It has been six months since I saw Shabaka at Amsterdam’s Bimhuis. That was just a month after the release of his first solo album Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace, which turned out to be completely different from anything [...]
It is always sheer delight to see and hear alto saxophonist Ben van Gelder and guitarist Reinier Bass. This is jazz without the brakes. Adventurous, challenging, unpredictable, the arrangements have a richness about them, and everything is played with a [...]
Of course you shouldn’t do it. I know that. But because Beth Gibbons and her amazing band’s concert last Wednesday night at Utrecht’s TivoliVredenburg had been so impressive and moving, I just wanted to see her again, and as soon [...]
There are concerts that you will never forget, and for as long as you live. You are always going to keep the memory close. For me, one of these came last Wednesday night 20 September. It was the one-off live [...]
Flanders has a decades-long history of producing exceptionally good musicians, particularly in jazz. There are too many notable keyboardists to mention but Bram de Looze and Alex Koo belong to the current group of outstanding young players. On Etudes for [...]
Saxophonist Marc Mommaas makes far too few records, and that’s a fact. Because when he does get round to making another one, it is instantly one of the jazz highlights of the year. His latest album, The Impressionist, is his [...]
Dick Hovenga, who runs the Dutch site Written in Music was at Studio 1 at Flagey in Brussels for all four nights of live recording in front of an audience by the Jakob Bro Trio, to be made into an [...]
