Exciting Jazz With Benjamin Herman Quartet

Last year Benjamin Herman showed that you can make old jazz standards sound fresh by playing them with respect and lots of excitement. His album Café Solo has some old jazz favourites that have been done many times, but his trio play them like they are brand new. Now he is releasing a live album with a quartet and is playing a small tour in support of it.

Benjamin Herman Quartet at Bimhuis Amsterdam, January 25 2014



The trio consisting of drummer Joost Patočka and bass player Ernst Glerum has been extended into a quartet with piano player Miguel Rodriguez. It adds another dimension to the music. Herman's recognizable alto sax sound colours nicely with Rodriguez' sparkling piano play. Herman regularly steps away from the spot light to let the rest shine. Glerum and Patočka are getting the best out of each other while occasionally exchanging naughty smiles like school boys. Herman sometimes needs to bring them back in line. In solos the musicians are challenging each other and even manage to surprise the other band members now and then.



It only shows how much these musicians enjoy playing their music. The crowd notices this as well and are getting more and more excited with each song. Herman is using the same enthusiasm when he's talking about the songs in between. His small tongue-in-cheek speeches make it a light performance. Nothing heavy, just a bunch of very talented musicians and a hungry crowd. He introduces Henry Macini's 'Lujon' by referring to "The Dude's" trip in 'The Big Lebowski' where the song was used.



Although playing a few songs from Café Solo like 'Summertime' and 'Yakhal’ Inkomo', he's not only sticking to songs from that record. Instead the four are also playing songs from several other albums and jazz standards like 'You Must Believe In Spring'. In the end this band shows where the fun is in jazz and music in general. They could even put a smile on the face of the most grumpy person.




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Mintzkov Deserves A Lot More

Back in 2000 Belgian band Mintzkov won Humo's Rock Rally, a big national band competition. A bright future was lying ahead of them. That didn't quite happen in terms of popularity and fame. They still are relative unknown band outside Belgium. That is actually quite surprising and unfair since there's absolutely nothing wrong with their music. They fit right in with other big Belgian bands like Soulwax, Millionaire and dEUS.

Mintzkov - Sky Hits Ground (Ronald Says 8 out of 10)

Mintzkov are especially compared to that last band, maybe even too much. However it is not surprising, since the bands have many things in common and zinger Philip Bosschaerts sounds a lot like dEUS' Tom Barman too. This isn't any different on their fourth long player Sky Hits Ground, that they produced themselves this time. Just listen to the sharp but beautiful 'Arial Black'. This song also shows they do have their own sound. Keyboard lines are used next to guitars in a creative way. It is always tasteful and subtle like all the other instruments. The band knows when to hold back and prevents that everything is clogged.

Instead the different parts are squirming around each other as you can hear in the heavy 'Runner's High'. A while ago the band had to overcome the heavy loss of their former guitar player Bert van den Roye. This has clearly found its way into the record, which is often dark. 'All Names Have Been Changed' and 'Sky Hits The Ground' are sad and melancholic songs. This doesn't mean the whole album is dark and heavy. It also has songs like 'Arena', that has a nice, gritty and edgy groove, and the beautiful sultry 'Word Of Mouth'.

With Sky Hits Ground Mintzkov prove again they are among the best bands Belgium has to offer, which is quite something. Since with the apparent inexhaustible stream of talented and qualitively great bands that are from there, this says a lot. And the comparison with the great dEUS is nothing bad at all. Especially not when you are matching up to them. It's about time that Mintzkov get what they deserve outside Belgium. So go see for yourself at one of club shows they are playing in coming months.



This review has been published on Festivalinfo in Dutch over here.

Listen to Sky Hits Ground on Spotify.



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Listen To Dave Grohl's Early Years in Dain Bramage

Whether you like it or not, Dave Grohl is one of the most iconic musicians in present day rock music. As a drummer he may just be one of the most important rock drummers of the nineties. Back in 1986 before people even knew him and while he was still smoking pot in high school, he used to play in a band called Dain Bramage. Some recordings have been discovered and you can listen over here: Read more!