The Contemporary Fortepiano Rembrandt Frerichs Trio

• 1Elf06:14
• 2Escher04:31
• 3Butterfly05:16
• 4Maqam Bayati04:17
• 5Snip05:02
• 6Le Badinage03:46
• 7Abakua04:12
• 8A Long Story Short07:16
• 9Mondriaan04:23
• 10Offering09:19
• 11Glorieux04:00
• 12Hak en Tak03:18
• 13Valeur Ajoutee02:39
• 14Up and Down03:31
• 15Zarbi02:10
• Total Runtime01:09:54

Info for The Contemporary Fortepiano

Pianist Rembrandt Frerichs (Rotterdam, 1977) is one of a kind. A rising star in the contemporary jazz scene, he graduated with honours from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. Performing intensively both home and abroad, he debuted at the North Sea Jazz Festival when he was 22, and played with saxophone legend Michael Brecker (1949 – 2007) in 2003.

Rembrandt has a very personal style that is driven by content rather than virtuosity. His mu- sic invariably carries an artistic message, which is informed by his world travels. This gives his work an additional dimension; Rembrandt integrates elements of Arabic music into a new concept, seamlessly connecting East and West. He feels equally in his element playing the percussive 18th century fortepiano, a 19th century harmonium or his modern grand piano. With bass player Tony Overwater and percussionist Vinsent Planjer, he forms a unique-sounding trio, whose subtle style is its own trademark.

Overwater also uses an early instrument: The violone – a precursor of the current double bass. Planjer plays a self-tailored percussion set. The trio’s improvising especially breathes life into their music. The harmonium used by Frerichs is a Trayser, dating back to 1860, which he restored himself.

But Frerichs’ Jewel is the fortepiano; whose rich overtones blend harmoniously with the other instruments.

Built by Chris Maene and on loan from the Dutch National Musical Instrument Fund, the rare fortepiano is a copy of a Walter from 1790, that stood in the house of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

“I consider it a true honour that the fund has given me this opportunity,” Frerichs said. “It is the first time the fortepiano gets a serious place in improvised music.”

Rembrandt Frerichs Trio

Rembrandt Frerichs Trio
Rembrandt Frerichs, Tony Overwater and Vinsent Planjer have been playing together in different projects and constellations for many years, returning to the basic shape of the trio every so often, as a balance point in their continuous development.

Rembrandt Frerichs, pianist and composer, is known for his broad perspective, his artistic journey constantly deepening into new territories. Rembrandt is familiar with American jazz tradition, but he avoids the well-trodden path. He’s deeply interested in art music from different parts of the world and investigates the limits of classical, improvised and world music, experimenting with the sounds of early music and oriental instruments, and bringing elements of baroque and Middle Eastern music into his compositions and improvisations.

Bass player Tony Overwater is an award-winning solo performer, leader of self-initiated projects and a collaborative sideman. Overwater developed a unique playing style on the acoustic bass which allows him to play the microtonality of the Arab scales, and had a copy of a 16th century six-string violone built especially for him to expand his sonal possibilities.

Drummer-percussionist Vinsent Planjer has found his voice in a wide range of musical settings. With an emphasis on jazz, he has also shared the stage with actors and dancers in the world of theater. As part of the Rembrandt Trio, Planjer developed his signature drum set, the so-called ‘Whisper Kit’; an eclectic mix of percussion instruments from all over the world, partly self-built.

The trio as a core group collaborated and recorded seven albums with many different artists from varying musical backgrounds, from their very first album in 2010 (Levantasy, with Yoram Lachish) to last year’s collaboration with Hossein Alizadeh on ‘Same Self, Same Silence’. But in between tours and collaborations, they always come back to their essence, recording three trio-albums in 2014, 2018 and 2019 respectively. ‘A Wind Invisible Sweeps Us Through The World’ is the fourth - documenting a growing bond between the three musicians, with more and more shared life to bring into their playing.

This album contains no booklet.