June 23, 2010 – CASA – 8:30PM – Eric Boeren Quartet avec Han Bennink, Michael Moore, & Wilbert de Joode
Eric Boeren cornet
Michael Moore alto saxophone / clarinets
Wilbert de Joode bass
Han Bennink percussion
The Eric Boeren 4tet began by concentrating on the early quartet music of Ornette Coleman. That repertoire was ‘pulled off the record’ and was interspersed with Boeren’s own compositions. Over the years more and more original compositions have been added to the band’s repertoire.
The line-up of the Eric Boeren 4tet is comparable to that of the Ornette Coleman Quartet of the early sixties. The big difference between the two quartets is the way in which the material is handled. Whereas soloists alternated in the Coleman Quartet, in the Boeren 4tet all four musicians share the improvisational space on an equal basis. A collective vision, where musicians have the improvisational room to further develop the musical forms. The existing material suggests the personality and direction of those improvisations.
The compositions of Eric Boeren are deeply rooted in the jazz and blues tradition. They are characterized by strong, often jumpy melodies and unusual keys, which keeps the improvisers on their toes.
The quartet has played throughout Europe and completed successful tours of Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
A new album – Song For Tracy The Turtle, Live at Jazz Brugge – will be released in spring 2010 by CleanFeed.
Discography
Cross Breeding (BIMhuis 005, 1997)
Joy of a Toy (BV Haast 9907, 1999)
Soft Nose (BV Haast CD1501, 2001)
Review excerpts
“There is near-perfect synchronicity, tuneful joyousness, and a relaxed sense of swing that permeates nearly every measure.” All Music Guide
“Gives a new meaning to the description Hot Jazz. Thank you, Eric, Ornette would love this band.” Downbeat
“It broke into joyful collective improvisation – sometimes lightly, sometimes with an
explosive starburst effect. Sometimes it achieved real counterpoint,
sometimes just startling instants of simultaneous exclamation. Boeren played
a long narrow cornet, so clean and bright that it sounded silvery, like the plating of
his instrument.” Melbourne Age
“… the wonderfully accessible swing, compelling Coleman (like) themes and interplay of these four is so refreshing. The four musicians make equal use of the improvisational space, and there’s plenty to see and to experience. An evening full of surprises.”
Josien Lucassen: Draai om Je Oren (concert May 2009, Nijmegen, The Netherlands)
“ The music is saturated with a warmth that accommodates a great deal and excludes very little. All four musicians are confident that they can find a solution for any situation, and that embues the music with energy. Much of it seems to happen by chance, a little is well planned. The more you listen the more irrelevant the distinction becomes, because the result is always contemplative and surprising music.”
H.J. Linke: Frankfurter Rundschau (concert Darmstadt, Germany)
They whizzed and screeched and buzzed and sawed and thumped and thundered and flew and laughed all through that set with the same manic energy I’ve seem them all display at every single other gig I’ve ever seen most of them play in the days and years prior. They love playing and they love playing with each other. No flagging energy in that room.
Josephine Ochej: Vancouver Jazz Festival, 2003
….With what command Boeren and his fellow musicians deal with the material is apparent in the loose-knit compilation that combines the title song with compositions by Coleman and Blake. In “Soft Nose” the two horn men can paddle in the roaring waters, securely and creatively supported by bass and drums….
Jazzpodium, review Soft Nose
At once telepathic and pleasingly loose, the communication between the horn frontline, drummer Han Bennink and bassist Wilbert de Joode allows the group to employ a playfulness redolent of the ICP; any individual can introduce material from the quartet’s book in midstream, sometimes triggering the others to join in, sometimes overlaying a line from another tune for thrilling juxtapositions. Whatever path they take, the players are always in motion, jotting off terse counterpoint, commenting on a particular phrase or jostling for position…..
Peter Margasek: Downbeat, review Soft Nose
Ripsnorting and clean-cut, the flying Dutchmen who are invading the new jazz are musical madcaps who mix cocktails of the logical and surreal with knee-slapping swizzle sticks.
Fred Bouchard: Downbeat, review Soft Nose
…this disc offers all you could wish for – a nice balance between strong
and delicate music – which is quite an accomplishment. As for the old saying “it don’t mean a thing….”……it really does swing…..The originals blend in perfectly with Ornette’s book of neoclassics…a great disc as easy to describe as it is to catch the wind…..
E. Fuente: Cuaderno de Jazz, review Joy of a Toy
“Joy Of A Toy” tackles some brisk, challenging music, each player given space to shine. It is the group-play that is significant. This swings, has lots of edge, celebrates Ornette without being any less original. An easy “yes” for this attractive performance.
Doug Lang: Coda Magazine
Eric Boeren made his first steps in music with the brassband of Ulicoten, a small village in the south of Holland. He played solo euphonium, then moved over to the Eb tuba. He liked the bizarre look of a sixteen year-old carrying that immense horn at the rear of the band! Being lazy and not willing to count out the multiple bars of having nothing to play, he started to listen to the interplay of melody and counter melody for cues to come in on time.
At eighteen, after attending his first concerts of improvised music, he switched to cornet, his first love. He attended workshops at Amsterdam’s Bimhuis, and developed his interest in melodic shapes, musical cues, texture and sonority. In the following years Boeren played with the Maarten Altena Ensemble, Willem van Manen’s Contraband, Ab Baars Tentet and the Paul Termos Tentet. He formed the Eric Boeren 4tet, which features Ornette Coleman’s compositions alongside his own pieces. Boeren plays in Available Jelly, Bik Bent Braam, Sean Bergin’s MOB and Frankie Douglas’ Sunchild. He also composes for these ensembles.
Born in Eureka, California in 1954, Michael Moore was taught to play the clarinet by his father. After studying with Jaki Byard and obtaining a degree from the New England Conservatory of Music, Moore first visited Europe with the Salt Lake Mime Troupe in the late 1970′s. In 1982 he moved to Amsterdam, where he received the coveted Boy Edgar Prijs. In addition to the Clusone Trio, Moore has played with Gijs Hendriks, Misha Mengelberg, Guus Janssen, Maarten Altena, Marilyn Crispell, Gerry Hemingway, Mark Helias, Fred Hersch, Klaus Konig, Myra Melford and many others. Moore has also been involved in many theater and dance projects, and is the founder of the Ramboy recording label. Current groups include ICP, Available Jelly and diverse projects with Michael Vatcher. ” Moore’s a virtuosic wind instrumentalist whose ironic whimsy never outshines his respect for the music.”
SF Weekly
Wilbert de Joode (1955) is a veritable research scientist of bass pizzicato and bowing techniques. A self-taught musician, he has been playing the double bass since 1982 and is currently one of the most active bass players on the improvised music circuit. His individual style and musicality transforms the double bass into an equal partner in the most varied ensembles. A personal tone color, exploration of the outer registers, idiosyncratic improvisations and the use of gut strings contribute to an instantly recognizable and intriguing sound.
Wilbert de Joode is active in the Ab Baars Trio, Eric Boeren 4tet, trio Braam/de Joode/Vatcher, Bik Bent Braam, the Astronotes and Corkestra. New developments include solo concerts and work with dance improvisers. He has worked with, among others, Hamid Drake, Steve Lacy, Rosswell Rudd, The Ex, het NU-ensemble, Jaap Blonk, Charles Gayle, Misha Mengelberg, Sunny Marray, John Tchicai, Fred Frith, Mariëtte Rouppe van de Voort, Dylan van der Schyff, Thomas Lehn, Achim Kauffman, Johannes Bauer, Frank Gratkowski, Martin Blume, Barre Phillips and Derek Bailey.
De Joode plays regularly in festivals and concerts throughout the world. He has released a solo CD, Olo “a suite of improvised, short, wayward, witty, gloomy, beautiful and freakish bass solo’s”.
Han Bennink is one of the unfortunately rare musicians whose abilities and interests span the music’s entire spectrum, from Dixieland to free. His straight-ahead playing is absolutely convincing — his time is solid, his sense of swing strong, and his technique flawless. He also possesses the requisite qualities of a free jazz virtuoso; Bennink’s ability to interact quickly and creatively with horn players and pianists is great, as is his ear for timbral contrasts. What ultimately makes Bennink special is his manifest love for the music, a love that inclines him to tear down the cardboard walls that too often separate different schools of jazz. At his best, with colleagues who share his all-encompassing stylistic embrace, Bennink plays the continuum of jazz as an instrument unto itself.
Bennink began playing drums while in his teens under the influence of his father, a classical percussionist. He played with hometown musicians in the early ’60s. Between 1962 and 1969, Bennink backed local American jazz greats like Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins, and Eric Dolphy on their visits to Holland. In 1963, he formed a quartet that included pianist Misha Mengelberg, which played the 1966 Newport Jazz Festival. In the mid-’60s, Bennink began to play free jazz with the likes of Mengelberg and Willem Breuker. In 1967, those three founded the Instant Composer’s Pool, a not-for-profit organization designed to promote the Dutch jazz avant-garde. Around that same period, Bennink began continuing associations with the saxophonist Peter Brotzmann, guitarist Derek Bailey, trombonist Alex Schlippenbach, trumpeter Don Cherry, and the Globe Unity Orchestra. In the ’70s and ’80s, Bennink led and played as sideman on a number of sessions on the FMP, Incus, and Soul Note labels. In the late ’80s, Bennink started, with cellist Ernst Reijseger and saxophonist Michael Moore, the Clusone Trio, which became perhaps the percussionist’s most ideal performance vehicle. Much in demand as a solo player, Bennink also plays with ICP, Eric Boeren 4tet, Tobias Delius 4tet, Borstlap/Glerum/Bennink and his, since 2008, his own Han Bennink Trio.
Song For Tracy The Turtle by Eric Boeren
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