Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw The Jazz Influencers - JOC013 - Jazz - par Joc Records

The Journey Continues Spring 2018 I interviewed Morris Kliphuis. Towards the end of the interview Kliphuis – hornist, jazz composer and improviser –spoke about his time in New York. “The biggest lesson I learnt in New York is that I am European, and jazz is an American music style - originally the way for an oppressed black minority to express their right to freedom. It gives a unique character and energy to this music. But I’m just a boy from Hilversum". With this statement Kliphuis offers a peek into the inner world of the new generation of Dutch jazz and improvised musicians as a whole, and that ofthe millennials more in particular. Nine of these millennials - Morris Kliphuis, Gideon van Gelder, Reinier Baas, Joris Roelofs, Tineke Postma, Ben van Gelder, Simin Tander, Maarten Hogenhuis and Maartje Meijer - recently presented their compositions for the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw.They are the jazz influencers of today. Kliphuis refers to the gap between his personal background and the origin of jazz. In fact, for all millennials this is fundamental. After all, they belong tothe first generation to have so many resources to absorb the rich American jazz tradition - like Kliphuis several of the musicians above spent time studying in the USA. But at the same time, they feel a certain ambivalence towards that heritage, wanting to develop their own sound.