Jasper Blom and Joris Roelofs ©Raimond Wouda
ENSEMBLE A L’IMPROVISTE
Joris Roelofs –clarinet, bass clarinet
Jasper Blom – Tenorsax, sopranosax, clarinet
Bram De Looze– Piano
Clemens van der Feen – Contrabass
Antoine Pierre – Percussion
Without the contribution of French impressionists as Debussy and Ravel, jazz music would have sounded completely different and indeed a hundred years later their influence can still be heard in the work of many jazzmusicians. Where many have tried to incorporate the sounds of the impressionists, this ensemble focusses on the music of Debussy and uses this as a vehicle to improvise on. One will not hear complete compositions of Claude Debussy, but his spirit and musical palet will be present during the concert, while one can enjoy the performance of five of the most distinguished jazz musicians from BeNeLux.
Joris Roelofs – awardwinning Joris Roelofs is one of the most talented jazz musician of his generation. His bass clarinet playing is simply unique and unsurpassed in the world. Before finishing cum laude at the Amsterdam Conservatory in 2005 he had already won the Stan Getz/Clifford Brown Fellowship Award and the Deloitte Jazz Award. Joris has performed with Brad Mehldau, the Vienna Art Orchestra (2005 – 2010), Lionel Loueke, ICP Orchestra and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra.
In 2007 he recorded his debut album, Introducing Joris Roelofs, with Ari Hoenig, Matt Penman and Aaron Goldberg. Its first track, “I Fall In Love Too Easily”, was included on Ted Gioia’s list of recommended versions in The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire (2012). He also recorded two albums with his trio featuring Matt Penman and Ted Poor: Aliens Deliberating (2014) and Amateur Dentist (2015). In 2016, Joris started a duo with the legendary drummer Han Bennink;
Jasper Blom – is a leading tenor and soprano saxophonist in the Dutch jazz scene and one of the most versatile players in the Benelux. Twice he has won the European Jazz Award and he has played at major jazzfestivals in Europe, Asia, the Caribic and Canada and in clubs throughout Europe and the States. He has received compositions assignments from the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Jazz International Rotterdam Festival. Jasper Blom currently is active as a player and composer of both contemperary improvised music and jazz, can be heard regularly throughout the Netherlands and Europe as an active player in different musical settings.
Clemens van der Feen – is the premier young talent on contrabass in the Netherlands winning at an early age already a handfull of prizes such as Best New Talent Award, the Ruud Jacobs Award and the French Cap Breton Bass Award.
His versatility has enabled him to perform with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra as well as with the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw and many other big names in the jazz community such as the late Toots Thielemans, Tony Malaby, Chris Potter, Nelson Veras, Becca Stevens & Billy Hart from jazz clubs in Paris and Tokyo to the Musikverein in Vienna and Carnegie Hall in New York. Clemens is currently working with Dré Pallemaerts ‘Seva’ feat. Sebastian Gille and Pablo Held (BE/GER/NL), the Michael Moore Quartet feat. Harmen Fraanje and Gerry Hemingway (US/NL), ‘Medusa Beats’ featuring Jonas Burgwinkel (DE) and Benoît Delbecq (FR), Tineke Postma(NL), the Paul Lay Trio (FR), Robin Verheyen (BE), Octurn (BE/FR), Franz von Chossy (DE) and classical groups like the New Dutch Academy, The Dutch Wind Ensemble and Grammy Award winning orchestra LUDWIG.
Bram De Looze is a young Belgian pianist whose distinct musical vision has found its way through both solo piano projects and collaborations with internationally acclaimed musicians. At only 28, his unique technical skill and musical maturity have earned him considerable critical praise and respect from his peers, as his work spotlights his far-ranging interests – from traditional classical piano music, to solo improvisations that have earned him comparisons to Keith Jarrett and Jason Moran. Recently, his solo piano work has revolved around improvisational explorations on unique pianos – from old pianofortes to a unique straight-strung grand piano developed by expert piano builder Chris Maene. In his solo work he has also explored the music of Bach in a series of concerts that took him to some of Belgium’s most important concert halls and venues, such as BOZAR (Brussels), Concertgebouw Brugge (Bruges) and Handelsbeurs (Ghent). His unique vision has been recognized internationally too, with previous showcases at conferences such as JazzAhead (Bremen, Germany) and the IAMA conference (Düsseldorf, Germany), with future showcases planned at the Music China fair in October 2020 (Shanghai, China). Bram De Looze is also currently in talks to collaborate with Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker on a project on Bach’s Goldberg Variations.
The young pianist has a singularly international vision, as he’s played with internationally renowned musicians such as Joey Baron (MiXMONK – Baron / De Looze / Verheyen) and Stéphane Galland (The Mystery of KEM feat. Ravichandra Kulur), Norwegian saxophone player Harald Lassen (LASSEN) and Greek drummer Stephanos Chytiris. These collaborations have taken him to such important European venues as Transition Festival (Utrecht), Norh Sea Jazz Festival (Rotterdam), Bimhuis (Netherlands), La Dynamo (France – broadcast live on Radio France) and Duc Des Lombards (France).
“Intelligent, Virtuoso And Perfectionistic” – Klara, National Radio
From the start of his career, Bram De Looze has shown high promise, playing along the sides of, amongst others, Tony Malaby, Greg Cohen and Dre Hocevar. In 2007 he started off with LABtrio together with drummer Lander Gyselinck and bassist Anneleen Boehme. After two years he obtained his bachelor’s degree in jazz piano at the Lemmensinstituut and, a year later, his master’s degree at the Artesis Conservatory in Antwerp. He was granted a scholarship from the Belgian American Educational Foundation to study at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York, where he studied with several legendary musicians such as Uri Caine, Marc Copland and Reggie Workman.
Antoine Pierre
Already at the age of 26, Brussels-based drummer Antoine Pierre has become a key figure on the Belgian jazz scene. Since turning 18, he has been playing alongside the eminent guitarist Philip Catherine. Since 2014, he has been a member of TaxiWars, the jazz vs. rock experiment led by the phenomenal Tom Barman and sax-player Robin Verheyen with Nic Thys on double bass. Almost straight out of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, he was awarded the Toots Thielemans Jazz Award in 2014. He then left for New York to study at the New School For Jazz And Contemporary music for a year so as to plunge even more into music but also to work on his drumming more deeply. Throughout the various projects that covered several albums, he fine-tuned his approach and style. This led to him to stand out clearly and be welcomed by the finest players. In 2015, he received the SABAM Young Talent Jazz Award. As they said, “The unquestionable international development of his career as a drummer and composer, backed by the recognition of his talent by the best jazzmen, clearly confirms our choice.” Along with leading his own bands -Urbex and NextApe-, Pierre is a pro-active sideman who already played with various musicians such as Philip Catherine, Joshua Redman, Enrico Pieranunzi, Didier Lockwood, Ben Wendel, Logan Richardson, Jacky Terrasson,…
Ensemble á l’Improviste in 2007 featuring Kris Goessens and Onno Govaert