Music Tip of the Day

My music tip of the day is the song Meantown by Talking Cows, a Dutch jazz group. An interesting composition, performed energetically. See/hear an excerpt of the song at YouTube.

Harmen's Lab

On Sunday 21 December 2008, the Harmen Fraanje Trio played an outstanding set of music at Café Thembi in Maastricht. The jazz music peformed by Harmen Fraanje (piano), Stefan Lievestro (double bass), and Pascal Vermeer (drums) was both energetic and breathtaking. The musical interplay between the musicians was great to look at (although Fraanje had some difficulty communicating with his fellow musicians because of the position of the piano), and it was obvious that the musicians were either very skilled team players or had played together more than once (and I assume both ;-)). I also appreciated the musicians 'own' musical styles and their great improvisations. In 2009 there will be a follow up of Harmen's Lab at Thembi. This initiative deserves recognition!

Mike Roelofs: Carte Noire

On November 9, 2009, I attended a great jazz concert of pianist Mike Roelofs in Café Thembi in Maastricht. As from September Roelofs performs each month on a Sunday afternoon at Thembi accompanied by different outstanding musicians (a concert series called ‘Cart Noir’). Last Sunday the piano player played together with Claudius Valk (sax, bass clarinet), Dennis Frehse (drums), and Werner Lauscher (bass). I witnessed the first set of the performance and this set of music was really wonderful. The band played a mixture of own compositions and jazz standards. I especially liked Roelof’s own work, like the song Catharsis. All presented songs were nice spherical tunes where the musicians had plenty of opportunity to improvise. I liked the skilful improvisations, and also the alternate use of both sax and bass clarinet as leading melody instrument.

Too bad I could only watch the first half of the concert. Next time I hope I’m able to watch the whole concert. The following concert of Mike Roelofs at Café Thembi will be at December 7, 2008. Be there!

Jazz Maastricht Promenade

October 12, 2008, we went to an interesting Jazz concert in Maastricht. In Café Thembi we listened to a great concert of the Toon Roos Quartet. With Hein van de Geyn on double bass, Karel Boehlee on piano and Joost van Schaik on drums, Toon Roos (saxophones) played two energetic sets of jazz music. The ballads were sophisticated and the up-tempo pieces exciting. High quality music on a sunny Sunday afternoon: what more do you want!

SonicBloom

On monday May the 26th, Remp and I went to a great concert of Hiromi's Sonicbloom at the Bimhuis in Amsterdam. Hiromi is an extraordinary piano player. Her technical skills are fantastic and she can play a repertory of different styles at high level. During the concert she passed these styles under seperate review. It was both great and 'kitschy' at the same time. The concert was full of energy and joy and this combination made it a special one.

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!

Jazz Art

An interesting exhibition on modern Art and jazz music is now featured by the Cobra Museum in Amstelveen, the Netherlands. This museum exhibits interesting work Dutch painter and sculptor Karel Appel produced from 1958 till 1962. The exhibition highlights the importance of jazz music in the work(processes) of the artist. For me, the two documentaries made by Jan Vrijman on the work of Karel Appel were the most informative sources I saw at the museum. Both documentaries (especially the oldest one) gave a great impression of the way the artist Karel Appel worked. Very inspiring!

Energetic Music!

In the infinite world of MySpace I 'virtually' encountered the great and energetic band called Municipale Balcanica. Their musical style is a mishmash of balcan, klezmer, jazz and punk music. Listen for instance to the title song of their latest album: Foua!

Black Joke

One of the most fantastic fusion songs ever is Casiopea's Black Joke (and then I mean the 1979 performances, with drummer Takashi Sasaki; more recent versions are too much polished). I found a great live performance on the web. Listen and enjoy the music!


Part 1


Part 2

Giant Animated Steps

Watch this visualization of Coltrane's Giant Steps and experience the beauty and complexity of this great piece.

Amersfoort is cool!

On saturday the 12th of May I joined a group of groovy bachelor partygoers in Amersfoort (NL). Why Amersfoort? Well, the organizing bachelor party committee liked the idea of visiting the Amersfoort Jazz Festival, since Mr. Bachelor is a real jazz fanatic. A great idea, because the festival, the weather, and the atmosphere turned out to be very good. After a Bachelor Pizza Meal we entered the Amersfoort city center and saw interesting out-door performances of the Stefan Lievestro Sextet, Trijntje O., Gino Vanelli with the Houdini Horns, and Get the Funk Two. The Lievestro Sextet was in my opinion the best 'bachelor proof' jazz formation. Gino V. was OK and Get the Funk Too Loud, although it is always good to hear the ultimate ToP song There is only so much oil in the ground at high volume. The party and the festival were a success. Or as one may say: a perfect match.

Lobith is hip!

Myspace Music is a realy intriguing music database. One of the most interesting bands I came upon recently was Lobith, a Swiss pop/jazz formation named after a small town in the Netherlands, where the river Rhine 'passes' the border. The music of this band is great: the compositions are solid with nice surprising turns. I think this band deserves more credit and therefore I present you in this blog a video clip of their latest single. It is a nice song, but on Myspace and their web site you find even better ones. My favorite is Lost Head, a great piece of music in five-four time. For now, enjoy the song Sunday Land!