Saturday March 1, 20:00 CET – Behind the Dikes.
This broadcast is dedicated to the long career of drummer Eric Ineke. His hard-hitting jazz life is still in full bloom. In this hour you will hear music from the last 25 years of his now 60-year career: two formations with David Liebman; a trio with saxophonist Doug Webb and bassist Marius Beets; a group with vibraphonist Steve Nelson and bassist Joris Teepe, and music by his own band Eric Ineke JazzXpress.
Collaboration with David Liebman *)
The American saxophonist/flutist/composer David Liebman was active on many fronts in Europe from the 1990s onwards. He was the first improvising musician to play with the world-famous French Ensemble Intercontemporain, founded by Pierre Boulez.
On his 2008 album Lieb Plays Weill he plays together with guitarist Jesse van Ruller, bassist Marius Beets and Ineke. This Time Next Year is a soft, subtle opening in a Brazilian atmosphere. Liebman has a refined, elastic timbre palette. Fortunately (pardon me), his soprano sax is hardly recognizable as such, and remains mainly “introverted” in character. They take the time for solos. Relaxed.
The piece Skylark (from the 2016 CD “Is Seeing Believing?”) scales up to a faster tempo and a larger line-up. That becomes clear after a free-tempo piano intro. In addition to pianist Mário Laginha, there is guitarist Ricardo Pinheiro. The drummer also joins the somewhat busy whole, and is given plenty of time to tell a solo story.
Coração Vagabundo returns to more intimate spheres.
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The Eric Ineke JazzXpress was founded in 2006. Let’s pause for a moment…this implies almost twenty years of highly regarded and high-quality hard bop. The group produced, among other things, For The Love Of Ivie – A Tribute To Ivie Anderson in 2008. In 2020, “What Kinda Bird is This? The Music of Charlie Parker”, and more recently “The Eric Ineke JazzXpress feat. Tineke Postma – Swing Street, plays the music of Cannonball Adderley”.
Ivie Anderson was an American vocalist, best known for her work with Duke Ellington’s orchestra from 1931 to 1941. For The Love Of Ivie catapults us back in time, in terms of singing, playing style and arrangements. Singer Deborah Brown – with a nice scat – is surrounded in Ineke’s formation, in addition to the rhythm section, there is trumpeter Rik Mol, saxophonist Sjoerd Dijkhuizen, trombonist Bart van Lier and altoist Benjamin Herman. Hard swinging, cheerful music in I’m Checkin’Out-Goombye and Black Beauty.
Julian “Cannonball” Adderley emerged in the 1950s. As altoist in the Miles Davis Quintet, he played on the album Milestones from 1958, and a year later on the iconic album Kind of Blue. Shortly afterwards he started his own quintet, with his brother, the trumpeter Nat Adderley, and thus became master of his own music again.
In the sextet line-up of Swing Street we find Nico Schepers on trumpet. Jessica’s Birthday (Quincy Jones) is one of Adderley’s repertoire pieces. As with the previous tribute albums, the music is not a one-to-one copy of the original, although the alto playing by Tineke Postma occasionally has something of Adderley’s ‘jubilant’ style. The tempo is slowed down a bit here – the arrangement is basic, but extremely effective.
Domination (Julian Adderley) is the opposite of the previous piece in terms of the arrangement – by Marius Beets. it is complex and it continues to surprise. Beautiful unison passages from alto and bass and an accompanied, virtuoso bass solo.
Unit 7 (Sam Jones) is a blues form with an eight-bar ‘intermediate section’. A wonderful wat to end this hour.
Behind the Dikes – Hajé Nordbeck
*) In 2012 Ineke published his book The Ultimate Sideman – in conversation with Dave Liebman
Available from the Nederlands Jazz Archief (NJA)
Click here to listen to part 1 of our mini-series about Eric Ineke – click here to read the associated news item.
