Going Dutch @ The Lit & Phil (evening session) - January 22

(Review by Steve H/photo courtesy of Ken Drew)

The evening comprised of 3 sets; each with one established act and one brand new grouping.  Kicking off the first set was a quartet featuring Ab Baars on Sax, Olie Brice on bass, Jasper Stadhouders on guitar and Martin Von Duynhoven on drums who produced an interesting improvised piece. Kaya Drakslar then performed an amazing contemporary, improvised offering on the grand piano which began with what appeared to be the sound of church bells ringing and ended with the amplified rustling of paper blowing in a gale. On inspection of the piano afterward, one could see how things had been set up with the inside of the piano covered in bells, magnets, pegs, paper etc. The performance was quite mesmerising and hypnotic and was warmly appreciated by all present.

A new grouping of Reinier Baas on guitar, Faye MacCalam on sax & clarinet and Ig Henneman on viola began the second third of the evening. The trio produced a fairly minimalist and thought-provoking atmospheric number. Prior to the evening session, a fellow member of the audience had remarked that the ambiance of the Lit and Phil as a venue lent itself to performers playing with great respect and intense thoughtfulness. By the end of the second set, he was eating his words! The established band of Cactus Truck (Jasper Stadhouders guitar, Onno Govaert drums, John Dikeman sax) really tore it up, producing crash bang thrashing music of the most exhilarating order. One of my friends likened Dikeman’s playing to that of ‘a rutting stag’ as the band nearly took the roof off the 19^th Century library – it doesn’t get much better than that. After a calming break, there followed a moving duet by Ig Henneman on viola and Kaja Draksler on piano which concluded with Henneman singing a version of the nursery rhyme ‘Row your boat’! The event closed with a very fine set from Jasper Stadhouders guitar, Onno Govaert drums and regular Tyneside visitor Wilbert de Joode on bass. So a marvelous and life-affirming festival of joyous creativity came to an end. Congratulations and thanks must go to all those involved: promoters, performers, and all the other people who made such a successful event possible. As the old rhyme goes, ‘life is but a dream’.

Ab Baars (reeds); Reinier Baas (guitar); Olie Brice (bass); Wilbert de Joode (bass); John Dikeman (sax); Kaja Draksler (piano); Onno Govaerts (drums); Ig Henneman (viola); Faye MacCalman (reeds); Jasper Stadhouders (guitar); Martin van Duynhoven (drums).

Steve H.