BandinfoFriday 24 August Prologue at Noorderzon20.30 NoorderzonJuliet TentICTUS: WAITS / WEILL A brilliant ode to Tom Waits and Kurt Weill will vouchsafe an effervescent prologue. The tragic lives and poetry from the songs by Tom Waits and Kurt Weill show a surprising resemblance to each other. Anarchic songs and grim chansons - Waits, the American chronicler of street life, places the Berlin composer in a keener perspective. A similar melodic genius, a similar ear for melodic aberration in harmony and a similar way to sing about three main themes: amorous lamentation, revolt and drunkenness. Diagonal poetry that speaks of lives that are off-kilter, and of lost loves. The adventurous Ictus Ensemble from Brussels takes on a unique project and marks the main characters from both gentlemen’s operas in a sharp Polaroid. 22.00 Noorderzon Jazz op ZuidMR. GENIUS The launching of Gerard Ammerlaan’s new band!
Saturday 25 August 21se SummerJazzCycleTour12.30 13.45 Garnwerd tentDE JONGENS DRIEST, MICHAEL VATCHER & FANFARE CWO De Jongens Driest are doing well. The Groningen satellite of the Amsterdam Klezmerband regularly play at festivals abroad, where their happy mix of Balkan and Caribbean sounds is received with enthusiasm. The 21st SummerJazzCycleTour takes its festive start in Garnwerd with a remarkable project by De Jongens Driest featuring Michael Vatcher and Fanfare CWO from Groningen. ‘Over forty musicians in a musical ode to everything that’s good about fanfares, an ode to a unique Dutch wind sound,’ is how the Jongens describe it themselves. New material for this monster fanfare has been written by Gerard Ammerlaan, Michael Moore en Oene van Geel.
12.45 14.00 Aduard churchGREETJE BIJMA / ZOU DIARRA In the eighties Greetje Bijma gained her first fame in Alan Laurillard’s Noodband. She then formed her own successful quintet. The vocalist worked with pianists like Louis Andriessen, Polo de Haas, Marilyn Crispell and Klaas Hoek (church organ). Her extraordinary vocal improvisations can now be heard in the company of Zoumane Diarra from Mali. He plays with Benkadi International, Busi Mhlongo & African Divas and Five Great Guitars . The African guitarist also specializes in kora and ballafon. Landscape and nature are an important inspiration to the voice artist. Chances are that Frisian woods will be transformed into an African desert.
13.00 14.15 Leegkerk church
STiCat The steaming STriCat trio takes its swinging rhythms from the cymbalom of Bokkie Vink, a veteran of the Dutch Balkan scene. The middle register and high notes are for members of the Amsterdam Klezmerband: accordionist Theo van Tol and trumpeter Gijs Levelt. STriCat makes Romanian gypsy music with Bulgarian excursions, executed with respect. The exciting Balkan swing is spiced with sharp hardbop accents and funk riffs borrowed from James Brown.
13.00 14.15 Hekkum barnNEW NIKS Arend Niks is a busybody. He can be found doing a theatre production with Orkater, playing in a studio orchestra on tv or in guitarist Corrie van Binsbergen’s band De Brokken. In addition the Rotterdam drummer/band leader composes his own inventive pieces. New Niks is a band in which jazz, pop and rock go hand in hand. The line-up shows a remarkably lightfooted combination of violin and guitar. Violinist Jasper le Clercq, best known from the Zapp String Quartet, here plays the electric violin. Frans van Leeuwen (NRC) heard a common denominator in New Niks’s music: “Virtuoso, but always good fun. ” 13.30 14.45 Garnwerd churchJASPER VAN ’T HOF / HAN BENNINK Jasper van ’t Hof (1947) is a pianist who played more outside than inside his home country of the Netherlands. From the sixties he engaged in jazzrock experiments with drummer Pierre Courbois. He later worked with the likes of Philip Catherine, Charlie Mariano, Didier Lockwood and Aldo Romano. In the mid eighties Van ’t Hof made name in Germany as a keyboard specialist with his band Pili Pili. In the past few years he tries his hand at church organs. The Garnwerd church previously was the stage for Up There, featuring Van ’t Hof with Greetje Bijma and Alan Laurillard. Now the keyboard wizard will engage in battle with Dutch national percussion hero Han Bennink. In his own words: “We’ll bring the church down... flatten it!” 13.30 14.45 Den Ham churchCLAUDIO PUNTIN
Swiss clarinettist Claudio Puntin was a guest at the SummerJazzCycleTour six years ago with colleague Steffen Scorn. Scorn/Puntin is a symbiotic duo that masters the entire clarinet family from high to low. Instrumental mastery is still an important item for Claudio Puntin, who is active in both the progressive improv scene and in new music contexts. The clarinettist has found ha sympathetic companion in Swiss drummer Lucas Niggli (Big Zoom) and plays in the groups of Dutch pianist Martin Fondse. The Den Ham church has excellent acoustics for a solo concert by Puntin featuring clarinets in various shapes and sizes. 13.45 15.00 Oostum churchSEAN BERGIN NEW MOB
Sean Bergin also presents a new band. With various versions of his MOB (My Own Band) Bergin was able to pleasantly disorder the SummerJazzCycleTour on a regular basis. The past few years his band has been focusing on vocals. His SONGMOB already went through two editions, and the saxophonist/bandleader continues on this road. He now brings in two female voices: Trumpeter Felicity Provan also has a sensitive voice, and his daughter Una Bergin, who is still at studying the conservatory. The other line-up of Sean Bergin’s New MOB is also remarkable, with the combination of harp, marimba, and Scotsman Alan Gunga Purves’s unique array of percussion. We are curious (with a capital C) 14.00 15.15 Aduard factory ANDY ARNOLD TRIO Five years ago the young German guitarist Andy Arnold (1981) moved to Amsterdam, in order to study at the city’s conservatory. He took classes with people like Frank Möbus and Mike Stern and developed an eclectic style, in which influences of both jazz, rock and country can be heard. With the rhythm section consisting of Norwegian bass guitarist Magnus Skovdal and drummer Artis Orubs from Latvia he has been working for two years now, and it’s beginning to pay off. Andy Arnold’s guitar trio makes way for a new generation of players who don’t see it as a problem to play everything but the kitchen sink. In evidence Andy Arnold’s most recent cd bears the subtitle: ‘Six fine country and surf instrumentals by The Sicilian Clan’.
14.30 15.45 Feerwerd barn DickLUCIEN DUBUIS TRIO The music of the young Swiss Lucien Dubuis Trio sounds modern and primitive at the same time Subtle yet noisy. It’s as if the Beastie Boys had been listening to Coltrane’s records a lot. It’s sometimes reminiscent of the British punkfunk trio Xero Slingsby and the Works from the eighties. Bluesy funk riffs are the basis for Lucien Dubuis’s large interval leaps on bass clarinet. “This Crossover Jazz Trio just enjoys playing the jazz stuff, just as Madonna would enjoy sex after a year in jail, with lust !”, (…)
14.45 16.00 Adorp churchHAYTHAM SAFIA QU4RTET Haytham Safia (1980) hails from Jerusalem and specialised in playing the ud, the Arabian lute. In a duo performance with percussionist Moussé Pathé M’baye he was one of the surprises at the SummerJazzCycleTour 2004. With Rabih Abou Khalil and Dhafer Yousef as his successful role models his star is beginning to rise. He played the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and the Prinsengracht Festival. Lately he has been working with the fusion band No Blues. Haytham Safia’s compositions still take the rich Arab musical tradition as their starting point. The Haytham Safia Qu4rtet will provide music lovers in Adorp with inventive ensemble playing with room for improvisation.
14.45 16.00 Den Ham schuur HuizingaSJOERD DIJKHUIZEN / BEN VAN GELDER QUARTET Two of Groningen’s almost prodigal sons return. Tenor saxophonist Sjoerd Dijkhuizen (1972) already sounded like Dexter Gordon in his youth. He played his ass off, and moved to Amsterdam. Sjoerd's style is firmly rooted in that of fifties’ jazz icons like saxophonists Hank Mobley, Sonny Stitt and Zoot Sims. His own quartet, with his brother Gijs, is devoted to his great loves: bebop and swing. Alto saxophonist Ben van Gelder (1988) is still young, but sounds a lot like Art Pepper. He received a scholarship for jazz studies in New York, and is heading for his second year in the States, just like his brother Gideon. Dijkhuizen was nominated for Paul Acket Award 2007 and Van Gelder was the proud winner of the Deloitte Jazz Award. They will be playing with the most swinging Dutch rhythm section imaginable: Ernst Glerum, bass and John Engels, drums.
15.00 16.15 Feerwerd churchPHIL MILLER / FRED BAKER Last year guitarist Phil Miller (1949) played in Feerwerd with Hatfield and the North. It was a reunion concert of the band that was part of the seventies’ jazzrock scene around Canterbury. The day after the SummerJazzCycleTour concert drummer Pip Pyle suddenly died in Paris. A good reason to invite Pip Pyle’s old companion Phil Miller again. If only to hear Phil Miller’s composition Calyx played live again. Miller played the piece with Hatfield and the North, but also with Robert Wyatt in Matching Mole. Phil Miller brings along Fred Baker (1960) as duo partner. Fred Baker is the bassist in Miller's band In Cahoots, but is also an excellent guitarist. The Feerwerd church is the place to be for guitar lovers on 25 August. Guitarist ‘Duck’ Baker (no relation) will play the second concert with Michael Moore at the same venue.
15.00 16.15 Aduard HarkemaDROOG / SCHMAL / BRINKMAN This threesome brings poetry with trombone and guitar. Bart FM Droog is poet and anthologist. He performs with De Dichters uit Epibreren, a poets' collective that received the Johnny van Doorn Award in 2003. From 2002 to 2005 Bart FM Droog was poet laureate for the city of Groningen. Guitarist Wil Schmal played with the ska band Jammah Tammah until 1996, and later released the cd Shadow and Lights. Trombonist Obed Brinkman also hails from circles around Jammah Tammah and now plays with ADHD Spietmobiel and others.
15.30 16.45 Frytum barnMR. GENIUS Gerard Ammerlaan has started a new band. Ammerlaan was the bassist of De Noodband, the Groningen free-funk sensation from the eighties. After this he lead a number of formations under his own name. Nowadays he mainly works as a composer, and writes operas. In Mr. Genius he works with “sound and glitches” specialist, Stephane Leonard from Berlin. This laptop artist offers a digital commentary on what the other musicians are doing. The rhythm section, Ammerlaan with guitarist Dick Rusticus and drummer Victor de Boo has Groningen roots, while alto saxophonist Jan Willem van der Ham is from Amsterdam originally. “This quintet guarantees a musical universe of extremes. From modern raw atonality to beautiful nostalgic sounds, which offer a sense of rest after the confusion, ready for the next jump”, says Ammerlaan.
15.45 17.00 Klein Wetsinge churchTOBIAS DELIUS / COR FUHLER & MICHAEL ZERANG This will be the ninth instalment of a ten-part series: Toby and Cor with a drummer: Saxophonist Tobias Delius and pianist Cor Fuhler are researching the (im)possibilities of drummers at an international level. Eight percussionists of international fame have gone by already. After Louis Moholo, Paul Lovens, Dylan van der Schyff, Paal Nilssen Love, Tony Buck, Hamid Drake, Lê Quan Ninh and Paul Lytton the SummerJazzCycleTour now presents the ninth edition of this carte blanche series featuring drummer Michael Zerang from Chicago. The list of musicians this drummer worked with reads like a who’s who of Chicago’s new jazz scene: Fred Anderson, Joe McPhee, Ken Vandermark, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Hamid Drake, to name but a few. Michael Zerang (1958) is a master in colouring group improvisations. Zerang sets tasteful rhythmic patterns in motion, which he can expand upon like no other.
16.00 17.15 Fransum churchJAN KLARE 1000 Jan Klare (1961) is from Münster and studied saxophone at the Amsterdam conservatory. In the Netherlands he got noticed when he collaborated with the Palinckx brothers and singer Han Buhrs in Duell D/NL, that took the famous 1974 soccer world championship final as its theme. He followed up the Dutch-German theme with the chamber opera Ich war die Krawatte von Prinz Claus. In Germany he now makes name for himself with the Toytones, Autofab and Das Böse Ding, a highly adventurous jazz/punk/rock band. His most recent project is called 1000, and is concerned with top rate flexible improvising. 1000 consists of seasoned players like Belgian trumpeter Bart Maris (Electric Barbarian, Flat Earth Soceity, X-Legged Sally), Wilbert de Joode on bass and Michael Vatcher on drums. In daily life they are pianist Michiel Braam’s highly acclaimed rhythm tandem. 16.30 17.45 Oostum church GRUNROOTS A Groningen collection of musicians from Turkey, Romania, Senegal and Middelstum. Groningen roots is what Grunroots are about. Music from afar, but then again also from around the corner. A tasteful mix of world music and jazz by Turkish multi-instrumentalist and singer Behsat Uvez, Romanian saxophonist Alex Simu, Dutchman Bert van Erk on double bass and Senegalese percussionist Moussé Pathé M’Baye. Grunroots started out at a session one evening in the Groningen Grand Theatre, almost three years ago. Ud player Haytham Safia also took part, but he’s already playing with his own quartet in Adorp. 16.30 17.45 Ezinge churchGRAVITONES Italian clarinettist Augusto Forti is not a musician to brag about his music. His band Gravitones is only known to a few aficionados, but has been running for some ten years now. The band now presents a new, fresh line-up, featuring Augusto Forti’s own clarinet, guitarist Paul Pallesen, who also plays banjo, cellist Saartje van Camp, bassist Meinrad Kneer and brilliant percussionist Alan Gunga Purves.
16.45 18.00 Niehove churchALEXANDER VON SCHLIPPENBACH MONK’S CASINO Pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach (1938) is one of Europe’s first free jazz bandleaders. In 1963 he played with Gunther Hampel and in 1966 he founded the Globe Unity Orchestra. In 1996 he got the idea to arrange Thelonious Monk’s total oeuvre (over 70 compositions) for a live concert. Two years later he had collected all of the material, and divided them into three sets of 23 to 24 Monk pieces each,making up a total of three and a half hours of music. Monk’s Casino was released on cd by the Swiss Intakt label. In Niehove Schlippenbach’s quintet will only play two sets of Monk rearrangements. Axel Dörner and Rudi Mahal are the dream team fronting this huge project by Alexander von Schlippenbach, a nestor of European jazz..
17.00 18.15 Feerwerd barn HansDE PEDAALRIDDERS At the end of last year the two violinists of the Zapp String Quartet were invited by the Groningen Grand Theatre to play a set with the guitarist from Bernie’s Lounge, in a programme entitled The Bombay Connection. Violinists Oene van Geel and Jasper le Clercq, together with Mark Tuinstra had such a great haste 'on the way to Bollywood' that a follow-up was in store. De Pedaalridders (‘the pedal knights’), as they called themselves because of the great number of effects pedals they needed to give their view on Indian film music, will be joined by guitarist Andreas Suntrop. The exotic swing of De Pedaalridders will undoubtedly affect those present in Hans’s barn. Aren’t we all pedal knights during this 21st SummerJazzCycleTour?
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