A night with the master

Last night, The Significant Other and myself went to see one of the world’s best trombone players, Swedish jazz musician Nils Landgren. He is nicknamed “Mr. Red Horn” because of his red trombone. His most famous formation is the Nils Landgren Funk Unit. But last night, he played a concert in a little barn 25 km outside Nuremberg. And he teamed up with the teachers band of the local music school. It was an awesome night with the master….

We saw a Nils Landgren concert earlier in the year in a big concert hall in Nuremberg with an audience of several thousand people. Last night was more intimate. The Significant Other stumbled by chance over the announcement of this little concert organized by the local music school. It was actually for free, in the end Nils asked for voluntary donations for one of his charities. We were lucky to get two of the less than two hundred tickets for this venue in a little barn, the “Dehnberger Hoftheater” near Lauf, a small town northeast of Nuremberg.

The concert started with a performance of six teenagers from the music school, that had had a little workshop with Nils in the afternoon. Then the teachers band took to the stage, playing jazz and christmas music (Nils Landgren has some great christmas albums out there, teaming up with international stars).

The total dedication and the fun those local musicians had playing together with a true world star was mesmerizing, and it was an awesome time for the band and the audience.

I brought the Olympus PEN-F (my most favorite concert cam) and two lenses, the mZuiko 25mm F/1.2 and the mZuiko 75mm F/1.8. We had great seats in the fourth row, so I used the 75mm prime (150mm full frame equivalent) to shoot the close-ups of the musicians. The stage was well lit, so I just had to dial in ISO 1600 to get great shutter speeds of around 1/200 sec.

For some establishing wide angle shots I used the 25mm, partially trying to frame the musicians with the heads and bodies of the audience in front of me.

Another surprise came after the intermission, when suddenly Wolfgang Haffner appeared on stage. Living in the area, Wolfgang is a world renowned Jazz drummer. A friend of Nils Landgren, he had actually picked up Nils from the airport in the afternoon and joined the teacher band on stage for a little jam session.

We were so close to the stage, that for the overall band shot I had to use my iPhone, because the 25mm was not wide enough 😉

It was truly a great show, this local music school teachers teaming up with two world renowned Jazz musicians, that was highly appreciated by the audience. We experienced a fantastic atmosphere for every minute of this intense performance. A trombone player herself, The Significant Other cherished this night with the master. And we used the intimate atmosphere to go up on stage after the show for a handshake. And, in the case of The Significant Other, an embrace and a selfie with the man with the Red Horn, Nils Landgren.

And so we celebrated the evening of the 32nd anniversary of our “getting together day” in style 🙂

Wish you a great Sunday!

Marcus

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