Dutch Jazz Day

Friday May 16, 2008, I went to Amersfoort to attend the 'Dag van de Nederlandse Jazz', a day for jazz musicians, media, conservatory staff and students, and the music industry to network and to present themselves. This well organized event consisted of seminars, workshops and presentations, a jazz market, and showcases. The main reason for me to go to this 'Jazz Day' was to gather information on jazz education, but also to hear and see some showcases. The focus of this day was definitely on the 29 showcases: promising Dutch jazz bands selected out of a set of more than 150 subscribers. At one of the sites of the event I saw some showcases and I especially liked Lavalu and The Searing Quartet. Lavalu is an exciting young Dutch popjazz formation that presents songs with surprising rhythms and melodies played by excellent musicians (keys, chello, saxes, drums). The Searing Quartet (TSQ) played jazz in a more 'traditional' sense, but like Lavalu the musicians were rhythmically extraordinarily good (you can call it 'funky'). Also the melodies and harmonics of the TSQ compositions and the improvisations of the musicians were of high-quality and therefore great: like Lavalu this band deserves definitely more attention! I especially liked the first composition they played, that is 'Tastenheini'.

As I already mentioned, the Jazz Day was well organized and a great platform for the jazz community to present themselves and to strengthen the community. Hopefully there will be a sequel next year!