After my year of living in London, I had returned to the European continent and to Amsterdam, The Netherlands. I had enjoyed living in London, and I met some great people while I was there. But living in Amsterdam was different on many levels socially, and while there are the differences in the ways countries conduct their populace’s social behaviors, one thing remained the same for me; it was the music. Playing music on a different continent other than the one that I grew up on was of a great interest to me. I went out almost right away to the numerous jam nights for musicians that took place in the city. I played at a few of the clubs in the city, and got to know some of the local musicians, as well as some ex-patriots who were living there as musicians and artists.
The open jam nights were fun to play at in Amsterdam, I began to revisit a couple of them during my first year of living in the city. One in particular that I found was at a jazz club called T’Geveltje; it had some of the good Dutch jazz musicians stop by on a regular basis that kept the music flowing nicely there. There was a house piano, and a small set of drums available for the musicians who wanted to play on the open jam nights. I always brought my own bass; it was my five-string with a low B string that I actually introduced into my extending jazz vocabulary; the Real Book and the Fake Book jazz songs that I had learned already were learned on a four-string bass guitar. But to be there at that club playing down tunes from those books on my five-string bass was a blast for me.
As I got to know more and more of the musicians who lived in the city, I began to sing more at the open mic nights held at some of the other clubs that I would visit. There were a few places that had a soul/r&b open mic night, and some others that held blues style open mic nights. As I kept on singing at the open mic nights, when I was done, I would talk to some of the experienced musicians who encouraged me to start my own band. They told me to start a band that does the songs that I like to sing, and to do my own thing. I did find some musicians who wanted to play the soul, r&b and jazz styles that I liked to play. We got together and practiced for a short while, and the guitar player in that band came up with the name of Soul Touch. With that band name, we did our first gig at a small club/café that overlooked the Waterlooplein in Amsterdam. It was fun and I thought it might last with those guys if we stayed together.
But as it is with bands, the group members have crazy schedules in their own lives. If they are good musicians, and these guys in the band were, then they are constantly busy with other music projects. I wanted to keep the band going, it was fun to play the music, and it was a good way to bring in some money. I began to think about a new name for this band that I wound up leading, I wanted a band name that people would easily remember. It needed to be something silly, something familiar, something large, and something that I could personally relate to.
I noticed right away what a scheduling wizard I had to be in order to keep track of which musician was going to play in the band on a particular show. The musicians would come and go; it was a lot of back and forth for me as I dealt with this. I remembered that I grew up around, near, or in a city; I had been around cities for most of my life. And the thing with cities is the people who live there and then move away. People have come and gone in every city I thought. I see musicians constantly coming and going in my own band, so why not a name called Jerome Lee City for this band? I liked the name, and I described to the band members why I thought of that name. They happily understood, and each new musician that played with the band was told of the origins of the name. The musicians liked it, and to my happy discovery the people liked it too.
Once I had established a band name for my group, it was time to get moving and try to get the name out to those who might book the band for shows. I did the things that needed to be done and took them seriously because this was my biggest income generator. I was going to get out there in Holland and sing for my supper, oh yes, I was. I carefully compiled a band introduction letter; several set lists and even had the good fortune to have some promotional photographs taken of me by a good semi-professional photographer that I met at one of the open mic jam nights in Amsterdam. Once the photos were finished, I set out to try to find as many gigs or shows as I could.
After I had the press package made for the band, the manager spirit that I had in me helped me to book some shows. By doing these shows, it allowed me to meet some new musicians who were living in Amsterdam. One notable musician was a singer/guitarist Sonny Griffin; he was wonderful person for me to know and to work with. Sonny had his own band too, and shortly after I met Sonny, I did many shows all over Holland with his band. It became fun to mix up our show nights when it came to our set lists; Sonny had done enough shows with Jerome Lee City to learn all of my songs so we would share the lead vocal duties between us. And when I would play in Sonny’s band on his show nights, I would sing a lead vocal on a few songs to give him a break during the show. It was a great musical exchange that we had between us, and we kept that exchange for several years over many shows.
As Jerome Lee City continued to do its thing as a band, one night at a club in the old part of Amsterdam proved to be a turning point for the band’s journey. It was a great night for the band, the musicians in the band sounded great and the audio was just right. The club was filled with dancers on the dance floor, and the vibe that night was just positive. Right after we were done playing, a man from the audience immediately came up to me and introduced himself as a concert promoter from Sardinia, Italy. His name was Guido Valera, and he was straight to the point as he looked me right in the eye. I was curious about what he was saying, and we sat at a table in the club, and he told me more about himself. I learned that there was a large festival held on Sardinia Island each summer that lasted for over a month. That’s big. Guido told me that he could book at least ten concerts for me that happened during the festival month. I agreed, and we began the process of getting Jerome Lee City booked on Sardinia Island, Italy.
I spent the rest of that winter and spring of 1998 getting ready for my band’s tour of Sardinia, Italy. There was a lot that needed to be done with insurance, passports, and different nation state departments. Not your normal procedure before a show, and I worked to get all of the paperwork right. Guido came back to Holland in the month of May to finalize our contract; it was good to see him and to work with him. I was given maps of Sardinia, and the towns and villages that we were to play at were highlighted on one large map in particular. I was excited as the band rehearsed and put together the music for the tour. When the time came to go, I was excited all over again to fly with the band from Holland to Sardinia. When we got to Sardinia, Guido was there waiting for us and took care of us for the entire tour. I will never forget the hospitality of the people of Sardinia; they were very giving and kind to us. We did ten concerts on the island that summer, and the band was stunning every night. This happened during July and August of 1998, and it was a tour for the ages for me. I will always remember the people who came to the concerts and showed their appreciation for live music.
All of this happened after Jerome Lee City had been doing shows for only a year in Holland, there was still much more to come. What a way to begin a musical journey, I thought. I will talk more about this band and its musical adventures in the future. Stay tuned…
