Sheer pleasure for playing together

Thats what I witnessed at the Tamboer in Hoogeveen. Seeing Jan and the Rosenbergs was again a sea of delight!

The pleasure of the players is brought to our ears and eyes in such a direct manner that you cant escape it. As the first gigs were a careful search for possibilities, now they all play freely together wit a great amount of humor. In such a loose atmosphere Jan is at its best.

Milestones was played in a way Ive never heard before. Much more in rhythm and chords. Probably infected by Nousche, the rhythm king, who is labelled by Jan as the most underestimated guitarist of the western hemisphere.

Also Puccinis Cafe, maybe one of Jans most beautiful songs, got a different beginning, also in a rhythmic style. It came to my mind that I like this song so much for the notes that are not played. There is such a great build up of tension and release in this song, that Im still moved by this beautiful piece.

Floatin with Stochelo (the lick that I studied for ten years, does Stochelo in 20 seconds) forces Jan at the peak of his capabilities, although playing with a big smile you can see that Jan has not a simple task here. But he likes challenges, and is always going for a big bumpy road ahead. And again the audience acknowledged it. And eventually this audience is rewarded with real Akkerman humor. For example his Pythons is called in Japanese Idem Dito.

Jan who is witty about his own music, and very at ease with his audience. Who would have bet on that at the beginning of the nineties!

Bas van den Berg