and blue banners. The turn out was unfortunately low but we had the Sierra Leone army band show up and open for us. We played our set and the crowd really enjoyed it and by the end we had some of the army guys dancing with each other. After the concert as well as the workshop we met many people who were friendly, grateful and happy. What a great feeling to connect with people on the other end the world by playing jazz. A dream come true.
This morning we had out first day off and we went to a Chimpanzee reserve that gives refuge to Chimps who were injured by hunters or kept as pets. In the reserve the Chimps are removed from humans and trained to be re-released into the wild. Now there are 88 chimps in the reserve and they are looking for a safe haven into which they can be released. I took some great pictures!
Now we're back at he hotel, relaxing, swimming in the pool and enjoying a spectacular sunset over the Atlantic Ocean but from the other side. It's December 1st and it's 85 and sunny. I'm swimming in a nice pool but right around the corner there are undernourished, very poor children playing barefoot on dirt roads and living in shacks that are built out of corrugated tin. 
There is great poverty here. There is an electricity grid but it doesn't work. Any and all electricity is generated by gas generators and even most restaurants don't have running water. The people here speak english and they are immediately friendly and welcoming. The coast line is stunningly beautiful and the hillsides are lush with banana trees and thick green foliage. It is tropical. Again there are a lot of people carrying things on their head but the city is clean and there aren't the beggars and solicitors as in Dakar. Also the city isn't as accessible as Dakar. We don't go out of the hotel at night.
Tomorrow we go up country to Bo where we will give 2 workshops and have a performance. I hear the road is long and bumpy and there is no hot water at the hotel. Also when we go to Bo we will leave behind out tour manager Billy Banks. He is going back to the states as his tour is finished. He was supposed to stay with us through Guinea but the difficulties of traveling have dictated that he leave on Monday. It's been great meeting, knowing and spending time with Billy. He has been a calm and responsible presence on the tour and I am feeling some anxiety and loss not having him continue on. His person, stories and spirit are inspiring and he has given support to this band in a way that I have never experienced from someone outside of theband. Every day is new and adventurous and not having Billy travel with us any longer will be new and an adventure. Wish us luck on our own.
Tuesday we are to have dinner with some local musicians and on Wednesday we give a workshop at a University and perform at the embassy. Then we drive to Conakry, Guinea.
The band is playing well and getting along even better.
I really miss my wife, Lilla. 

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Conakry, Guinea 

Today we arrived safely in Guinea. We had a rough 5 hour ride from Freetown, Sierra Leone, to the Guinea border. At the border we were met by 3 embassy vehicles where we moved our luggage, gave hugs to Marilynn and drove across.

Three days ago in Bo, Sierra Leone we had two concerts and one workshop. Bo was hot and humid and our accommodations were fair. I did get to sleep under a mosquito net for the first time. The first night the band set up outside the hotel for an impromptu concert. It felt good to play. I was soaked in sweat, pouring jazz into the African night. People seemed to enjoy the music. Our first workshop was a tough crowd. Our educational program is interactive and this group of students was very shy. There was a percussion group that played some indigenous Sierra Leonian instruments which were very similar to the parts of the drum set. The drum master told me that they don't have a recorded history of their native music or instruments and it seems that most of these instruments were not predecessors of the drum set. They performed some traditional songs which involved clapping and singing. One song was lullaby and another was a song to scare off the man eating bears that apparently exist in Sierra Leone. Our second workshop was for 5 music schools.

Guess what? The power just went out at the hotel. There was a big "whoopee" when the lights went dark and with the sound of the generator starting up we have lights.

The 5 music schools were all playing marching brass band music. We presented our New Orleans music workshop. In the evening we performed in a public space and although the concert was lightly attended the crowd was enthusiastic, dancing in the isles, clapping and cheering. Back to Freetown where we had the privilege to have dinner with Sierra Leone's Refugee All-Stars. I had been talking to Lilla, my lovely wife, and she was telling me how she had just gone to see a dance troop and music group that was from Kinshasa, the last city on the tour in the DRC. She then mentioned that The Refugee All-Stars will be in Seattle in February. I hadn't heard of the band but the name implied that they were from Sierra Leone so I mentioned to our embassy contact, Dana, that we would love to connect with this band if possible. People started making calls and we found ourselves at a home cooked African meal with The Refugee All-Stars. The were a peaceful group of Rasta like musicians. They were Sierra Leonians who left during the war and formed a group in Guinea. We made a serious hang and arranged for them to perform with us at the Embassy. With our instruments now back from Ghana we had a great gig and it looks like we'll be seeing The Refugee All-Stars in Seattle.
We hit the road at 6:30 am for our drive to Conakry. The band as a whole was ready to leave Sierra Leone as the country was challenging on many levels. That being said we loved being in the country, meeting with musicians, sharing our music and getting to know the embassy staff, Dana and her husband Joachim. We had friendly drivers, Joco, Philip and Mohammed and the incredibly kind and helpful Marilynn our local contact and event organizer. She got us some great deals while we shopped in the market.

My impression of Sierra Leone and the people was positive although there were many challenges being there. I was almost always met with a smile, wave or handshake once I initiated as the people were friendly but at the same time they seemed hesitant to open up. It's difficult for me to say but knowing that the country is still recovering from their long and depleting war it seems that it has taken a noticeable toll on the people.

Crossing into Guinea by vehicle was uneventful although here was a chicken running around the customs office. The country side of Guinea is lush with thick green forrest and the roads are decent. There is an unstable electricity grid here and a stable Authoritarian president who has been in power for about 23 years. There seems to be great poverty here as well as a lot of development. We're staying in a nice hotel although as our dinner has just arrived in seemingly great African tradition the order is wrong. Tomorrow we have a day off and we're planning to be tourists and go to a music club in the evening.

Devin and Eric are also keeping Blogs and Eric is posting pictures so check out these links for some other views and experiences.
www.devinphillips.com
http://eric-africa07.blogspot.com

I love my wife.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Conakry, Guinea
It is our last night in Guinea and while it seems like we’ve been gone a long time it is also hard to believe that we’re going to leave our third country. Guinea has been great. On our first day here we had a free day so me, Eric Andrew, Andrew and Fred went to Rome Island, a beautiful, secluded paradise off the coast. We were fortunate enough to get there in an embassy speed boat as the tourist boats were much slower and possibly less safe. As we arrived to the island we were welcomed by many locals wanting to guide us to their restaurant or bar. We had made a call to local hotel and after finding our spot we sat down to a delicious lunch. The Atlantic ocean water was very warm and I swam for a while, laid out on the beach and watched loacl boys (most of them naked) run around and catch sand crabs for lunch. This place was spectacular and romantic and I found myself talking the whole time about how this is the kind of place my wife and I want to come for our honeymoon. I am missing Lilla terribly and every wonderful place that I visit has me wishing she were here with me. Dr. Fred Lamp is a Fullbright Scholar here studying a mask made by the Baga people. He has been visiting Guinea for almost 20 years and has written THE book on the Baga people. Fred is an interesting guy with some great stories and I’ve enjoyed my time with him. That evening we went to a party thrown by the head of Marines at the embassy. We met many good people all working at the emabassy. The most interesting part of the party was the drive to the place. The streets were insane in the evening. The congestion and pollution, many hundreds of people walking on the streets, selling things and crossing the highway like it’s a neighborhood street. It was chaotic, frantic and sometimes alarming. This was the first time I got the feeling that the people of Conakry and Guinea are just on the edge. After the party we went to local music venue to see one of the bands with whom we are to having a workshop. They were playing a concert that is part of The Guinea Jazz Festival which we will be closing with our gig tonight. It was a cool outdoor venue, the music of “Gumbo Jazz” was nice and we had a great time.

Our workshops in Guinea have been a bit different than in the other countries. Two of the three were set with local bands, one indigenous group and one local jazz group. During the workshop we would present our music, the other group presented their music and then we would come together at the end and…jam. At our evening concert the workshop band has been invited to open for us and then perform with us to end the evening. Our first performance was at the U.S. ambassador’s residence and it was a good show. Our second workshop was in Dubreka falls, a town about an hour drive outside of Conakry, for a post-secondary music conservatory. The school had nice facilities as it is sponsored and supported by the government. The students were in in their early twenties, dressed well and excited to have us. It was a great workshop which ended with a fantastic Djembe player showing us how it’s done and a nice jam session. A strange and frustrating event took place as we were leaving. We have brought one thousand CD’s from Lincoln Center to hand out as a gifts. Everywhere the students and listening audience have been very grateful for the gift. As I was handing out the CD’s at The Dubreka Falls workshop the students began grabbing at the CD’s unwilling to be patient despite us telling them that we had enough for everyone. After going outside to have more space to hand them out the pushing and grabbing continued until finally they ripped the box out of my hands and ran off still figting for the CD’s from each other. I wasn’t threatened or frightened but frustrated that I wasn’t able to communicate with them that everyone would get one. A bit turned off by the event we made our way home after a nice lunch at a restaurant overlooking the lovely Dubreka Falls. The ride to and from was beautiful, showing us the lushly green and mountainous landscape of this fertile country.

Today we were invited to visit the practice and performance space of The Guinean National Ballet. The director had seen us perform at the ambassador’s residence and asked us to stop by for a short preview of the company’s work. WOW! This has been the best thing I’ve seen in Africa. Powerful drummers, wonderful musicians and dancers that shook the ground with their limber and wildly animated dancing. They danced and drummed and sang and clapped and they sweat as they performed for us with unimaginable intesnsity. They came closer and closer and finally had us up and dancing. What an incredible way to start the day. On to our workshop with “Gumbo Jazz” and now home to pack and prepare for our gig tonight. We close out the Gunea Jazz Festival with a performance at The French Cultural Center. We perform until 10 pm and then leave for the airport at midnight. Tonight is our most challenging travel itinerary. We fly on a 3:45 am flight to Casablanca and then after a 6 hour lay over take an 8 hour flight to Brazzaville in the Congo. Oh brother!

Guinea has been great. There is intesity on the streets and the music here is awesome. Our embassy coordinators, Andrew, Serge, Kim and Dalanda have been calm, effective and have treated us like family. Thanks to our drivers and the sound people as the challenges, changes and requests are never ending.

Three countries down and two to go. At the half way mark the band is feeling a little homesick with the paradox of being thrilled about the rest of our journey and at the same time wishing to be home. Every day continues to be a new adventure and as I look forward to the rest of our upcoming tour there is nothing I want more than to be home with Lilla.

 Friday, December 14, 2007

Brazzaville, Congo 

Not knowing where I last left off I will begin this entry with our last day in Conakry Guinea.(I just looked at my journal and see that I already wrote about this day but I'm keeping this posted anyway) We started the morning off by visiting the practice and performance space of the national ballet. The director had seen our show the night before and invited us to come by and have a small preview of the ballet. This was fantastic. There are 3 components to the ballet, dancers(male & female separately), drummers and melodic musicians. The drummers were shaking the earth with their intensity, sweating as their interlocking rhythms filled the large space. The dancers moved out into the front, their nimble bodies twisting and bending as if possessed. The dancers and drummers came to us, drawing us in with their energy and at the end the stood us up and had all of us dancing. This experience was truly moving.

Off to our workshop with the local jazz group, Gumbo Jazz. A good workshop with many interested and talented musicians asking great questions and sharing the nature of their local music. Our gig that night was at the French cultural center closing out the 3rd annual Guinea Jazz Festival. It was lightly attended but the crowd was enthusiastic and our jam at the end with Gumbo Jazz was a great way to end our stay in Guinea.

We left our hotel at 1 am to board our 3:45 am flight to Casablanca. The flight was an hour late which in the end was fine because we had a 6 hour layover in Casablanca. Back on the plane for another 8 hours of traveling with a touch down in Doula, Cameroon. And to boot our flight coming into Brazzaville moved through a thunder storm which had our plane being tossed all over the sky. I was pretty relaxed thanks to xanax and the help of my recent homeopthy treatment for my fear of flying. Andrew was a mess and actually I was the one trying to comfort him.

We've been in Brazzaville, Congo for 3 days now and we leave for Kinshasa, DRC tomorrow morning. Kinshasa is just a boat ride across the Congo River. The Congo has been fantastic. The embassy here has dome a great job setting up our workshops and performances as well as advertising for our gigs. There are color flyers everywhere and banners hanging over the boulevards. Our first night here we hosted a jam session at a cafe in The French Cultural Center and to our amazement their are competent and talented local jazz musicians here. It is incredible that these guys can play jazz like they do considering they've learned only from the very few recordings available to them. The evening was enhanced with the presence of 2 Congolese ministers, The Minister of Culture and The Minister of Communications as well a our U.S. ambassador and his wife.

The next day, Thursday, 12/13, we had our workshop with a lot of the musicians that were at the jam session as well a local star with whom we will perform tonight, Roga Roga. This workshop was nice because I had a chance to give a solid lesson to a local drummer, Tony, who is well on his way to playing jazz. In the evening on Thursday we performed at The Ambassador's residence. The ambassador, Rob Weisberg and his wife Nirgish were incredibly hospitable and laid back which made the more official part of our visit nice and relaxing. At first the performance was feeling like we were playing a casual private party, which is neither desirable nor the point of this tour, but the second set turned into a party as the drinks loosened our spirits.

Friday, 12/14, HAPPY 24th BIRTHDAY ANDREW!!!! We began the day by going to the inauguration of a public school that had been refurbished by The U.S. Embassy along with other U.S. businesses. Previous to the work the school had no desks, just about no ceilings, no blackboards and poor toilets. The school has all of this now. The ceremony was formal and attended by 2 more Congolese Ministers, The Minister of Education and The Minister of Defense. The children of the school were lined up along the side but after the formalities the U.S. Ambassador invited the children to come around the band and listen. These 800+ children swarmed the stage and wide eyed and smiling, watched, clapped and danced  as we performed and entertained. This was amazing. After the set we walked out amongst the children, slapping hands and exchanging looks and laughter. The drumming in the school yard began and the kids were brought together into a chorus of wild dancing and singing as a teacher lead the song with her whistle. I came over to the drumming, and along with the school yard of happy children I sang, danced and clapped. These kids can dance, 5-8 year old boys moving and shaking as if they were pulling these movements from the earth. This is not what the school yard in my elementary school looked like! We made our way to the car amongst the crowds of little people and as we drove away the children ran down the street after our car. Truly a special day. While you were young and in school have you ever been asked to raise money to buy school supplies for kids in Africa? Well I saw how and when they actually get to the kids. There was a presentation of new school supplies to the children of this school from the children of a school in Ohio. It is yet to be seen whether or not the children will actually receive the supplies as corruption runs deep in this country.

We had a wonderful lunch at The Ambassador's house with a bottle of Champagne and a cake for Andrew's birthday. One of the perks of being ambassador is that you have a beautiful home and this ambassador also has a wonderful art collection. The lunches at the residences of all of the ambassadors we have visited have been interestingly formal with fine china, table service and coffee in a sitting room. I like it.

To end our adventure in The Congo we had a big outdoor concert on the grounds of The Brazza museum. Pierre Savagnon de Brazza was an Italian turned French who colonized Brazzaville. He is a sort of hero here and the museum is a spectacular mausoleum with  Brazza and his family entombed in the lower level. Interestingly enough my father in-law had been to The Congo to film a documentary about Brazza. We were opening for a well known Congolese pop star, Roga Roga. We played our set to a crowd of thousands and although we were warmly received(luke warm) the crowd was there to see Roga Roga. And then we learned why. This was a spectacular show as the stage was filled with about 20 people at all times, the band, dancers singers and of course...Roga Roga. The men in Africa can dance, really, really dance. I find it fascinating and incredible. And mostly they dance with each other in groups and sometimes in pairs. Africa seems to be strongly a male dominated culture and the public intimacy of men is much greater then in the states. Of course homosexuality is not tolerated and every country will say that they have no homosexuality. Of course this isn't true.

Watching the show was a blast and as I was hoping I was invited on stage to sit in on the drums. They began to a play a blues which was fine but the stage really got bumpin' when they started a Congolese style song and I came in with the right beat. Oh how the crowds love to see us playing local styles and the thousands were jumping and clapping along. And the highlight....they pulled me off the drums and along with Devin I was up front African dancing with women in booty shakin' shorts in a way that my grandmother would not approve. We joined in with the chorus of dancers and ended the night. This was exciting. As fascinated as I am by any of the music in Africa it is the dancing that has been most inspiring. The professional dancing of organizations like The National Ballet and Roga Roga and even more so the dancing that threads through all of the people in all of the countries. Dancing children...I love it.

Less than a week until we're home and although the tour continues to be an adventure and every new country and concert proves to be inspiring I am counting the days. I've been away from Lilla for more than 3 weeks and it will be 4 by the end of the tour. This is by far the most time we've spent apart since we've met and I don't like it one bit. Not one bit!

Saturday, December 22, 2007

HOME : Seattle  

Tonight is the last night of the tour. Tomorrow morning we check out of the hotel, perform and teach at The American School in Kinshasa and then leave for the States in the evening. Of course we will travel for almost 24 hours flying for 7.5 hours, Kinshasa to Paris and then 10.5 hours, Paris to Seattle. I can't wait to get home and hug my wife. Kinshasa has been fantastic. We've had our most successful concerts and workshops here as well as possibly the best meal.

As I write this it is Wednesday evening, Dec. 19. We arrived in Kinshasa, The Democratic Republic of Congo, on Saturday, Dec. 15 by crossing The Congo River from Brazzaville. Brazzaville and Kinshasa are the closest capitols in the world. As we arrived on the embassy speed boat we were met by the energy of a city that has almost 9 million inhabitants. From the port to customs we crossed a fenced in loading lane with men carrying heavy bags of flour and huge burlap sacks full of 10-12 boxes of things. They were loading the big blue ferry that looked like it had seen better days. We got through customs with ease as the expeditors in every country have been helpful and efficient but as soon as we pulled out of the port we were in the middle of a road incident where someone was hit by a car. A concerned and seemingly angry mob began to form as they stopped 2 cars that were possibly the ones that hit the pedestrian. We inched by, honking our horn, and watched as the victim stood up and the crowd kept on swarming and buzzing. The African people have the ability to quickly form into a crowd and sometimes, as in this case, it can be alarming.

Soon after we arrived and checked in at the hotel we were off to a gig. The trio, minus me, performed at the graduation for an english school owned and run by the embassy.  We then performed at The Protestant University of Kinshasa which has a nice campus and friendly students.This performance set the bar for Kinshasa. There was a medium sized but mighty crowd who just adored us. We came out playing strong and they loved it, listening, clapping and cheering. We closed the concert with what turns out to be an African favorite, Iko Iko, and we had the students dancing on their desks and asking for an encore of the same song.  We signed autographs and took photos for almost an hour after the concert and it ended only because we insisted on leaving. Back to the hotel for some rest and then to a jazz jam session at local club named Ibizza. The club had some talented jazz musicians and we had a good time sitting in with the band. As the night moved on the audience was itching to dance and the band turned to playing groovier music and at one point in the evening when the electricity went out for a solid twenty minutes the drummer and percussionist jammed while the crowd danced to the light of cell phones and candles.

We finally had a morning off on Sunday and after talking with Lilla I stayed in bed until lunch. Everything in Kinshasa is very expensive because the city and country produce almost nothing. Everything is imported and we are paying the price. Of course our per diem from The State Department compensates for the expenses and we have plenty of money to eat well. That evening we performed at The U.S. Ambassador's residence for a welcoming and receptive audience. The usual shmoozing where we met, Alexis, a Congolese hip-hop artist who is part of the embassy's program on preventing aids and Katya, the embassy Public Affairs officer and her husband and Jeff, who became very gracious hosts on every night of our visit. They entertained us for 3 nights having us to their home for 2 dinners and taking us to possibly our best meal in Africa at a Teppanyaki style restaurant.

Monday morning we went to The Arts Institute of Kinshasa which is the only arts school in Central Africa. They have no instruments at this school and as the electricity was out on this day so we performed in a very hot room with no air circulation. We have done our share of sweating in Africa and I have worn enough deet that it's possible that I may be better off with Malaria!?!? Someone in Guinea told us that there is a %100 chance that we were bitten by a mosquito carrying Malaria. Keep on taking that Doxycyclene! The workshop was good. We worked hard, sweat tremendously and to our surprise encountered the first African musicians that played the acoustic bass. Something new every day. We played, they played, we played together and after photos and thankyous we had some refreshments with the director and teachers of the school. They told us how they have no resources and as we aren't able to give them equipment and resources we offered many good ideas about finding support for the school. We had the evening off and went to Katya and Jeff's house for some Tex-Mex and margaritas. Their house is very comfy and with 3 cats and 2 cool kids, Beecham and Hannah, we were beginning to feel the pull of being close to home.

Tuesday morning we began the first of 2 workshops with local musicians. Kinshasa has some great local musicians many of whom can play jazz. This was a great workshop with very attentive and curious musicians that really seemed to soak up what we had to offer. We had a big concert planned for the evening with a video presentation of local artists presenting songs about AIDS prevention and King Kester (a well known singer) as an opening act. The amphitheater at The French Cultural Center was packed with a solid thousand people and they were pumped up after King Kester. We came out playing hard and immediately the crowd reacted to our energy with clapping and cheering. It turned out to a great concert and the last concert of the tour. We had a concert planned at The Kinshasa University for tonight but the teachers are on strike and therefor the concert was cancelled. The concert being cancelled wasn't the worst news as we are tired and very very ready to come home.

Today we had the second of two workshops with the local musicians. We spent the day playing together and then explaining some jazz fundamentals such as form, blues changes and soloing. This was the deepest workshop we have had in Africa and it was satisfying for all involved. There were four drummers at the workshop and we all had nice connection listening to, sharing with and teaching each other throughout the day. With the final concert cancelled we had the night off so Katya, Jeff and the kids brought us to a nice restaurant where we had a Japanese chef cook us a seven course meal on the grill right in front of our eyes. It was both entertaining and delicious. This is Teppanyaki.

It is my last night of the tour, my last night in a hotel and my last night in Africa. I am thrilled to be going home as the depth of my missing Lilla is almost overwhelming. This tour has been incredible. It is dream come true for me to travel the world with music and reach people deeply with my self expression. This has been a goal of mine since I began pursuing music seriously and to achieve it after so many years is thrilling. The guys in the band have been incredible as we have played music well together on the whole tour and managed to get along well from start to finish.

I'd like to thank the local staff in Kinshasa, Bob Keith, Katya and Jeff, our drivers and all of the eager students. A huge thank you to Alexis at Jazz at Lincoln Center and the U.S. State department for organizing this tour, supporting jazz and keeping us safe. And of course my wife Lilla. We've been apart for 4 weeks and in our emails and conversations she has encouraged me to be present with every experience while here and also to come home to her so we can be together. I love you Lilla.