portrait 18 – Jeroen van Vliet
different angles in musical language

Jeroen van Vliet ‘s music teacher had Jeroen improvising at the age of ten. At the conservatory he studied classical music as his main subject. That was a tough switch after the freedom he was used to, with ‘intuition’ as his course. He plays in many combinations worldwide and received the Boy Edgar Prize in 2014: “Van Vliet is one of the few great poets of Dutch improvised music.”

De muziekleraar van Jeroen van Vliet liet Jeroen op zijn tiende jaar al meteen improviseren. Op het conservatorium volgde hij het hoofdvak klassiek. Dat was hard schakelen na de vrijheid die hij gewend was met intuïtie als koers. Hij speelt in vele combinaties wereldwijd en ontving o.a. in 2014 de Boy Edgar Prijs: “Van Vliet behoort tot de paar grote dichters van de Nederlandse geïmproviseerde muziek.”

plea for the unknown
pleidooi voor het onbekende

“different angles in musical language”

starring artist:
jeroen van vliet

text notes
willem kühne*)
the dutch jazz musician, pianist, willem kühne (1946), became known with the group ‘ohm’, which he
founded in 1972 with niko langenhuijsen and pieter henrard, which won the jazz festival in laren (nl 1973).
in 1974 they released their first album with avant-garde jazz. in addition to playing in various formations,
he was affiliated with the tilburg conservatory.

tilburg conservatory*)
the tilburg conservatory was founded in 1918 as part of the roman catholic courses. in 1996,
the conservatory and dance academy became part of fontys university of the arts, located in the so-called
art cluster at the new ‘city forum’ in the center of tilburg.

improvisation*)
improvisation in music already occurred in the middle ages ‘contrapuctus allemente’, where two to three
voices were improvised over a fixed voice. in the baroque period there was the improvisational tradition of
the basso continuo, in which the chords were fixed, but the exact playing method was left to the imagination
of the player(s). improvisation is often used in jazz. in free jazz everything is free.

ibach grand piano*)
ibach piano & organ manufactures was originally established in 1794 by johannes adolph. in 1869 the
company was split and became ibach sohn piano company (until 2007) with a reputation for superior
quality and highly celebrated pianos and grand pianos.

steinway grand piano*)
steinway & sons, also known as steinway, is a german-american piano company, founded in 1853 in
new york city by german piano builder heinrich engelhard steinweg, later known as henry e. steinway.

bechstein upright piano*)
bechstein pianoforte ag, also known as bechstein, is a german manufacturer of pianos, established in
1853 by carl bechstein and opened amongst others a branche in london in 1855 and in berlin in 1880.

piano moderator*)
on an acoustic piano, pressing the middle pedal causes a felt bar called the ‘moderator’ to be
inserted between the strings and the hammers, so that the piano’s sound is quieter and duller.

classical music*)
classical music or western art music is the trained music produced by, or rooted in, western
ecclesiastical and secular music traditions, roughly from the middle ages to the present. the name
‘classical music’ is considered to be the counterpart of ‘popular music’.
today, music tradition and modern musical forms, especially jazz and electronic music, influence each
other, producing a wide range of hybrid forms.

pellemans, van vliet, van zundert*)
trio – played at the north sea jazz festival 1985. in this trio line-up, jeroen van vliet participates in the
‘middelsee jazztreffen competition’ in leeuwarden (nl). the group wins first prize. van vliet also receives
the soloist prize.

north sea jazz festival*)
the famous north sea jazz festival, founded in 1976 by paul acket (businessman and jazz lover), is an
annual music festival. from 1976 to 2005, the festival took place in the world forum convention center
in the hague (congress building). since 2006 it has been held in ‘ahoy’ in rotterdam (nl).

middelsee jazztreffen competition*)
after north sea jazz, ‘middelsee jazz treffen’ (meet jazz) in the old ‘harmonie’ (music hall) was the largest
jazz festival in the netherlands in the 1980s.

autodidact*)
an autodidact is someone who has acquired his knowledge through self-study, without any guidance from
an educational organization or training course. nowadays the term self-directed learning is also used
in education.

conservatory utrecht*)
the utrecht conservatory was founded in 1875 and is one of the oldest music schools in the netherlands.
in 1987, the utrecht conservatory merged with the carillon school and the netherlands institute for
church music into the faculty of music of the utrecht university of the arts (hku).

bert van den brink*)
in 1985, the light music department was founded at the utrecht conservatory, where pianist, arranger
and producer, bert van den brink was appointed teacher of piano, principal subject, ‘light music’
including jazz music.

paul van kemenade*)
paul van kemenade (rotterdam, 1957) is a dutch saxophonist, composer, organizer and bandleader of
the ‘paul van kemenade quintet’. since 1993, van kemenade has been the founder and organizer of
the famous ‘stranger than paranoia festival’. in 1984 he won the podium prize of the jazz in netherlands
(sjin); in 1999 he received the oeuvre prize for dutch jazz musicians, the ‘boy edgar prize’. this year (2024)
he will play a worldwide grand tour in various line-ups.

steve clover*)
steve clover, drummer, together with his wife jette clover, started the first jazz venue ‘paradoks’ in tilburg in
1981 (-1984). in the opposite building, also in the willem ii street, it later (1985) grew into the current jazz
stage under the name ‘paradox’.

paradox*)
the new ‘paradox’ was founded in 1985 by a number of tilburg jazz musicians, including niko langenhuijsen
and henk koekkoek. ‘paradox’ is owned by the ‘foundation for the promotion of music improvisation’ (sbm).
in addition to a ‘normal’ music agenda, ‘paradox ‘regularly organizes special projects and festivals.

joop van erven*)
joop van erven studied classical percussion until 1974 and then worked in various dutch bands, such as
with paul van kemenade. he played in ‘loek dikker’s waterland big band’, with which he toured extensively.
since the early 1970s he gave jazz workshops at the arnhem conservatory.

niko langenhuijsen*)
bassist / pianist niko langenhuijsen (tilburg 1951) studied at the conservatory in tilburg. and subsequently
developed into a versatile composer, musician, organizer and teacher. he was one of the founders of
the pioneering jazz group ‘ohm’ (1972-1978). langenhuijsen was one of the founders of ‘paradoks’,
the later ‘music podium paradox’ and is seen as one of the musical pillars of the so-called ’tilburg school’.

hans sparla*)
trombonist hans sparla learned to play the accordion from his father, studied at the hochschule für musik
und theater in hannover (de) and continued his classical training at the brabant conservatory in tilburg.
he was introduced to jazz music and played in bands such as the ‘paul van kemenade quintet’,
‘palinckx & palinckx’, the ‘contraband’, ‘vlek’. sparla is currently also active as an accordionist in ‘trio nuevo’
and ‘trio misto’, among others.

eric van der westen*)
eric van der westen (zierikzee 1963 nl). at the age of 10 he started to play guitar, switched to double bass
and received first serious music education at the age of 19 at the ‘sweelinck conservatory’ in amsterdam.
he developed a career as composer of modern crossover improvised music in which his band ‘quadrant’
(extended) played a pivotal role. in recent decennium eric has dug deep into turkish culture, playing all
varieties of music with various turkish musicians. he became a member of the ‘sezen aksu acoustic band’
and played all over the world.

pieter bast*)
pieter bast (conflans st. honorine 1964 fr) started playing percussion at the age of 13 and graduated from
the ‘sweelinck conservatory’ in amsterdam in 1988. from 1985 to 1988 he successfully led his own quintet
‘pb – 5’, with which he won several prizes. since 2011 he has been the leader of the new ‘pieter bast
e.s.p. quintet’. since 1988, he has participated in numerous musical projects and collaborated with
renowned musicians and given concerts in europe, africa, indonesia, middle east and canada.

jan erik kongshaug – rainbow studio -*)
jan erik kongshaug (trondheim 1944) was a norwegian sound engineer, producer and guitarist who started
his own ‘rainbow studio’ in oslo in 1983, and re-established it in 2004 under the same name. kongshaug
and his studio are known for the clarity of the recordings made.

ecm records*)
‘ecm records’ is a record label based in munich, germany. ecm stands for edition of contemporary music,
founded in 1969 by manfred eicher on the initiative of karl egger. it initially mainly released jazz albums.

producer*)
in the music industry, a music producer, often called a producer, is someone who is responsible for a
recording session.

steinway d grand piano*)
the steinway d grand piano is an exceptional concert piano (274 cm long) that is a perfect symbiosis
between passionate craftsmanship, incomparable sound volume and expressiveness of the unique touch.
pianists appreciate this unique instrument for its quality and soul.

recalibration*)
recalibration of a music instrument means: to make small changes to an instrument so that it measures
accurately.

musical language*)
music has been described as a universal language with its own grammar and syntax, figures of speech
and phrases.

eric vloeimans*)
eric vloeimans (1963) initially studied classical trumpet, later on the jazz course at the ‘rotterdam
conservatory’. in the united states he took lessons with donald byrd. vloeimans is known as an
improvising trumpet player and composer who finds the term ‘jazz’ for his music too limiting.
his work is characterized by a melodic and lyrical power. his motto is: ‘i make music for millions,
but i have not reached them all yet’.

rhodes*)
a rhodes (also: fender rhodes) is an electromechanical keyboard instrument designed in the 1940s
by the american harold rhodes. the instrument is played similarly to a piano and is technically an
electrically amplified dulcitone. each key strikes a kind of tuning fork. because the sound produced
by these forks is only weak, the vibrations are absorbed via a pickup and then amplified.

chopin*)
fryderyk franciszek chopin (1810 – 1849), was a polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the romantic
period and is considered one of the greatest composers in music history. his music utilizes the expressive
and technical properties of the piano more fully than the music of any other composer.

bartók*)
béla viktor jános bartók (1881 – 1945) was a hungarian composer and pianist. bartók is widely regarded
as one of the most important composers of the twentieth century. bartók was one of the founders of
ethnomusicology through his meticulous transcriptions of eastern european folk music in collaboration
with zoltán kodály.

credits projects

trio ogu – paradox 2014
piano: jeroen van vliet
gitaar: bram stadhouders
drums: etienne nilessen
video: paradox live
production: tom pijnenburg
editing: tom pijnenburg
sound: bernard jussen
camera: tom pijnenburg and pierre timmermans

moon trio – bimhuis 2021
moon trio – from the album ‘monochromes’
piano & electronics: jeroen van vliet
double bass: cord heineking
drums: mark schilders
video: bimhuis-tv

the known – beaufort house 2018
mete erker and jeroen van vliet
composition & piano : jeroen van vliet
saxophone: mete erker
audio: chris weeda
video: al hajem

nostalgia – live @ bimhuis amsterdam 2014
recorded for vpro – vrije geluiden (free sounds)
composition and piano-solo: jeroen van vliet

‘use my time’ – jazzimation 2 2017
produced, directed, designed and animated: oerd van cuijlenborg
music: jeroen van vliet – moon trio / ‘use my time’ – from the album ‘earth time’
piano: jeroen van vliet
double bass cord heineking
drums: mark schilders
engineer: chris weeda
mastering: diaros van hefteren
recorded at: fattoria musica osnabrück

portrait 18 – Jeroen van Vliet
different angles in musical language

camera and video editing: tom pijnenburg
research, editorial, text titles: jan doms

leader:
graphic design: jan doms
opening sequence: pieter reijnen & tom pijnenburg
sound: aspa petrov – prefuse 73 dvořák
ernst bonis – composition taksim

music end credits: ‘use my time’ – jazzimation 2 2017
produced, directed, designed and animated: oerd van cuijlenborg
music: jeroen van vliet – moon trio / ‘use my time’ – from the album ‘earth time’
piano: jeroen van vliet
double bass cord heineking
drums: mark schilders
engineer: chris weeda
mastering: diaros van hefteren
recorded at: fattoria musica osnabrück