NEW RELEASE – ROB VAN BAVEL & JORIS TEEPE

Middle age fails to slow down two Dutch jazz heavyweights.

Dutchmen Rob van Bavel and Joris Teepe have been frequent collaborators since the late 1980’s and are as prolific as ever. To-go-to pianist Van Bavel was a member of the sterling Jarmo Hoogendijk/Ben van den Dungen Quintet and played with Woody Shaw and Randy Brecker. He divides time between solo projects, hard bop group Eric Ineke Xpress and duets with his piano-playing son Sebastiaan. Without a doubt, Teepe is the most successful musician from The Netherlands in New York City and has been bassist-of-choice for Benny Golson, Billy Hart, Dave Liebman, Bill Evans and Rashied Ali. A strong presence in the New York scene since the early 1990’s, Teepe regularly brings American players to Groningen in his role as head of jazz studies at the conservatory.

A logical extension of their live stream performances during the lockdown in 2020, Dutch Connection is part of a great tradition of piano and bass records. Duke/Ray Brown, Kenny Drew/NHOP and Rein de Graaff/Koos Serierse come to mind. Van Bavel and Teepe convincingly hold their own and engage in sympathetic interaction. They remind of dolphins that jump from the water in unison – when one has drifted away from the other they have perfect knowledge of each other’s location and sublimely sense how to reach it.

Their set of original compositions from the Teepe and Van Bavel book and standards as Star Eyes, I’m Old Fashioned and Take The A-Train (more like a Carribean local train) is thoroughly enjoyable. You’ll savor the strong and warm bass sound of Teepe, who during his smooth accompaniment permits himself myriad harmonic twists and turns, the kind of freedom in confinement that comes with age and experience. There’s plenty to dig solo-wise, not least Teepe’s moody storytelling of his ballad The Left Side. It also is rather striking how he eagerly shifts from subtle underscores to the leading role of Van Bavel’s Angel Eyes-ish In April.

Teepe’s Joriscope offers Van Bavel the opportunity to kick into fourth gear. His firm and richly layered chords are like green mountain hills, his bundles of single notes are like gulf streams and waterfalls and geysers. Like pioneering giant McCoy Tyner, he maintains his equilibrium throughout, speaking of which, let’s not hesitate to conclude that in McCoy’s tradition in Europe, Van Bavel is without peer. On the other end of the spectrum, Malcolm’s Minuet is a lovely reflection of Van Bavel’s baroque-infused style.

In short, flawless and highly recommended.