Wednesday, October 09, 2024

Death Has It's Own Plan

July 20, 2012


Arriving at the Montreux Jazz Festival to put the finishing touches on Freakout! Montreux

Freakout! Montreux was a show that I curated at the 2012 Montreux Jazz Festival. It started on the evening of July 13 and ended in the wee hours of the morning of July 14. It featured a huge roster of multifaceted talents that pushed the boundaries of the musical status quo.

Over the next few days I'll feature some lo-res unedited clips to give you a sense of one of the greatest days of my life. It took months to plan but the vibe was so amazing that I'm already working on next year's version.

Many of you may not know that I was attacked by very aggressive cancer about twenty-months ago and it's been the greatest struggle of my life. But I'll just keep planning for the next gigs - because Death Has It's Own Plan.

 


Mark Ronson said it would be his dream for Alison Moyet, Johnny Marr and CHIC to play his arrangement of "Stop Me" - He said that Johnny and I are his two fav guitarist - Here's a little snippet

 


After months of planning I could see my vision starting to come true


The Freakout! Montreux plan included legends Dimitri from Paris & Ultra Naté


The team worked like a well-oiled machine - Ultra Naté ripped it up while I was in heaven


The A-Team Sooze, Claude, & Tess


Every detail was planned


We even designed the fruit


Going over last minute details with Scarlett Etienne who played keyboards, sang, and DJ'd in the opening


The one and only Martha Wash sound checking


Me and French disco legend Marc Cerrone having a laugh at sound check


La Roux's Elly Jackson going "In For The Kill"


Me and Tavares go over the opening number


Felix da Housecat assuring me that he's got it covered


And Grace and her son Paulo turned it out!


The whole team WORKED HARD to make this night perfect