The Heinz von Hermann Quintet on tour in Romania
Jazz
Ahead in Malaysia
Jazz
Ahead Meets Dracula
Jazz
Ahead in Mexico
The
South-East Asia tour
The
Vietnam tour
The
Heinz von Hermann Quintet toured Transylvania last October. It was a 13
hour drive from Austria in a bus provided by Renault. First stop Sibiu—previously
called Hermannstadt (no relation!)—in Romania. 
The quintet played that same evening, the occasion being the final concert of the Sibiu Jazz Festival. On this tour Heinz took with him Erich Bachträgl, drums; Erwin Schmidt, piano; Uli Langthaler, bass and Judy Niemack, vocals. The Sibiu Jazz Festival has been enormously popular in the east for 40 years, and was, as usual, completely sold out.
Jazz Ahead had been invited to the festival by the Austrian Embassy in Bucharest, who organised three other concerts for the quintet, plus a Charity Workshop in the German-speaking Brukenthal-Lyceum.
One of the concerts took place in the Transylvania Nightclub before an invited audience—they were warmed up by a genuine Romanian quartet before the main event. The group went on next day to appear in yet another festival in the Theater des “ArCub” in Bucharest. This concert was transmitted live on television, and included an outstanding band from Moldavia.
The final
concert was at a Jazz-Brunch in the Athene Palace Hilton Hotel in Bucharest—then
followed another long, 19 hour bus journey back to Vienna. This took place
on Heinz’s 65th birthday, a big occasion for him, and he really
couldn’t
understand why nobody made any mention of it. He found out why when they
arrived the next evening in Vienna, because there was a big surprise party
waiting for him, organised by his wife Katrin. Seventy musicians turned
up to celebrate with him (many more had been invited—Katrin had put practically
the whole of the European musical world on alert for this party, including
myself), and they jammed until the early hours. Next day it was back to
Klagenfurt, then Salzberg in the Austrotel, where the tour ended. It had
been a tour of long journeys, many warm, human memories, great jazz and
a lot of fun playing it.
Did they really meet Count Dracula? They weren’t saying…
JAZZ
AHEAD IS COMING TO MEXICO
Tour dates:
13. April 02 EU-Jazzfestival
CNA Mexico City
14. April 02 Konzert Cuernavaca, Huitepec, Hacienda de Cortés
15. April 02 Konzert Morelia,Instituto Michoacano de Cultura
16. April 02 Workshop Escuela de Superior de Musica + Conzert
17. April 02 Workshop
18. April 02 Konzert Museo Amparo Puebla
19. April 02 Mexican Institute Radio Broadcast