August 2016

The Bandit 65 Summer Tour (feat. Kurt Rosenwinkel, Tim Motzer, Gintas Janusonis) concluded last evening in epic style at the Lagarina Jazz Festival in the beautiful Trento region of Northern Italy, surrounded by an infinity of vineyards and gorgeous mountain landscapes at the foothills of the Italian Alps. This band is telepathic! The music never fails to astound us every time we play, even if we think we played a difficult show, the recordings prove us wrong—a totally profound experience. Audiences have been extremely receptive, happy and vibrated by our music.

Lagarina Jazz Fest was our 5th Festival concert in Italy and, including Spain, our 8th concert over all. Since May, Bandit 65 played 14 concerts throughout Europe with most recorded for release on Heartcore in 2017.

Backtracking, in Italy we played Rome (Casa del Jazz), Firenze (Plazzia di Michaelangelo), Calabria in the mountains in Rosanno at Chiostro di San Bernhardino for the Peperincino Jazz Festival. A few days off for mozzarella and wonderful food in Reggio di Calabria (Once known as Saturnia many centuries ago), and the amazing beach and seafood (best EVER!) at Scilla. The final concerts were the Viggiano Jazz Festival high in the mountains of Potenza, and, the Lagarina Jazz Festival—after a 3.5 hour 150km/hr van speeding to Rome followed by a 2.5 hr train to Trento in the North Italia. Whew! Trento’s beautiful surroundings are beyond words and were a perfect setting for our last show of a truly magnificent tour! Bravo! Many thanks, gratitude, and love to Kurt and Gintas; new friends Toti, Alessio, Felipe, Marina, Katherin, Giuseppe, Marco, Chevi and the many crew and sound folks who made everything so special for us. This band and tour has truly been one of the most remarkable musical experiences I’ve had the pleasure to be a part of. We travelled the spaceways!! We worked hard, kicked ass, played epic concerts, and enjoyed all the cool folks, amazing travel, wonderful food and wine that Spain & Italy offered us. I’ll be reflecting on this tour for sometime and looking forward to the next ones!! Next stop Berlin. (TM)

Tour update: (Living the Dream part 4) Rossano, Italy
I was pick pocketed at Duomo in Firenze, almost lost my passport & wallet but thankfully got that back but they DID steal my phone unfortunately. So until I can figure this out, please contact me via FB or email.

Meanwhile traveling and epic concerts continue. We played at Plazalle de Michelangelo 8/4 in Firenze, a very beautifully curated location. From the stage, we looked out over a panorama of the river, bridges, churches, Duomo, and city. Great sound on the stage.

Early morning 8/5 traveled to Calabria. Two trains. First train air conditioned business class very comfortable for 2.5 hours. Unfortunately the second train wasn’t so accommodating. Our agent couldn’t get us on regional train to Calabria as it was sold out, so we travelled in a local train that stopped constantly, no air conditioning to speak of, and packt full of people—a giant rolling sweatbox for 4 hours! We are traveling with 11 pieces of luggage including 2 guitars, 3 pedalboards, cymbals, percussion, & clothes—so an awful lot of stuff to keep track of traveling this way. Upon arriving Kurt discovered a killer carniceria where we ate the most incredible mozzarella and prochuito sandwiches after 8 hours of traveling—followed by espresso & gelato. This brought us back to life! Then a 2 hour drive ascending into the mountains with breathtaking vistas to Peperocino Jazz Festival set inside a beautiful monastery, Chiostro di San Bernardino, in Rossano. Such a special setting for a night of Bandit 65 music, a sold out concert to a lovely smiling audience. Today 8/6 traveling to Reggio Calabria (2 hours), where we grab some much needed rest for a few days on the Mediteranean Sea. More soon. (TM)

We’ve just arrived in Rome after a beautiful weekend of Bandit 65 concerts in Spain ending at the gorgeous Festival Jazz Cádiz. The airlines lost our bags, so our gear was a bit more stripped down for the Festival but still a stellar set(!), best so far, i’d say. Wonderful people there!!! Tomorrow we play Rome at Casa del Jazz at 21:00, do join us!

Here’s a few more snaps from the past few days in Cadiz.