Author Archives: Ellister

Latin4

Sometimes reality takes an advance on what you wish for. With this band (we haven’t even decided on a name yet) we first had gigs and only then started rehearsing. End the more we rehearse (today was our second rehearsal), the more I feel this is something I really like!Latin4 at rehearsal

Latin4 at the rehearsal

You might call it a hobby project, as we all do it strictly for pleasure. But honoustly I think there’s more to it. One thing to cherish is the fact that we have all started writing songs for the band. Another is that we all can try out anything. Openmindness galore!

Jens at the rehearsal

Jens at the rehearsal

The line-up consists of people with a broad view when it comes to music. Other bands that the members play in are – amongst other and in no particular order – Kern Koppen, Zule Max, Soul Solution, Bongomatik, Triplicate, Cubop City Bigband. It was the jam sessions of the Hague that brought us together; we love to maintain that looseness in playing, no matter how sophisticated the arrangement.

  • Ellister – trumpet and flugelhorn
  • Bob Wijnen – keys
  • Jens Kerkhoff – percussion
  • Adinda Meertins – bass
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Dublin part two

As much as Friday and Saturday had been about relaxing, Sunday was all about the concert and nothing but the concert. Alto player Laura MacDonald had arrived in the early morning from Schotland so we had all morning for playing throught the repertoire for the evening. Rehearsal was at the foyer of the National Concert Hall. Great to have a bunch of people that come to rehearsal well-prepared; we could get straight to the important stuff. Also great to find an alto player that is so easy to play together with! As well on musical aspects such as timing, tuning and phrasing as on a personal basis.

rehearsal in the lounge

rehearsal in the lounge

For the guys of the rhythm section this would turn out to be a very long day. They took part in all line-ups of the concert: quintet, chamber orchestra and bigband. And all bands had a rehearsal as well as a sound check. Kudos to them all! Phill Ware on the piano, Cormac OBrien on bass and Shane O’Donovan on the drums.

And then concert time! Nearly sold out; even the president of Ireland was in the audience. Several times during this evening the words of Kenny Werner played through my head. Being in space, that’s what it was indeed. I couldn’t believe it was 45 minutes we played; It seemed like only a short little moment. Very enjoyable indeed. This was definitely not my last time in Ireland :)

And of coarse should a good evening of music end with a good moment of relaxation. Hanging at a bar in Blackrock isn’t a bad thing to do; wow what a night!

After Hours in Dublin

After hours in Dublin

Dublin part one

I promised to write a daily update about my whereabouts in Ireland. The reason for me being here is a grand Noel Kelehan memorial in National Concert Hall tomorrow. Yesterday was my first day in Dublin, but – apart from the taxi driver having good memories of the club dates Kelehan would be playing fourty years ago – there isn’t that much of relevance to write about.

For that reason I’ll immediately skip to today, which was originally planned to be the big rehearsal day. In Ireland things never go as planned, so I was off all day, giving me time for a good workout and some socialising.

After that bass player and jazz educator Cormac O’Brian was as kind as to invite me to a Kenny Werner workshop. There were a few views that appealed to me very much. A lot of his ideas can also be found in his famous book ‘effortless mastery‘.

Kenny states it’s the thing to focus at one thing at a time and stay with that until you really master that. Don’t aim for the mediocre, but for real quality, even when it’s about only two bars to start with.

Also, teach yourself to practice with focus. In other words: quit as soon as your concentration is lacking so you won’t get used to an unconcentrated practise routine, but instead will learn to stretch the amount of time being focused.

Any chord with any bass note can resolve to any other chord with any other bass note. As long as the voice leading is right. It helps broadening your creativity to get some random elements into your improvisation. If you would practise just two of those chord progressions every week..

About patience: don’t expect anything to happen within a week, think months and persevere! It would be a terrible shame to quit only one day before breakthrough ;)

And finally: you can think of practising as a square turned on it’s side. At the top stands effortless (read the book) then the other corners are perfect, right tempo and the whole thing. Effortless is always there, and from the others you can drop one for practising purposes. So you play the whole two bars you are working on perfectly but slow. Or perfectly and in the right tempo, but only the amount of notes that you can play effortlessly. Maybe that’s just two notes! Or you play all in the right tempo, but allow yourself to be sloppy.

Good ideas to work with! So now for a good night’s sleep before tomorrow’s rehearsals and concert. Looking forward!

Neue Osnabrucker Zeiting – a review

One of the guys in the band sent me an email pointing out there is a nice German review of the concert we played in Dissen last Saturday. Without translating the whole article literaly, the article states that at first the audience seemed a bit disappointed when they saw there had been some changes in the line-up, but then the energetic liveliness of the band made he evening into a grand joy. They even mention my “rousing performance”.

newspaper review Germany

Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung 18 nov 2012

November Newsletter (in dutch)

Updates about my whereabouts: http://ymlp.com/zGitux

Not yet in my mailinglist? Subscribing is easy! If there  proves to be a great demand for an english version, I shall make future letters bilingual.

Triplicate Album Release Party “Call of the Wild”

November 28 7:30pm – ISS, The Hague

Triplicate’s got a very good reason to celebrate! A new group sound and repertoire consisting of more originals led us to the new album “Call of the Wild”, which will be released on November 28. This album is only for sale online, or on a unique Triplicate usb-stick which you can buy directly from us.
logo call of the wild
Of course a party like this isn’t complete without a nice concert, and the International Institute for Social Studies (ISS) is willing to support us with their facilities. Doors open at 7:30pm, and the entrance fee is €10, in which a festive welcome drink and a Triplicate surprise pack are included.

We hope to see you all on this beautiful night! – ISS – Kortenaerkade 12 – The Hague – Entrance fee: €10,-

bandfoto Triplicate

picture by Piet Gispen

Musicians Corner: a radio show

Last evening dutch radio station “De Concertzender” broadcast an interview of me together with Caroline Schönfeld. We talked about sound in correlation to style, about my musical influences, my dutch heroes, and much more. And of coarse I brought a bunch of music to illustrate my story. Ack van Rooyen, Jarmo Hoogendijk, John Ruocco, Jimmy Giuffre, Art Farmer, Johnny Hodges: all of them have a special place in my heart as I explained in the show. For those who are interested: the stream (in dutch) is online at http://t.co/XmeC8mdG

Oosterpoort Groningen

Announcement Rein de Graaff OosterpoortI came across this announcement and I couldn’t help feeling very proud.

I have been visiting jazz concerts since I was very young. My father used to take me to Theater Pepijn in The Hague, De Tobbe in Voorburg and Thelonious in Rotterdam to see the jazz greats of that time. There were some people that we would go to see more often than others. Like Jarmo Hoogendijk or Ferdinand Povel.

And the Rein de Graaff trio. For 25 years Rein has been organizing tours, performing with internationally renown artists. I have seen many impressive concerts throughout the years, starting from a very early age.

Now you understand why it is that I feel so proud playing with Rein. Last year we did a short tour with flutist Sam Most, and now we get to play together again! Rein is celebrating his 70th birthday and his 25 year lustrum as an organizer. Other participants will be Houston Person(!), Sylvia Droste, Benjamin Herman, Ben van Gelder, Martijn van Iterson, Marius Beets and Eric Ineke. The week after we play at the Bimhuis.

Another Dublin trip ahead

It got confirmed today: November 25th there will be a tribute concert to celebrate the music of Irish pianist and conductor Noel Kelahan, who passed away last February.
It’ll take place in the National Concert Hall in Dublin. I’m already looking forward!

News letter in the news paper

Last week I sent a news letter to all subscribers. I regularly send letters, mostly to inform people about concerts in their region (I wouldn’t want to bother people from the north of the country with small concerts in the south and vice versa). This time however I had some concerts on bigger festivals to announce and also other interesting things to tell.

It’s amazing how many nice reactions I received! But – even more to my surprise – I got to be mentioned in the weekly jazz column of Bert Jansma in The Hagues regional quality paper Den Haag Centraal. Bert quotes more than a bit of the newsletter.Den Haag Centraal - Dikke zoen van Bert (artikel)

For those who feel dissappointed not having received the letter: you can view it here (sorry, this one I only made in dutch). Interested in a subscription? Just click the button and let me know which concerts you would like to be informed on.