John Blackwell touring in Europe with Jean-Paul Bourrelly & TM Stevens

Power trio extraordinaire comin' your way.

Drums: John Blackwell
Guitar: Jean-Paul Bourrelly
Bass: TM Stevens

Should be some amazing shows.

here are the dates from www.bourelly.com. Show is called Vibe Music.
06.02. BERLIN(D) Tränenpalast
07.02. ERFURT(D) Gewerkschaftshaus
08.02. HALLE(D) Objekt 5
09.02. DRESDEN(D) Tante Ju
10.12. LEIPZIG(D) Spizz
11.02. AMSTERDAM(NL) Paradiso
12.02. ZOETERMEER(NL) Boerderij
13.02. HELMOND(NL) Plato
14.02. OFF
15.02. INGOLSTADT(D) Diagonale
16.02. FREIBURG(D) Jazzhaus
17.02. OFF
18.02. NEREC(F) Festival
19.02. OFF
20.02. tba
21.02. tba

22.02. WINTERTHUR(CH) Salzhaus
23.02. LUZERN(CH) Abc-Mixx
24.02. tba
25.02. AARAU(CH) Kiff
26.02. WIEN(A) Porgy
27.02. INNSBRUCK(A) Treibhaus
28.02. GRAZ(A) Orpheum tbc
01.03. MARIBOR(SLO) Theatre
02.03. ITALY tbc
03.03. ITALY tbc
04.03. ITALY tbc
05.03. end of tour

Hmmm... On the website it is giving this information:

JEAN-PAUL BOURELLY/T.M.STEVENS/CINDY BLACKMAN

http://www.bourelly.com./gigs.shtm

Spoke with John today via email and he is definitely the drummer. Here is a more complete link:

http://tmstevens.com/news/

Cool thanks Joe!

But according to http://www.paradiso.nl/ the show in Amsterdam cancelled

Do you have more info about it?

JoeKelley said:

On the Paradiso Amsterdam website it says the february 11th show is cancelled
(afgelast = cancelled in Dutch)
http://www.paradiso.nl/

love2thenines2003 said:

JoeKelley said:

Spoke with John today via email and he is definitely the drummer. Here is a more complete link:

http://tmstevens.com/news/

?????.....definitely???>so JB is out from NPG...Definitely

John Blackwell IS still the drummer of Prince and the NPG. Heard from John this morning myself.

Greg Boyer has toured with Maceo Parker.
Rhonda Smith has toured with Sheila E.
Mike Scott has toured with Sounds of Blackness and Estaire Godinez.

Musicians have to pay the bills and eat too.

JoeKelley said:

I bet this is a indicator that there will be no celebration unless Prince is going to call Kirk Johnson to fill in on drums

that means: there will be NO grammy performance from prince this year.

but i will see blackwell in my hometown next week YES - thanks for the information

Great News!! Bourelly is one of my favorite guitarists! Wish I could see the show....

trickster said:

that means: there will be NO grammy performance from prince this year.

bad news for me - the show in my hometown (10.12. LEIPZIG(D) Spizz) is also cancaled ;-(

i spoke to the club owner and he told me that CINDY BLACKMAN (former lenny kravitz drummer) was the anounced drummer for this tour. blackwell is now doing her job because she is sick or something like that.

what ever - they dont know blackwell so they quit it. to bad ;-(

All I can say is that these will probably be some great shows. Many aren't hip to JPB, but the boy is baaaaad!!!!! Did I say he was baaaaad? I meant to say that he was baaaaaddddd!!!!!

If you haven't checked him out, check out his Tribute to Jimi Hendrix CD, or the Saints and Sinners (not the exact title, its with his band the Blue Wave Bandits), or his work on Graham Haynes' Transition CD with Vernon Reid as the other guitarist (this one is out of print, but available at emusic.com).


With JB doing his thang on the skins, this should be a serious gig. The same could be said if Cindy was going to do the gig as well. I wish we could get JPB to play in the states, but alas, he's better apprciated away from home than at home.

Squiggly said:

Last saturday I went to the Vibe Music concert in Zoetermeer Holland.
About 80 people showed up (the venue can hold about 800 people).

Didn't like the concert at all. To be honest I wasn't familiar with the music of JP Bourrelly. The songs weren't tight at all. Lots of improvisation and many times it looked as if TM Stevens and John didn't know what to play.
Every solo of JP Bourrelly sounded the same to me.
John looked very bored during the concert (maby he wasn't feeling well or very tired). The person who went with me to the concert said at one point: "You get the feeling that all three of them are playing a different song".

Highlights were the solo's of John and TM Stevens. TM is great! It must be a hard job being TM's bass guitar

After the concert John took all the time in the world to talk to the Prince fans in the house. Giving autograhps and taking pictures with them. So thumps up for John!

I've heard some beautifull things on the website of JP Bourrelly, but those songs weren't play at the concert. Sorry for my depressing review

I went to the Vibe Music show last night in Helmond. I can't be anymore positive than what was said in the previous review (of the zoetermeer show). This time, only about 40 people showed up, the accoustics were awful, and again the music was not very inspired.

I dig JB a lot, I have his drum DVD's and all, but yesterday he was yawning all the time like he was not at all in the mood.

JohnnyB said:

Last saturday I went to the Vibe Music concert in Zoetermeer Holland.
About 80 people showed up (the venue can hold about 800 people).

Didn't like the concert at all. To be honest I wasn't familiar with the music of JP Bourrelly. The songs weren't tight at all. Lots of improvisation and many times it looked as if TM Stevens and John didn't know what to play.
Every solo of JP Bourrelly sounded the same to me.
John looked very bored during the concert (maby he wasn't feeling well or very tired). The person who went with me to the concert said at one point: "You get the feeling that all three of them are playing a different song".

Highlights were the solo's of John and TM Stevens. TM is great! It must be a hard job being TM's bass guitar

After the concert John took all the time in the world to talk to the Prince fans in the house. Giving autograhps and taking pictures with them. So thumps up for John!

I've heard some beautifull things on the website of JP Bourrelly, but those songs weren't play at the concert. Sorry for my depressing review

Nope, sorry
More people wanted John's attention (taking photo's and things like that), so I shaked hands with the man, wished him all the best (we all know why) and made room for other people to talk with him.
I'm just too nice

JohnnyB said:

Last saturday I went to the Vibe Music concert in Zoetermeer Holland.
About 80 people showed up (the venue can hold about 800 people).

Didn't like the concert at all. To be honest I wasn't familiar with the music of JP Bourrelly. The songs weren't tight at all. Lots of improvisation and many times it looked as if TM Stevens and John didn't know what to play.
Every solo of JP Bourrelly sounded the same to me.
John looked very bored during the concert (maby he wasn't feeling well or very tired). The person who went with me to the concert said at one point: "You get the feeling that all three of them are playing a different song".

Highlights were the solo's of John and TM Stevens. TM is great! It must be a hard job being TM's bass guitar

After the concert John took all the time in the world to talk to the Prince fans in the house. Giving autograhps and taking pictures with them. So thumps up for John!

I've heard some beautifull things on the website of JP Bourrelly, but those songs weren't play at the concert. Sorry for my depressing review

TM has funky records but the last two records they toned down the bass and the energy. It's like you can see he is playing that Japan rock/funk market to a Tee.

BOOM and Sticky Wicked were the best recorded TM records, imo.

Bourelly is Bourelly come on.


As for the shows, I dunno maybe they are just warming up.
I think if you looked at some of Prince's early gigs with his new bands you would see a similar pattern.

Alot of rusty spots and Bourelly is a improvisationalist in the Avant Garde Jazz. So its always going to be a tough sale for the live audience and record buying public.

minneapolisgenius said: