Eric van der Westen

Eric van der Westen (* 1963 ) is a Dutch bassist , composer and band leader of modern jazz .

Van der Westen grew up in the south of Holland and started out as a guitar and bass guitar player in hard rock and new wave bands before turning to contemporary jazz and improvised music and switching to the double bass . He studied at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam and soon became a sought-after sideman in various bands and orchestras, such as in Willem van Manen's Contraband in the early 1990s or in the Impressionistic Improvisers Quartet with Eckard Koltermann , Theo Jörgensmann and Jeroen van Vliet . Stylistically, he based his game on models like Charles Mingus or Charlie Haden . He was also active as a composer early on. In the 1990s he recorded the album Working Dreamer under his own name for the label Bvaast , the style and cast of which was based on the David Murray octet , such as his "Ballad for John Carter ", and played in the big band concept Charles Mingus' .

His next album Me, Myself and I was already a salute to the bass player and composer in the title; For the album, van der Westen commissioned a total of eight composers (including himself) to write compositions in the spirit of Mingus, which left enough space for improvisation. According to Richard Cook and Brian Morton, the most notable piece on this album, "Min (g) us One", was written by the composer Chiel Meijering ; it is based on various Mingus themes. Van der Westen himself contributed the title ″ The Underdog ″.

literature

• Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, LP and Cassette . 2nd Edition. Penguin, London 1994, ISBN 0-14-017949-6 .
• Richard Cook, Brian Morton: The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD. 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .