To:
Patricia, Ingrid, Julius, Felix, Jeroen, Michel, Mark, Marc, Benjamin,
Vincent, Hein-jan, Dirk, Victor, Charly, Harmen, Örjan, Barend, Simone,
Rene, Glenn, Niels, Mark, Felix, Jurre, Pieter, Alexander, Jürgen, Christoph,
Roel, Sander, Mike, Marc, Leslie, Boudewijn, David, Lydia, Michiel, Roel,
Tomas, Viljam, George, Hugo, Udo, Dudu, Diego, Iris, Paul, Joan, Michael,
Robert, Floris, Jeroen, Lené, Rogier, Mark, Paul, Joost, Anja, Judith, Axl,
Edwin, Melkweg,Thierry, Thijme, Julian, Susanne, Linda, Mayke, Mum & Dad
and Sophia!

HALLO fantastic people!
It was grand....and what a bummer for the 200 back in the row on the
street who could go home again .....(yep, success makes me mean! hahaha).
And what a birthday party for Sophia!!!

It's only just now it sunk in what we've accomplished on Sunday 24 March 2002.

For all of you 50 bass players:
It was more then just a tribute to Jaco. It was more then just to play music
together. It was to show the world that we 50 bass players are in a different world.
The drive has give us a beautiful feeling. Everyone was there one hundred percent.
Each one of us said: we're here; together having a magic night.
Of course we have choirs of hundreds of people, orchestras.
But we're bass players, all of us. Strange people those bass players!
Jaco must have known; Portrait of Tracy is perfect to have it performed by so many
bass players. I have that with JS Bach as well. Try it on bass...it works.
Unbelievable. So did this performance. What a night..what a weekend!
I'm proud of you being there. It was a shame that we didn't do our dance of joy
together at the end of the night. Imagine eating together with 50 bass players;
let alone dance together! We'll dance in spirit, okay?!

I wanted to give you a Jaco T-shirt. Those who haven't got one yet;
please contact me so I can have one send to you.
It's a shirt with just a picture of Jaco on the front.
Really nice!

Victor did a great clinic at the Amsterdam's Conservatorium next day.
And he had dinner at our place. 'Our' is Patricia and I. You know;
the one I've been with for 12 years on Sunday 24 March 2002.
Yes, i told Axl, the host of the night, about our anniversary
and he had to tell 1100 people...hmm.

By the way, about Axl: he was called away by his wife...
they now have a son called Thor. Brilliant name Axl.
If you want to congratulate him and Thor
(for coming one day late!): axl.peleman@pandora.be.
Also Axl: you did a great job announcing all the acts.
And that for a Belgium guy! hahaha. You know I met Axl recording 232
bass players a bass line at his studio in Belgium. He was
great with the crowd; joking about and having great fun. So I ask his dad:
has he always been like that? Yep, he said, and he can be even more crazy.
Thank you Axl. What you did on the tribute was not exactly
what I had in mind...no it was much better!

Victor told me he had a wonderful time and that he was proud to be part of it.
I think he's done an incredible job. What power; in his position:
he can't move about very smoothly, he hadn't had any sleep,
the plane was delayed so he came on the day instead of the day before
what was actually planned, they had his bass on the wrong flight...
(you should have seen his eyes when he had his bass back in his hands!!!
It was a day late though...) I will thank you all in name of him.
One more thing I was incredibly proud of is that when Victor saw Patricia's
portfolio (yes, Patricia is an artist) he was amazed. He stared at the
pictures for a long time. Man, i was in heaven...I know Patricia didn't mind!!!
Later we looked at Julius' drawings. They were so sensitive and full of feeling...
I don't know how you describe art, but I hope you get the..'picture'...?!

Hein-jan and Dirk i wanted to thank as well. These two friends of mine ran
all day their butts off getting everything tight and prepared on stage for
the musicians. No way I could have done without them! Thank you! Thank you!
It's not easy to work with fussy musicians you must know. Hein-jan, I was
glad you were there at my place, having dinner with Victor, Julius & Felix,David
en Jeroen. Dirk, coming Friday we'll show some music on our gig in het Geveltje!!!

Marc, your letter you read out to the audience...without words. I loved it
when people hushed each other to try and listen to your poems. Hakkel je,
get it right, Axl)..a beautiful book on Jaco. Who would have thought that we,
once in the same kindergarten, would do this more then 30 years later...

Mark, what a piece of art: Men(tally) cloned by Rafael Reina. I thought it
was amazing. Spanish Armada! Together with Lorenzo and Gustavo you had the
heavy task to show the world that there's a new generation inspired by Jaco
who are introducing a new kind of interpretation of the maestro's music.
Thank you three..four.
Thank you also Mark for working on Portrait of Tracy
and think with me on the program of the tribute.
I'm afraid we'll talk about it together for years to come.

Michel, thank you for being there. A support I couldn't do without.
You were my personal highlight; playing Three views of a Secret
with the Cool Collective....man, I'm still shaking thinking about it.
And during the rehearsal of Tracy. Thank you. Oh wait...your clinic: wow,
imagine bass players: playing with three drummers at the same time who
play 3 different time signatures: one plays in 3, one in 4 and one in 5!!!
If you want to know how that works...take a lesson with Michel in Brussels!
I'm still figuring it out...

Ben, your Cool Collective...what greater start of the tribute was possible? None!
And what a surprise for me it was to see Jeroen Vierdag play with the band.
Great! Willem Friede, loads of thanks for your beautiful arrangements.
And thank you Vincent, the manager and old time friend, for getting this
great band to play at the tribute.

Jeroen, now a good friend (I met him only a few months ago and he was there
when needed!) did all the cd's and video on the tribute. The twins stayed
with him. He worked with me on the programme. He advertised in his city
Rotterdam. He announced on sites the tribute; I had mails from Alex Acuña
and Jimmy Haslip. Jeroen wrote down his feelings on Ingrid Pastorius' site -
http://www.jacop.net/reports - about the whole weekend. Anyone is welcome to
write his/hers. Thank you for your kind words Jeroen. And Thierry for your
overwhelming enthusiasm and all your help and your lovely photos.

Talking about photos; my nephew Thijme, who is a photographer, took photos of the
whole tribute from the beginning. We'll see them on my renewed site later on which
will be made by my sister Mayke who did an incredible job with the first one!!!!

My personal guest of honor: Julian B. Coco. When he arrived i was so moved
I hugged him at the main entrance for minutes. Nobody was able to pass.
Thank you for being my personal support for decades!

My parents couldn't be there. I felt through Julian they were there after all.
Thank you mum for giving me my first name....and dad for agreeing!

Eden! What a job bringing in all 25 bass amps. Thank you Edwin Kool for your hard work.
Also thanks to you the performance of Portrait of Tracy was a huge success.

Thank you Melkweg people for believing in me.
You, Daphne, Berend and Frans were great!
And the dinner for 90 guests!!!! Thank you Eric and Mary Jo.
Although I only had one bite, sorry, it tasted grand!

David, thank you for organizing a rehearsal at the Amsterdam's
Conservatorium with 14 bass players. What a great force, already then!!!
And taking care of Victor and Michel's clinics. They were great!

Julius & Felix. I know I shouldn't talk to you as if you're one person, but
somehow it feels like that. One great force, coming all over from Florida.
I won't forget your playing with the Cool Collective, Felix. What power, what
might. And Julius and Felix...your jam at the end. Brilliant! Full of power, again.
It was great to see you enjoying it. It was an honor to have you. And a laugh!
Man, you two can be really silly, can't you. Especially at 4am (no not the Herbie song).
Thank you for being there and giving so much to all of us.

MM productions; Joost en Eugène, Anja and Judith filmed to whole tribute.
Thank you! I hope we can make a beautiful film of it and sell it somewhere.
No better still: i will keep it myself...hihihi! Paul, NPS radio, you were
an incredible force too. You believed in it so much. And you were right!!!
Thank you too!

Susanne and Linda, our friends for years, who stood by and helped us a lot
in the house taking care of our guests and kids. Thank you for coming over
all the way from Spain (Susanne) and Denmark (Linda).

And then there are two people who got me all through this: Ingrid and Patricia.
Both gypsy at heart (?!), both related to this tribute like a leaf to its tree.
There is absolutely no way that I could have done without them.
Thank you both; wholeheartedly!
And it seriously doesn't feel strange to name you together.
It feels right that way! My love to you two.
Sorry Ingrid, but a bit more love to Patricia...hahaha...
for she is my wife and the mother of my three amazing kids:
Ravi, Ivar & Vava Bongi.

Keep reading the Bass Player; there's going to be
an article about the tribute in it.

I hope I haven't forgotten anyone. Forgive me if I did.
...oh no...
...how could I.....
THANK YOU JOHN FRANCIS ANTHONY PASTORIUS III.
MAY YOU READ THIS MAIL AND SMILE THINKING
YOU NEVER WILL BE FORGOTTEN!!!

Again: thank you all so much!!!
All the best and keep giggin'!!!

Modeste
PS yesterday I was taking a shower and I came up with a new idea...
so be aware!!!

B A C K


Email: JacoFamilySite@aol.com

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