So, as I wrote from my mobile phone I got a last minute gig in Salzburg on Thursday evening. I got the call at five and had to hurry to a train that left Vienna an hour later. I arrived in Salzburg at eight and we were scheduled to start playing half an hour after this. Luckily we didn’t start on time, so I had a chance to eat some Goulash, try the borrowed baritone saxophone and take a quick glance at the notes before we went up on stage.

When I got there I understood that I were playing with a band called SK Invitational, lead by electric bass player Stephan Kondert, in a really nice club named Jazzit. It wasn’t a big band gig as I first thought, it was more or less a hip-hop gig with a compressed big band together with a singer and rappers. Setting was three saxophones, two trumpets, one trombone, violin, two guitars, bass, keys and two drum sets (I probably have missed something!).

The gig went well, there were lot’s of people in the audience and the atmosphere really was on top! I really had to concentrate to get all the syncopated sixteen notes right, but I think I did a fairly good job considering the circumstances. The band really sounded great, really groovy and fun both listening to and play with, and I must say I was very pleasantly surprised, thinking we’re playing a normal big band gig and then end up in something completely different.

After the gig we hanged around and had some beers together, in my case also while waiting for the night train back to Vienna. It left at 02.18 and arrived in Vienna at 6 o’clock in the morning. I got a little sleep on the train, although I was waking up every 5 minutes. Finally home I went to bed and slept until 13.00. There you have it, an Austrian last minute adventure. A good one.

I’m sitting on the train to Salzburg, I got a last minute big band gig. Had to leave one hour after I got the call and we start playing half an hour after I arrive. I’m gonna play on a borrowed baritone sax, so I hope half an hour is enough to make friends with it. I’m planning to take a night train back to Vienna, I just hope there will be some free seats, it wasn’t possible to book one over the internet. Well well, one thing at the time. Let’s focus on getting the notes right first…