Joris Roelofs – Rope Dance
Joris Roelofs bass clarinet/clarinet, Bram de Looze piano, Bram van Sambeek bassoon, Clemens van der Feen double bass, Martijn Vink drums
Programme:
Concert – 8.30 PM
Discussion – 10 PM
Joris Roelofs is a renowned (bass) clarinetist. Previously he played various saxophones and flutes. For example, he was the lead alto saxophonist with the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw for fifteen years. Besides that, Joris Roelofs is also currently working on a PhD dissertation on the aesthetics of improvisation in the thought of Friedrich Nietzsche and Hannah Arendt. On the album Rope Dance (BIS Records) – awarded 5 stars in Volkskrant & BBC Music Magazine – he is able to combine all of this, in a suite of twelve pieces inspired by Nietzsche – ‘by far the most musical of philosophers’ according to Roelofs.
It is not surprising that Nietzsche’s thoughts about free spirits – liberated from conventional constraints and belief systems – resonate particularly well with musicians working with improvisation and across genres. Roelofs has therefore been able to gather a group of highly versatile colleagues from the Benelux jazz scene to perform his music: pianist Bram de Looze, bass player Clemens van der Feen and Martijn Vink on drums. The album also confirms the multi-faceted talents of bassoonist Bram van Sambeek, following previous recordings on BIS of classical, pre-Romantic and contemporary concertos, as well as hard rock covers with the group ORBI (the Oscillating Revenge of the Background Instruments)
This evening will be split in two parts: The Rope Dance Suite, followed by an open discussion (in English) about improvisation, Hannah Arendt and Friedrich Nietzsche with the audience and some of the students from his subject ‘Freedom and Improvisation’, which he teaches at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. Access to this discussion is free.
Joris Roelofs has built his career balancing intense discipline and a deep commitment to post-bop tradition with a measured exploratory streak’ (Downbeat).