In March 2010 I read about SEEKING SATCH for the first time on
Nola.com, and contacted its organizers. Now I am in very close contact
to Ms. Amy Kirk Duvoisin from French Market Cooperation and Mrs Robin Ligon
Williams from New Orleans Jazz Institute. Together, we had the idea to
bring the winner of the SEEKING SATCH as a GRAND PRIX to Germany. In
late May 2010 the 18 year old trumpet player Terry Steve Gibson Jr.
winner of SEEKING SATCH and Senior Ambassador of NOJI at UNO came to
Germany accompanied by Robin Ligon-Williams.
Robin Ligon Williams, TG and Ehme de Riese
On Sunday the 30th of
May, Terry took part in my benefit concert IN THE SPIRIT OF NEW
ORLEANS in the Bundeskunsthalle-Bonn, which is the official Museum of
the Federal Republic of Germany for an audience of 3000 people. The
concert was organized by my friend Klaus Gering, Marketing Director of
the Newspaper Bonner Generalanzeiger and Vera Adams, Event Manager of the
Bundeskunsthalle.
On Monday Terry, Robin and Thomas were reveived by the Vice President of the University of Osnabrueck Prof. Dr. Martina Blasberg-Kuhnke. The reception was held for the purpose of beginning an extended partnership between the University of New Orleans and the University of Osnabrueck.
The concert was part of SOMMERGARTEN 2010 and held to
the benefit of the NEW ORLEANS MUSICIAN CLINICS in New Orleans. Some
musicians from famous German artists such as STEFAN GWILDIS,
GITTE HAENINNG and ROGER CICERO took part, and Terry and Robin taught us
all to be real Second-liners.
On Tuesday we had a wonderful day in Wolfsburg organized by my friend
Ehme de Riese who is a big supporter of New Orleans and well-known optician in
Wolfsburg. He arranged a reception for us with the Mayor of Wolfsburg,
Professor Schnellecke. In the aftenoon we all got a guided VIP tour
through the Volkswagen Autostadt. Wolfsburg is the home of the worldwide
headquarters of the Volkswagen corporation. In the evening a reception was held
for us in the Ritz Carlton Wolfsburg Autostadt.
Robin, TG and Terry visiting Autostadt
Terry was really impressed about all this beautiful old and new cars and gave a spontaneous performance in front of a million dollar silver Bugatti Veyron.
Thank you to Ehme De Riese for this great and unforgetable day.
Wednesday was a great day for Terry as trumpet player. We were in a
small music store Gebr. Rolfing in Osnabrueck, where he was looking for a mouth
piece for his trumpet. He took one of the trumpets out of the display case...
it seemed that this trumpet had waited for Terry for his whole life.
TG and Terry with his new trompet
He sounded incredibly good. It was clear to all of us: Terry has to have
this trumpet. The trumpet is from the B&S Company, a Challenger II, worth
2500 US Dollars. So a lot of phone calls had to be made and in the
Happy end the CEO of B&S Mr. Gerhard A. Meinl donated the trumpet to
Terry. Isn't it funny that we can say now, the new Louis
Armstrong from New Orleans is performing on a German trumpet? In my
point of view this is the strongest relation we can have between Germany
and New Orleans.
Thursday we were invited for a broadcast Radio Bremen by Dr. Wolfgang Rumpf the head of the culture editorial team. Terry was performing with his new horn live. The broadcast was done to the sad fifths anniversary of hurricane Katrina.
Thursday evening Terry took part in a jam session with the music students of the University of Osnabrueck for starting the new partnership between University of New Orleans and the University of Osnabrueck. And Terry really rocked the house.
In addition to these things there a lot of things to tell about
newspaper articles and broadcasts. Also about a lot of people who made
the visit of Terry and Robin possible. I would like to thank especially
Mr.Andreas Bernard who sponsored Terry and Robin's accomodations in his four star
RomantikHotel Walhalla for one week.
Terry, Robin, TG and Andreas Bernard Romantic Hotel Walhalla
