We open this double bill with the trio Kreis. It plays on the cusp of lyrical jazz, pensive chamber music and the evocativeness of film music. Kreis is not a group that immediately knocks you off your feet with technical tours de force or ideas and emotions laid on thick. Instead it is a band that gradually gets under your skin, creeping in quietly and casting its little hooks.
Stan Maris (ONVERSTERKT, MOM trio, Les Gars Reasca, Bral/Perdieus/Maris), Kobe Boon (Mòs Ensemble, Steiger, The Milk Factory) and Benjamin Hermans (Hammond Hullabaloo) are all musicians who travel like nomads between different styles and influences. At this concert, they will present their second album Embla that will soon be appearing on the Bwaa label.
Kreis
accordion, compositions
Stan Maris
reeds
Benjamin Hermans
double bass
Kobe Boon
Thunderblender
tenor and bass saxophone
Sam Comerford
piano
Hendrik Lasure
drums, electronics
Jens Bouttery
in partnership with
JazzLab and Mechelen Cultural Centre
Thunderblender
Thunderblender has a thoroughly European sound, but the trio also draws inspiration from American greats such as Tim Berne and Henry Threadgill.
We know its members from countless other projects. Comerford belongs to the international quintet Aerie and played in Lasure’s project Warm bad (last season at nona). Lasure himself plays with SCHNTZL and the An Pierlé Quartet that will be on stage here later this season. He has also performed at nona before, in Vanish Beach by Hof van Eede and Moving Ballads by the dancer and choreographer Femke Gyselinck. Jens Bouttery, in turn, is half of the duo Hi Hawaii with Lennart Heyndels, which provided the live soundtrack last year in Mechelen for Roy Andersson’s Songs from the Second Floor. Thunderblender has recorded an album produced by Koen Gisen. We are looking forward to its release this autumn on the WERF label.
“The evident chemistry between Comerford, Lasure and Bouttery results in intricate, adventurous play that’s never predictable. (...) Gutsy yet melodic, rhythmically complex yet grooving, there’s plenty to admire in this fine debut.”
- All About Jazz on Thunderblender’s debut EP Last Minute Panic
