BERT JORIS QUARTET in BELGIUM & HOLLAND

The Bert Joris Quartet featuring Dado Moroni plays a few concerts in Holland and Belgium 19-22 November. Check the Concerts page for details and get your tickets now!

ROY HARGROVE QUINTET w. BBC Big Band @ LONDON JAZZ FESTIVAL

Roy will play his music with the quintet and the BBC Big Band on 19 November. Check out the London Jazz Festival Website for ticket information. Check out the new release Earfood on his website.

The quintet just gave a spectacular performance at the Jazz at Midnight series in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. As you can see the place was packed and they brought the house down!

TOOTS THIELEMANS BECOMES 2009 NEA JAZZ MASTER

The highest American distinction - National Endowment for the Arts announces the 2009 NEA Jazz Masters

Photo's Jos L. Knaepen

Washington, DC – The National Endowment for the Arts announced the recipients of the 2009 NEA Jazz Masters Award—the nation’s highest honor in this distinctly American music. The six recipients will each receive a $25,000 grant award, and were publicly honored in an awards ceremony and concert at the Lincoln Center NY on Friday, October 17, 2008, where the Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis dedicated the program to the honorees’ works .

The six 2009 NEA Jazz Masters are: George Benson (vocalist and solo instrumentalist, guitar), Jimmy Cobb (rhythm instrumentalist, drums), Lee Konitz (solo instrumentalist, saxophone), Toots Thielemans (solo instrumentalist, harmonica and guitar), and Snooky Young (solo instrumentalist, trumpet). Recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder received the 2009 A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy.

More information is available at :
http://www.nea.gov/national/jazz/press/JazzMasters2009.html

CURAÇAO IN CONCERT 29 JUNE @ CONCERTGEBOUW in AMSTERDAM!

Presenting the new release Dulsura di Korsou

On Sunday 29th June Randal Corsen will host a unique concert in the main hall of the famous Amsterdam Concertgebouw. Randal & Friends will celebrate the music from Curaçao in general and the release of our new cd 'DULSURA DI KORSOU' in particular. The cd will be available in stores as from 30th June.

Click here for Dutch pressrelease

Famous singer-songwriter Oswin 'Chin' Behilia will fly in from Curacao to perform this evening. Other special guests are vocalists Izaline Calister and Francien van Tuinen. The full line-up for the Concertgebouw concert will be:

Randal Corsen (piano), Ulrich de Jesus (guitar, kwarta), Eric Calmes (bass), Enrique Firpi (drums), Eric Brigitha (perc), Cyrill 'Yeye' Bernadina, Shirma Rouse, Arlette Koeijers (voc), special guestvocalists Oswin ‘Chin’ Behilia, Izaline Calister & Francien van Tuinen. Don't miss this unique concert and get your tickets now!! Click here for tickets

SEAN JONES QUINTET's FIRST DUTCH PERFORMANCE

Phenomenal trumpeter and Mack Avenue recording artist Sean Jones brings his quintet to The Hague Jazz on Friday 23rd of May; you do not want to miss this Dutch debut in Louis' Basement at 23.30 hrs. The quintet features Brian Hogans on alto, Orrin Evans on piano, Luques Curtis on bass and Obed Calvaire on drums. For more info on Sean check out his website. When you visit the festival also check out Mona Lisa Overdrive (Fri 23) and Toots Thielemans (Sat 24).

MONA LISA OVERDRIVE

Stefan Lievestro & Jesse van Ruller's new band

The new, cutting-edge band Mona Lisa Overdrive will play around Holland this season. Check the Concerts page on this site for information. Check out their My Space page to hear some music samples. MLOD features Stefan Lievestro on bass, Jesse van Ruller on electric guitar, Arno Krijger on Hammond organ and Hans van Oosterhout on drums. They released their debut CD Picknick at Bikini, featuring all new Stefan Lievestro compositions. For those who only know Jesse from his latest release In Pursuit: you're in for quite a surprise.. Check the Artists page for more band info.

Photo credits: Jos L. Knaepen (Toots Thielemans), Govert Driessen (Roy Hargrove Concertgebouw, MLOD), Jacky le Page (Bert Joris Magone cover) Suzanne Dorrestein (Randal Corsen Armonia cover), Roel van Tour (In Pursuit CD cover)