 That would be the North
Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague, attended by LP founder
Martin Cohen since 1983, and a true home away from home for him and his percussion
instruments.
“I love the international nature of the festival,” enthused Martin
after a return visit July 8 through 10. “It's a festival where you hear
music you might not be familiar with and learn. It's where I first heard Juan
De Marcos and the Afro-Cuban Allstars.”
At the North Sea Jazz Festival, as at many international festivals, the backlines
are teeming with LP congas, timbales, bongos,
bells and toys. The reason is that quick changes are necessary and nobody has
time to repair broken lugs, cracked rims, or to spend inordinate extra time
trying to extract an acceptable sound. With LP
percussion instruments, the festivals are good to go immediately.
“There was a technician at North Sea,” recalls Martin, “whose
job it was to handle percussion. He was busy for three full days moving LP
gear from stage to stage. LP
is the official choice for percussion of the festival.”
This year, aside from absorbing new acts, Martin shot photos of one of LP's
first artists, Don
Alias, who was playing with David Sanborn. View the series on Martin's
site www.congaheadcom.
Aside from interacting with his many fans at the North Sea Festival, Martin
is doing what he's always done-verifying the performance under fire of his
beloved instruments.
“I feel gratitude for everybody's support,” he says, “and
I get a lot of feedback, including ideas for products, which I bring back to
our product development department. If
you look closely you'll see these appear in our forthcoming catalogs.”
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