© Betty Vanlangendonck
In 2019, alto sax Frank Vaganée, double bass Sam Gerstmans and drummer Teun Verbruggen met during a one-of-a-kind concert. The pleasure to improvise standards or personal bop-tasting compositions. The joy was too big, the ensemble born. The essence of jazz is right here and, of course, countless surprises too!
Gather three musicians who love that kind of good ol’ bop you share without even thinking about it. That jazz that’s been flowing in our veins since the fifties, feeding so many hearts. Playing it freely, without afterthoughts or calculations, isn’t for everyone. But Frank Vaganée, Sam Gerstmans and Teun Verbruggen aren’t everyone. Without even looking for it, these three virtuoso have found the magical alchemy that makes the never-ending inventiveness of jazz fizzle. Between revisited Monk, Duke, Ornette and Parker standards, original compositions melt into one another, definitely hurting no one. The interaction between drummer, sax and double bass players is so easygoing, it’s the most natural. The energy they bring, combined with the fluidity and subtleness in their art of playing, immerses you into the heart of a fantasy-like Birdland, that is very much real, however, and, above all, incredibly contemporary.
CD: ‘Black Diamond’ (Rat Records, 09.2023)