Incognito South-East Asia Tour Completed
The Cogs are finally back from a fantastic two week tour of South-East Asia!
The tour began at the brand new Singapore Jazz Festival which looks set to become a major event in the region. We got to meet and hang out with Dirty Loops (who also performed the following night in Jakarta) and we got to jam with some of Roy Hargrove's musicians later that evening too. The next morning we flew to Indonesia for The Java Jazz Festival (JJF) which was a special pleasure for me. My first ever Incognito show was at JJF in 2005 and although we played in 2006 (with Omar and Carleen Anderson) and 2008 (when we made a DVD,) we haven't played there since 2008. We ran into Omar and the newly Grammy winning Snarky Puppy again - our paths seem to be crossing a lot at the moment - and Al McKay with his Earth Wind And Fire Experience. It was great to be back there.
Next up we spent a total of seven nights in Bali. I've stayed in a lot of hotels over the years but… The Intercontinental in Jimbaran has got everything just right and the staff were great with us. We only played two concerts in Bali (oh, and shot a new video!) but we thoroughly appreciated an opportunity to unwind. The first show was at the Hard Rock Cafe in Kuta, followed by the Bali Live Festival in Nusa Dua in the open air. Great vibes at both shows and Earth Wind And Fire and Omar were in the house again! There was live jazz pretty much all week in the south of the island, once again this is a new festival so hopefully it will move from strength to strength.
We finished the tour in Manila, Philippines. It's a while since we've played there - 2007 I think - but the audience was as exuberant as I remember, if not more. Many thanks to the organisers who were super friendly and thoughtful; I have a strong feeling that we'll be working together in the region very soon.
Lastly… It's so good to return to the UK when the sun is shining! FH 😍
