Done projects, ehh yes, projects that have been going on in the past. A diverse range of collaborations. Some them were one-off’s, others have been playing and releasing music for years, but all of them came up with their own original music. Who knows, maybe one day the one or the other group all of a sudden wakes up from a more or less deep sleep, for another round, for a reunion.
Bakker, Goudsmit & Jäger
Never enough. Music. Life. Energy. Fun. Notes. Idiocy. Effort. Heart. Leaps. Imperfection. Magic. Music. Some tunes pop up out of the blue. Some melodies vanish into thin air.Some clues are unseen, some hints ignored. Sometimes everything clicks together like clockwork. These three are skilled masters of improvised music. They fight each other to the bone, they support each other to the top. One moment high-flying power grooves can get shot, to start a new life crawling in the mud. Taken roads cross, intertwine or run dead as the moment requires. In the meantime they mock, entertain, surprise, frighten and move.
Anton Goudsmit is considered to be the top in Dutch jazz&impro guitar playing.
Arno Bakker is probably the most photographed sousaphone player in Holland.
Gerri Jäger is the most incredible polyrhythmic drummer Austria ever failed to keep.
“… het trio Bakker, Goudsmit & Jäger: voor pure improvisatie met andere woorden. Ze zorgden voor een werkelijk doldwaze set met veel humor en begeestering. Maar wat werd hier ongelofelijk gemusiceerd! Het had nog het meest weg van een toverbrouwsel in een exploderende, overkokende pan. Pure improvisatie met een flinke scheut post-rock. Het gierde, krijste, beukte en bracht ons in alle staten.” (Ben Taffijn, Draai Om Je Oren)
Anton Goudsmit: guitar
Arno Bakker: sousaphone
Gerri Jäger: drums
Live at the North Sea Jazz Club Amsterdam, january 2014
Meertonen Project, Nieuw & Meer Amsterdam, 2013
Bandwidth + Gerri Jäger
BANDWIDTH consists of David Vilayleck aka Ayankoko and Mathieu Garrouste from Paris. Their radical sound manipulations are based on sound extraction with laptop, turntables, electric guitar, filters and other potential sources. Both soft minimal noisiness and sonic radicalism that opts for a more extreme volume are the dynamic and aesthetic frames of their improvisations – music inspired by digital noise based on the principle of interruption. Very fond of playing with guests BANDWIDTH is accompanied by Amsterdam based Austrian drummer Gerri Jäger on drums, electronics and percussion. The result of this collaboration are abstract landscapes, post-industrial and contemporary ambient noise music.
Ayankoko: ppooll on Max/MSP
Mathieu Garrouste: electronics, tapes
Gerri Jäger: drums, percussion, casio, electronics
Brown vs Brown
Brown vs Brown was an intense and stunningly tight ‘rehearsal-intensive’ avant-garde rock band from Amsterdam, Holland. Brown vs Brown was formed in 2004 by Dirk Bruinsma (saxes, vocals), Viljam Nybacka (bass), Gerri Jäger (drums) and Jeroen Kimman (guitar, banjo). The band’s electrifying chemistry quickly made itself apparent: A love/hate relationship with jazz, a quirky alt/punk-rock mindset and the genuine need to create a new music that is coherent and personal, became their common ground in the hard-working years that followed.
After 5 years of joint creative exploits and playing hundreds of concerts throughout Europe, Brown vs Brown has developed a musical universe that categorically denies stylistic description. Seemingly contrasting elements clash and recombine: meticulous composition vs. improvisation, complexity vs. raw energy, and breakneck stumble rhythms vs. irresistible swing. Brown vs Brown takes great pride in its reputation as a powerhouse live act,and feels as confident playing the consecrated ground of jazz-temples as wellas the beer-soaked floors of ill-lit alt-rock clubs, leaving all of these audiences flabbergasted.
“Brown vs Brown are a young band but its members have a rich background of experience. The band moves easily between avant-rock and jazz-core with precision and style.” – All About Jazz (Italy)
“No category fits them perfectly, whether punk, jazz, free, avant-garde…open to any influences and with a large affinity to the free improvised jazz scene, Brown vs Brown is a artistically refreshing breeze from the country of windmills.” – Concerto
Buisonic
Sultry, refractory, euphonic, scratchy, smooth, edgy, melancholic, rebellious and larky: the new project of trombonist Joost Buis is a guitar band with telecasters Paul Pallesen (Bite the Gnatze) and Jeroen Kimman (Orquestra del Tiempo Perdido) and partners in time Dion Nijland (Het Orgel Trio) and Gerri Jäger (Knalpot). Eclectic compositions, audacious improvisations.
Electric guitars play a central part in this new band led by Joost Buis. As a trombonist he’s inspired by famous colleagues as well as his favorite singers. As a composer he has previously explored the space jazz territory of Sun Ra.
Joost Buis – trombone & composition
Paul Pallesen – guitar
Jeroen Kimman – guitar
Dion Nijland – double bass
Gerri Jäger – drums
Drums & Air-sticks Duo
A piece Alon Ilsar (AUS) and me composed together during his STEIM residency in Amsterdam in october 2013. Alon sampled my drum-kit in order to manipulate those samples real-time using game controllers & ableton.
Alon Ilsar – air-sticks
Gerri Jäger – drums
Eke
EKE consists of Oscar Jan Hoogland on electric chlavichord, reed player Yedo Gibson and drummer Gerri Jäger and the group stands at the top of improvised music in the Netherlands. The group played together for the first time in 2007 and this quickly led to performances in Brazil and at numerous venues in Europe. The intimidating and anarchic nature of the music challenges listeners. In live shows the trio creates new compositions that are full of contrasts and use elements of jazz, punk and noise. The unspoken communication between the three musicians is striking. (North Sea Jazz Festival program 2013)
“New York Times – Best concerts of 2012: EKE live at Delicatessen, Amsterdam 6th of october 2012″
“I loved EKE’s set. Congrats on an amazing show. Great approach to the drums and percussion and the trio has never been in better form than with you three. I loved seeing EKE play live. The prepared clavichord was wicked, and the sax playing was super imaginative and stellar.” joey burns (calexico)
Yedo Gibson: reeds
Oscar Jan Hoogland: electric clavichord
Gerri Jäger: drums, percussion
Grafwerk
photo: Raoul Hilbink
Sannety: sequencer
Gerri: drums and electronics
In essence this is a duo of two drummers: One playing percussive sounds with an electronic instrument, and the other playing electronic sounds with an acoustic instrument.
Sanne plays a sequencer of her own design (programmed in Max/MSP by Johan van Kreij) that can mangle time and patterns while keeping relationships between sequences in tact. Time can expand and contract, curve or be subdivided in any way that you want, creating polyrhythms on a micro-timing level. Further algorithms allow you to play with different parameters of the sound,so the temporal gestures are reflected in volume, duration, panning, control of filters, repetitions etc.
Gerri wires a self-made effect rig to his drum-set. it consists of customised stomp boxes, a bitcrusher, a drum synthesizer and a sample pad. Each element of his acoustic drums-set is connected with a contact microphone and therefore can be modified in multiple ways and trigger the synthesizer and samples. Gerri has been developing this set-up for about 10 years.
Departing from this rich sound palette, they are working on abstracting just the right mix between analogue and digital sound, improvisation and structure, odds and evens, and creating a coherent set that’s just as club-worthy as it is arty (no farty. just the party).
Knalpot
music streaming + downloads: http://knalpot.bandcamp.com/
Over the past 15 years Knalpot’s Gerri Jäger, Raphael Vanoli and Sandor Caron have become a strong working trio. They belong to the most uncompromising electronic rock acts of this day and have performed extensively all over Europe, Russia and Brazil including many major festivals. They have collaborated with Manu Delago and Graduale Nobili (Björk), Rabih Beaini (Morphosis), Eirikur Olafsson (Sigur Rós, mùm), Jozef Dumoulin (Keiji Heino), Fred Frith (John Zorn, Mike Patton), Aardvarck (Rednose District) and Ensemble Klang.
The latest album “Dierendag” (SHHPUMA/Clean Feed) marks a new chapter and shows that the band surpassed itself with an even more massive and unique sounddesign and singular approach: Drone-zone walls fluently morph into a pop song, big-time distorted drums mingle with sweet Bach-like guitar, otherworldly blown guitars are layered with processed drums and synths. The new tracks are more danceable while Knalpot trademarks like vivid energy, stumble-grooves and their omnipresent sense of joy, freshness and freedom remain.
Gerri Jäger: drums, synths, electronics
Raphael Vanoli: guitars, electronics, bass-synth
Sandor Caron: sounddesign
KNALPOT has played on festivals like SKIF St. Petersburg (RU), Eurosonic Groningen (NL), NuMusic and 12Points Stavanger (NO), NorthSeaJazz Rotterdam (NL), Exit Novi Sad (SER), Lowlands Biddinghuizen (NL), La Fabrika São Paulo (BRA), ADE Amsterdam (NL), Elevate Graz (AT), Rewire and State X New Forms The Hague (NL), Satta Outside Šventoji (LT) and ARCO Madrid (E) a.o.
“Despite their limited number, they manage to sound like a bastard hybrid of a load of Rune Grammofon and Warp bands – the skronk of Supersilent, the punk of MoHa, the mathematics of Battles, and the electronic of Pivot.” Scott McMillan
Maximal Music: Ensemble Klang + Knalpot
Ensemble Klang is a giant in the contemporary music scene. With their unique way of working, they have attracted young, talented composers, with success. Their CD Waves, with compositions by Peter Adriaansz, was awarded five stars by NRC Handelsblad.
The Amsterdam duo Knalpot combines drums and guitar with a wide range of electronics, thus creating adventurous electro rock with influences from dub, ambient and noise. Music magazine OOR said about Knalpot: ‘The best kept secret of Amsterdam pop music.’
From score parts, riffs and samples, Klang and Knalpot have created completely new textures with the physical impact of a rock band: hard, complex and overwhelming. The result: Maximal Music!.
Anton van Houten – trombone; Erik-Jan de With & Michiel van Dijk – saxophone; Gerri Jãger – drums, electronics, casio; Joey Marijs – percussion; Pete Harden – guitar; Raphael Vanoli – guitar, Electronics, casio; Saskia Lankhoorn – keyboard instruments; Sandor Caron & Clare Gallagher – sound, Meeus van Dis – light design, visuals; Martha Colburn – video animations.
Naked Wolf
Ponderous rock rhythms meet free improvisations, jazz meets pop and world music, catchy song structures meet an ecstatic sound machine that produces high-voltage artificial sound storms far removed from the jazz mainstream, presenting a cheeky, boisterous challenge to our listening habits. (Südtirol Jazzfestival)
Wild, hypnotic rock energy and clever improvisations with rapid changes in mood and pulse, poetic rap lyrics and danceable tight grooves. This ensemble didn’t rest for a second, bursting with uncompromised joy and playful creativity that highlighted the strong personalities of each musician. (All About Jazz)
Felicity Provan: trumpet, vocals
Mika Szafirowski: el. guitar, vocals
Yedo Gibson: reeds
Gerri Jäger: drums
Luc Ex: acoustic bass guitar
Opositor
Opositor is an attempt to blend jazz aesthetics with rock sounds and free improvisation’s concepts. Only the versatility of the players made this possible with such a rare instrumentation: saxophone or clarinet, electric guitar, and drums. Further more, the absence of a bass adds an extra challenge opening a window for uncommon textures. The music of the first album was composed for this particular occasion and it has an equilibrate balance between written and improvised material.
“Opositor convinces with high quality improv.” (Volkskrant)
Natalio Sued: saxophone, clarinet
Raphaël Vanoli: guitar, electronics
Gerri Jäger: drums, percussion
Poker
Improvised Structures and Structured Improvisations. Concept and leadership by Jarno van Es.
Jarno van Es – piano/synthesizers (Kyteman).
Gerri Jäger – drums (Knalpot)
Rob Dirksen – contrabas (Concertgebouworkest)
Ziv Taubenfeld – basklarinet (Bones)
Regenorchester XV
Austrian trumpet player Franz Hautzinger, a major contributor to the Viennese avant-garde, conceived the idea for Regenorchester on a rainy day in London. Previous versions of the group moved between soundscapes and passionate electrical jazz, with Hautzinger’s extremely concentrated improvisations as a point of reference. In this latest version he plays with American electric guitar talent Ava Mendoza, Luc Ex and the Knaplot duo. ‘Hautzinger intrigues with electronic transformations of volume, with echo and loops, in powerful and subtle techniques on his quarter tone trumpet’ (Volkskrant).
“It is a beautiful spectacle to watch such adventurers in a crusade of finding the limits of their instrument. It sounds awake and threatening. Rain and sunshine at the same time. Lunapark in hell.” (jazzenzo, Tim Sprangers)
Franz Hautzinger: trumpet, electronics
Ava Mendoza: el.guitar, electronics
Raphaël Vanoli: el.guitar, electronics
Luc Ex: ac.bass
Gerri Jäger: drums, electronics
Rooie Waas
With screaming synths, thumping drums and nifty poetry Rooie Waas engaged themselves in surveying the boundaries between different genres of music and the limits of music itself. Rooie Waas (“seeing red”) is an electronic band formed in 2011 by the Dutch vocalist Gijs Borstlap and Finnish musician Mikael Szafirowski. In 2012 Narrominded released their debut album Het is maar een constatering, an immersion into the depths of sound and language. Repetition, slight nuances in intonation evoke what is in essence poetry in a mass of sound and syllables. The music consists of gestures in sound, or noise, organized in a manner closely related to more traditional pop-genres.
“Nationwide the best discovery of recent times.” (State X)
“The energy of a Rooie Waas live-set is for sure enough for one year surviving after a nuclear fall-out.” (Gonzo Circus)
Gijs Borstlap: cacophonator, vocals
Mikael Szafirowski: soft-synth, oscillator, vocals
Gerri Jäger: e-drums, vocals
ja, dus?
live at Melkweg, october 2015
Sgt. Fuzzy
SGT. FUZZY is a jazz/rock/improvisation band from Antwerp (B) based on the shared passion of its members to create a musical style which combines the freedom of improvised music with the undeniable influence from todays pop and rock. The adventurous improvisations come from a great love for the many forms of jazz, whereas the compositions are mostly influenced by artists such as Radiohead, Björk, Alasnoaxis and Weather Report, and the instrumentation featuring two guitars leans towards a “rock” sound.
“Well balanced entirety with an impressive sound”. (Joachim Ceulemans, Enola)
Sgt. Fuzzy album among “BELGIAN JAZZ RULES TOP 15 of the year 2015”. (Urgent FM)
“This is a CD that you keep playing, to find out how they manage, to make such beautiful and changeable music.” (Rene van Peer, GONZO (CIRCUS))
Thomas Jillings – sax, ewi
Ruben Machtelincx – guitar
Quinten De Cuyper – guitar
Nathan Wouters – bass
Gerri Jäger – drums
Stolpernova
Raphaël Vanoli is primarily known as the guitarist for the Amsterdam duo Knalpot. With his new band Stolpernova, derived from the German verb ‘stolpern’, which means stumbling, he creates contagious soundscapes, furious grooves and stumbling rhythms. Together with Knalpot drummer Gerri Jäger, trail-blazing trombonist Hilary Jeffery and the unconventional trumpet player Franz Hautzinger he moves between soundscapes and brassband, between acoustic stillness and danceable electronica. In this landscape, which can be either serene or rugged, the intense voice of Senegalese singer Omar Ka appears. In unique arrangements of traditional West-African songs his vocals range from whispers to bursts of heartbreak.
“This is outstandingly well improvised. The drummer plays loose in highly uneven rhythmical patterns, an executioner of a trombonist, a trumpet player serving the music with evocative timbre, spherical but not slick, contemplative in an exciting way. Vanoli holds this surreal, otherworldly sound together well and the Senegalese singer has a beautiful, deep and colorful voice.” (Frits Lagerwerff)
Omar Ka: vocals, guitar
Franz Hautzinger: trumpet, electronics
Hilary Jeffery: trombone, electronics
Raphaël Vanoli: guitar, bass, electronics
Gerri Jäger: drums, percussion, electronics
contact: raphaelvanoli [at] gmx [dot] net
Tuthola
With magnifying glasses they look and wonder what makes people so mindless and so brilliant at the same time. Touched by people and their attempt to become better, faster and more remarkable in their given time. Considering the poetry and absurdism of such, TUTHOLA try to exploit that through songs. Give a moment to reflect and dance, listen and shout!
Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti: keys, vocals
Jochem van Tol: guitar, vocals
Gerri Jäger: e-drums & electronics
Whale Oil
Whale Oil are a rock trio, the children of spoof & authenticity who play brilliant riffs entrenched in a golden & crap history. They have a drive to rock out and simultaneously teeter on the edge of caving in. Their music sails perilously close to the well trodden record shop labels of pop, rock, world and miscellaneous. You need big muscles & a big heart to be in this band and an even bigger ear and brains to like it.
“just great!” (Da Luke)
Alfrenzied Genocide: lead guitar, vocals
Gerri de Hünter: drums, vocals
Billy Spontana: bass, vocals