Jazz In Brussels - Festivals

Starting in the nineteen-eighties and ending in nineteen ninety-seven the 'Jazz Rally' was a major event on the Brussels jazz calendar. Recollections of those fortunate enough to be a part of it, musicians and public, describe a jazz dynamic that for three days enveloped the city.

Hundreds of bands and tens of thousands of jazz fans zoomed in from all parts of the globe. You bought a badge, for a modest price, and this gave you free entrance to all the participating venues. Podiums on all the principal squares. Well presented guide booklets. Trams and buses enabling you to cover the town at no additional cost. Too good to be true? Well perhaps it was.

Frans and Elizabeth Bogaerts founded, setup, organized, and ran the Jazz Rally. This is neither the time nor place to discuss the intricacies of the Bogart's stewardship, but one thing is certain, they were both dynamic and proactive, motivated very large numbers of people to come to Brussels, with obvious economic advantages accruing at every level of the hospitality sector. They also organized Jazz Rally events in both Seville and Düsseldorf featuring a host of Belgium jazz musicians.

So one again we must ask what happened? Well I do not intend to give a direct answer. Though I will add that what once was a beacon of excitement in the Brussels jazz year lapsed into a shadow of what once it had been to the detriment of musicians, bands, and I assume considerable diminution of business and fiscal revenues.

 Jazz Rally - May 1992

Women In Jazz

Jazz Ladies & All Stars - 23-09-89

Place Colignonplein, Schaarbeek