Contraband (Big Band)
| Contraband | |
|---|---|
 Paul van Kemenade, founding member of the Contraband, Moers Festival 2008 |
|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Modern creative |
| founding | 1985 |
| resolution | 2005 |
| Founding members | |
clarinet |
Theo Jörgensmann |
saxophone |
Paul van Kemenade |
saxophone |
Maarten van Norden |
saxophone |
From Baars |
Saxophone, composition |
Eckard Koltermann |
Trumpet |
Mark Charig |
Trumpet |
Louis Lanzig |
Trumpet |
Eric Boeren |
Trumpet, leader, composition |
Willem van Manen |
trombone |
Radu Malfatti |
tuba |
Melvyn Poore |
piano |
Georg Graewe |
bass |
Niko Langenhuisen |
Drums |
Martin van Duynhoven |
The Contraband is a Dutch big band of modern creative jazz . It was founded and directed by the Dutch trombonist Willem van Manen .
Band history
Van Manen first conceived the Contraband as an international group. Over the years the line-up has changed several times. During the time of its existence the Contraband gave over 300 concerts. The band played mostly in the Netherlands, but also performed in Germany, Belgium, France and Switzerland.
music
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The band mainly played original compositions by their members. The compositions leave the player plenty of room for improvisation, which, depending on the piece, is harmonious and fixed in tempo or free. There was also an unusually large amount of space for collective improvisations in this big band . In addition, a special musical characteristic made the sound of this band. The woodwind group in the Contraband consisted of 4 saxophones and a clarinet. The voice of the clarinet was used in different ways in the respective pieces. Vocally it is not only assigned to the saxophone section, but also to the trumpet section or the trombone section, which gave the sound of the contraband a unique, unmistakable sound character and broke through the conventional big band sound.
The Contraband is considered a powerful, expressive big band.
Discography
- Live at the BIMhuis (1988, BVHaast)
- De Ruyter Suyte (BVHaast)
- Boy Edgar Suite (BVHaast)
- Hittit (1998, BVHaast)
- Pale Fire (BVHaast)
- The Painter (BVHaast)
Other band members
- Trumpet: Toon de Gouw , Ad Gruter, Willem Schoenmaker, Loet van der Lee
- Trumpet: Chris Abelen , Hans Visser, Hans Sparla , Joost Buis
- Clarinet: Patrick Hagen
- Saxophone: Rutger van Otterloo , Frans Vermeerssen , Miguel Boelens
- Piano: Ron van Rossum, Jeroen van Vliet , Stevko Busch
- Bass: Hein Offermans, Eric van der Westen , Arnold Dooyeweerd , Gerco Aerts
- Drums: Charles Huffstadt, Wim Kegel
Individual evidence
- ↑ ".... The group delivers all the power and finesse of the great bigbands, and it glories in soloists who crackle their way out of complex charts .... the band ought to be far better known than it is ... . in its undemonstrative way, this is the kind of ensemble which is pointing a way out of the impasse of the bigband tradition. " The Penguin Guide to Jazz (GB)