(Press release)
Adventurous voice, guitar and percussion trio Under the Surface join the Dutch-Scottish sextet LoLanders in a double bill at the
Bridge Hotel in Newcastle on Sunday, June 23 for a concert that continues Jazz
North East’s association with the Dutch jazz scene.
Under the Surface was formed in 2016 when the group’s vocalist, Sanne
Rambags was selected by the Dutch organisation Beaux Jazz to be part of its
Next Generation strand.
“The idea is that younger musicians are given carte blanche to create
something with players who are already established,” says the group’s drummer,
Joost Lijbaart, who might be familiar to Bebop Spoken Here readers from his
work with saxophonist Yuri Honing. “Sanne chose to work with our guitarist Bram
Stadhouders, who I knew a little bit, and myself, giving us three musicians
from different generations, and from the minute we started to play together I
felt we had something special.”
Rather than compose songs and tunes, the trio decided to create a series
of musical figures to act like stations on a train journey that they reached by
improvising. Sanne Rambags, who works as a more conventional singer-songwriter
away from Under the Surface, selected some poems and wrote lyrics as a guide
but her interpretation of these words changes with every performance.
“We used these figures as a fall back so that we had something to aim
for if we needed it,” says Lijbaart. “But quite often our collective
improvisations might take us somewhere else entirely and we wouldn’t actually
arrive at the pre-arranged stations. It’s quite a different approach compared
to what normally happens in a jazz group but it’s worked for us and it means
that we never coast. We have to always keep on our toes and respond to what’s
happening in the moment.”
Audiences across the world have reacted positively to the group’s
spontaneous music – they’ve played concerts from Mali to Mexico, from Norway to
India and from Bolivia to Lebanon – and their two albums have been
enthusiastically reviewed, particularly at home in the Netherlands. Their first
release, simply called Under the Surface, was nominated for an Edison Award
(the Dutch equivalent of a Grammy), and the second album, Trinity, which was
recorded entirely live and has just been released in the UK to coincide with
their visit, was given four stars in The Scotsman.
“Trinity, I think, shows quite a marked progression from the first one,”
says Lijbaart. “It’s more confident and you can hear that we’ve played together
a lot more since then.”
The group’s Newcastle gig with LoLanders will be preceded by a return
visit to Eyemouth Hippodrome, just north of the border, where the trio appeared
during a short Scottish tour early last year.
“We had a great time in Eyemouth,” says Lijbaart. “Everybody there made
us feel very welcome. So we’re really looking forward to going back there
but also looking forward very much to creating the Under the Surface blend of
atmosphere and energy for the people of Newcastle for the first time.”
Rob Adams.
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