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"Ik ben benieuwd hoe Tania Kross gaat klinken met een big band!”
The third edition of the Jazz & Vrijheid Festival is coming up. During the festival, the orchestra will be led by JOC trombonist, conductor and arranger Ilja Reingoud. We asked him how he experiences these concerts and what makes these evenings so special.
Hi Ilja! As a trombonist, you have a lot of experience with non-Western music through Fra Fra Sound and the Cubop City Big Band. How did you get involved?
Ilja: “As a student, I was asked by Lucas van Merwijk and Leslie Lopez to join their bands. Without knowing anything about that music, I started playing Latin and salsa. I quickly ended up in the salsa scene in Amsterdam and that's how I gained experience. At one point I played in the Cubop City Big Band, Nueva Manteca and the Fra Fra Big Band. For a while I played a lot of different styles. I was very interested in that at the time and I gradually learned to solo in those music styles. Later, at the Rotterdam Conservatory, I also met a Greek/Armenian singer and started playing with her in my own band. That is of course a completely different direction compared to salsa/Latin, but it has definitely shaped me. It makes me open to all kinds of different styles that I can easily implement as a jazz musician and can transform into something that I can do something with in terms of groove and improvisation. The last two years I have played a lot with Izaline Calister and we have toured around Tula, the Curaçao freedom fighter.”
What do you find inspiring about the Keti Koti Gala Concert?
“First of all, I think it is important that we as an orchestra can make a musical contribution on this historically important day. Musically, it is inspiring to get to know different musicians and soloists every time and to notice how they experience their music. They are soloists that I, as a jazz musician, do not often encounter within jazz orchestras and jazz concerts. I also arranged everything myself for this edition of the Keti Koti Gala Concert. That means that I have adapted the specific Surinamese pieces of music for jazz big band and the challenge is to do that in such a way that everyone is satisfied with it. Both the musicians with Surinamese roots and the jazz musicians must be able to find their identity in it.”
What characterizes music from Curaçao and the Antilles for you, is there a common denominator?
“I find it incredibly interesting music. Especially those tumbas are quite complicated and difficult to play. The country is right next to Venezuela, where very good music and musicians traditionally come from. It is clear that that part of Latin America occupies a very important place in music history. It is harmonically very rich and rhythmically very complicated. Incredibly virtuoso. I generally find the melodies beautiful. What contemporary musicians from Curaçao, such as Randal Corsen and Izaline Calister, do with it and make of it, I find very interesting. I also find the musical diversity from the Netherlands Antilles very inspiring.”
What are the challenges during the Jazz and Freedom Festival?
“How do I get those different worlds, soloists and styles together? And how can we arrange it in such a way that the specific character of the music remains intact, that the soloists are satisfied and that the jazz orchestra can play it without losing the individuality of the orchestra.”
What are you looking forward to most?
“The atmosphere of both evenings. The musicians and especially the audience ensure that it is not only a moment of remembrance, but also a lively happening. I find Randal's pieces very interesting to conduct and I am curious to hear how Tania Kross will sound with a big band!”
What do you hope these evenings will bring about?
“An evening where everyone accepts each other. Both musically and socially. We all have the same goal in mind: making and listening to music together and reflecting on this profound historical event together. In this time of segregation, we show and hear that there is also literally another sound: that of integration, playing together, respect for others and interest in others.”
