Dutch jazz ensembles entertains with finesse and versatility
Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
A jazz concert can indeed be very entertaining and fun-filled, especially when it is in the hands of a resourceful musician-cum- composer.
A recent performance here in Yogyakarta of the highly theatrical Willem Breuker Kollektief from the Netherlands, a band comprising 10 musicians that Breuker has been leading for the last 31 years, proved just that.
The two-and-a-half hour performance seemed to go quickly that evening as the world-class band presented some 20 pieces from its repertoire on a crowded stage in front of an audience of some 500 people in an unbelievably tight and aggressive manner.
Just listening to the powerful, energetic music without looking at the musicians one could easily get the wrong impression, while the group actually comprises mostly of elderly balding musicians.
They played almost non stop from one piece to another, except during a 10-minute break in between the two sessions, shifting dynamically from waltzes to fanfares, from lullabies to two-beat thumping or even rapid classical pieces.
Most of the pieces were played ensemble. However, there were also a lot of solos. All 10 musicians were given the chance to show their distinct expertise in the instruments they played.
The first chance was given to tenor saxophonist Maarten van Norden who presented a melodic, sometimes stamping, piece of music, followed by Andy Altenfelder with his highly improvised husky trumpet.
The other solos were then played one after the other, sometimes with an ensemble performance in between, almost without a stop.
The chic-looking Hermine Deurloo, the only woman musician in the group, played saxophone and harmonica. Boy Raymakers was on trumpet. Andy Bruce and Bernard Hunnekink on trombones, Arjen Gorter on double bass, Henk de Jonge on piano and Rob Verdurmen on percussion.
As the musicians played solo, others sometimes danced a little or made funny gestures to the amusement of the excited crowd.
The climax, however, came when Breuker took his turn to play solo and produced various funny sounds from both his saxophones and clarinet.
The audience kept on smiling, and even laugh loudly in amusement, as the veteran musician worked in grunts, growls, tweets, and hollers or produced other funny sounds that sometimes resembled the sounds of hens cackling or a seagull's cry.
He sometimes also made funny gestures by, for example, scratching his balding head or with comical looks on his wrinkled face.
"We do not indeed play standard jazz. Our music is quite wide open for any improvisation," Breuker told reporters in a press conference held ahead of the concert in Yogyakarta.
That also explained why, he prefers to put the names of the musicians rather than the instruments whenever he is composing a piece of music for the group to play. He creates music specifically with all the Kollektief's musicians in mind.
Sometimes he also asks other musicians in his group whether they want to improvise in a particular part of the music he is composing before putting someone's name on his music sheet.
French musicologist Jean Claude Balzac writes in www.willembreukerkollektief.com, "the Kollektief in one of Europe's finest ensembles playing contemporary and improvised music".
Kollektief's approach, according to Balzac, combines jazz and (i.e. classical) music with many popular genres, from marching band and circus music to Latin dance steps and music for film and theater.
"The result is both humorous and surprising, full of false stops and starts, clean breaks, sudden shifts in musical mood, and above all, a fine sense of irony," Balzac writes.
Founded in 1974, the Kollektief is one of the busiest ensembles in Europe, touring almost all major cities in the world including in Europe itself, Canada, the U.S, Russia, Australia, and Asia. On average it gives some 85 concerts a year.
This is its second visit to Indonesia. Its first visit, to Jakarta and Bandung, was a couple of years ago.
Neither Willem Breuker himself nor the band are strangers to the music scene in Europe. A biography of Breuker has been published in France and in Holland. He is also the recipient of numerous awards including the prestigious Bird Award (1988).
Ten year later, in 1998, he was awarded the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands, which is one of the highest honors in his country.
The band, similarly, has a number of prestigious achievements. It has featured in the top ranks of the Downbeat Annual Critic's Poll for big bands since 1986, for example.
It has so far released more than 20 compact discs and given numerous radio and television performances, not counting its own annual festival in Amsterdam.