Jamesz - Fatuh

Jamesz - Fatuh by Radio Netherlands

Jamesz  -  Fatuh by Radio Netherlands:
These recordings are part of a series, "RN Discs, Jazz from the Netherlands".
Radio Netherlands produces a wide range of CD recordings and radio features which aim to highlight key aspects of musical life in the Netherlands.
Radio Netherlands productions are offered exclusively to radio stations outside the Netherlands,
to provide listeners worldwide with a better understanding of the Dutch musical scene.

Gerrit de Boer - guitar, saz, backing vocals
Sebastiaan Kaptein - djembé, drums
Digmon Roovers - guitar (bass-part), backing vocals
Toon Roos - soprano saxophone
Izaline Calister - vocals Ferial Karamat Ali - synthesizer


01 Fatuh
02 Isn't She Lovely
03 Yell Ola
04 The Last Two Minutes
05 Loose The Blues
06 Tierra Nuev
07 Shab Shub Ma Djö
08 The Wizzard
09 The Low D
10 Tibaldinho


This CD is produced by Radio Netherlands
Produced by Dick Kuijs
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Paul Pouwer
Recorded september 2000 at Willibrord Studio's Veenendaal

EXCEPT FOR THE ODD CLOG DANCE OR SEA CHANTEY, THE NETHERLANDS HAVE NO INDIGENOUS MUSICAL culture to speak of. But although our delta didn't give birth to jazz and blues, it has always been wide open to the world and all its sounds, and the lack of traditional rules gave Dutch musicians an enormous amount of freedom. In improvised music, undogmatic mixing and matching has been the rule since the Sixties. jamesz is one of the latest in a long line of unclassifiable bands, and the joys of eclecticism immediately become apparent when you hear their wonderfully exciting and atmosperic second cd fatuh. Many things are unique about this group. First of all the line-up: two acoustic guitarists - with an electronically broadened palette - and a percussionist who focuses mainly on the djembé, an hourglass-shaped African drum, with a few cymbals added for extra splashes of color. At first glance this may seem gimmicky, but this is not the case; choosing the tools was a process every bit as organic as the mixture of styles they produce. The group was formed about nine years ago in the Dutch town Groningen, in the north, where Gerrit de Boer and Digmon Roovers studied the guitar at the conservatory. Although they played a lot of jazz on electric axes, they shared a love of Latin and Spanish music, and therefore used acoustic instruments when jamming together. They were also into African rhythms, like their friend Sebastiaan Kaptein, who was becoming proficient on the djembé at the time, and its light but pungent tone blended very well with the guitars. They teamed up as the James' Trio, naming themselves after a Pat Metheny-tune. A few years ago they changed and shortened the name to jamesz. As the trio was such a balanced unit, they decided to dispense with a drum kit (which would have been too loud) and a bass player. Roovers provides the marvelously fleet and propulsive bass lines, Kaptein beats out sparse but driving rhythms, often using only his hands, making for another unique feature of the band: its transparent sound, light and airy without creating the impression that something is lacking. And for another refreshing rarity: even though De Boer, the trio's main composer, takes care of most of the lead parts, this music is not about a soloist showing off, backed up by a servile rhythm section, but about leaving room for well-chosen notes to resonate, collectively and confidently hitting the songs on the head. Africa, the Caribbean, American R & B, contemporary dance beats, all these rhythms and more have been integrated seamlessly and are laid down by a band that positively breathes together. Just listen to the tricky multiple time signatures on Isn't She Lovely - in spite of their complexity, they float and lift up the vocal line. Or check out the funk on Loose the Blues, an irresistable melody bouncing on a groove so tight that The Meters would undoubtedly approve. But there's more to jamesz than tunefullness and swing; every track on the cd shows their attention to timbre, to pure, evocative sound. As the icing on an already very tasty cake, there are the MIDI effects triggered by the guitars, the synthesizer washes, the liquid silver of the soprano saxophone, and especially the beautifully pure, passionate yet subtle singing of Izaline Calister. Most of her time her voice is used as an additional instrument, with the lyrics consisting of nonsense words chosen for their musicality. Sometimes, as on Stevie Wonder's classic, she slips into Papiamento, the language of her native Curacao, and for Tibaldinho, the most conventional song on the album, she wrote a poetic text in Spanish. All these elements combine to make a distinctive sound world, earthy and dreamlike at the same time, with plenty of jazzy improvising given a meaningful context by a popmusic sensibility. Its blend of catchiness and sophistication made jamesz the winner of the Dutch Jazz Competition 2000, which lead to the recording of fatuh. The title is a Surinam word meaning something like 'tasty, a crazy kick, hot', in short anything that has to do with fun. - Frank van Herk -

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