In the spring of 1975, my first husband, the African-American poet Lee Bridges, met Mr. Curiel, a former Minister of Economy in Surinam. Curiel had founded a charitable organization together with two friends — a banker and a pastor — that could use some promotion.
Two schools for handicapped children had already been built in Surinam, but more funds were needed. That’s why the idea was launched to organize variety and jazz shows.
Lee knew many artists personally. Dexter Gordon was a close friend with whom he had once shared an apartment in Copenhagen. He also knew Memphis Slim, Kenny Clarke, Johnny Griffin, Art Taylor, and Kenny Drew from his years living in Paris in the 1960s.
The shows were a huge success. For Johnny Griffin’s performance in a club on the Leidseplein, we didn’t have nearly enough tickets — people were standing outside, still trying to get in.
The two shows at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and De Doelen in Rotterdam, held on the 1st and 2nd of February that year, featured a lineup of jazz giants: Kenny Clarke, Johnny Griffin, Art Taylor, Jimmy Gourley, and Kenny Drew. There were also several well-known Dutch entertainers, including Oscar Harris, Ruud and Pim Jacobs, Wim Overgaauw, and the Helen Leclercq Dancers.
Milly van Veen was the MC in Amsterdam, and the famous radio reporter Michiel de Ruyter did the presentation in Rotterdam. Journalist Rudy Koopmans raved about the shows in de Volkskrant, stating that these jazz extravaganzas would be hard — if not impossible — to top that year.
The Rolling Stones attended our concert at De Doelen in Rotterdam. They were recording there in secret and were in awe of those jazz giants, sitting with Kenny Clarke and Jim Gourley in their dressing room. I couldn’t believe the size of those rooms — there was even a grand piano and so much space.
In the summer of 1975, when the poet and I were in Paris, we ran into Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in front of La Coupole — and on impulse, I kissed Mick smack on the lips!