Toon Roos - official website

KAREL BOEHLEE

Karel is one of the finest pianists and composers in the Netherlands, and over the years he has developed a personal style of playing, which is sensitive and lyrical with an intense groove. Toon and Karel have a partnership that goes back many years. Together they recorded the album ‘Attitudes’ in 1987, ‘Free At Last’ in 2003 and ‘Love Revisited’ in 2008. Karel and bass player Hein van de Geyn know each other well, travelling together as regular band members of the Toots Thielemans Quartet, touring several European countries, South Africa, Brazil and Japan. Karel recorded several albums for Japan on the Alfa label with the European Jazz Trio. He recently performed and made recordings with the Karel Boehlee trio, the Toon Roos Group, Trijntje Oosterhuis, Toots Thielemans and Gino Vannelli, among others. Karel is one of the principal piano teachers at the jazz department of the Conservatory of Amsterdam.

Read more about Karel on www.karelboehlee.com

HEIN VAN DE GEYN

Hein van de Geyn, being a virtuoso, lyrical and highly personal player, has established himself as one of the most sought after bass players in Europe. He has worked and made recordings with many great players both as a freelance musician and as a bandleader, he has taught clinics and has been the bass player on almost 100 records. Hein has worked with numerous celebrities like Chet Baker, Lee Konitz and Dee Dee Bridgewater and with John Abercrombie in his own band 'Baseline'. Alongside performing, Hein has established a fine reputation as a teacher and has written his Comprehensive Bass Method, which has found its way to many bassists all over the world. In 1994 Hein launched his own record label called Challenge Jazz for which he has produced a growing number of successful albums. The catalogue consists of some 130 titles and is well-distributed all over the world. One of the more recent releases is an album by Toots Thielemans & The European Quartet Live with Hein and Karel.

Read more about Hein on www.baselinemusic.nl

PETER ERSKINE

Peter Erskine began playing the drums at the age of four and has been at the forefront of world-class jazz ensembles for more than 35 years. His first major professional work was with the Stan Kenton Orchestra, which he joined in 1972. After a three-year stint with Kenton and two years with Maynard Ferguson, Erskine joined Weather Report in 1978. The excellence of the partnership between Erskine and bassist Jaco Pastorius was an integral part of that group's success. Following his four years with Weather Report (having recorded five albums with them - including the Grammy Award winning "8:30"), he began to play with Mike Brecker, Mike Mainieri, Don Grolnick and Eddie Gomez in the group Steps Ahead. Erskine's other touring and recording credits (500 albums & film scores) include Steely Dan, Diana Krall, Chick Corea, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Gary Burton & Pat Metheny, Joni Mitchell, Kurt Elling, Eliane Elias, Mike Stern, Kate Bush, Miroslav Vitous, Jan Garbarek, Bass Desires (with John Scofield, Bill Frisell and Marc Johnson), the John Abercrombie Trio, the Yellowjackets and the Bob Mintzer Big Band. He has also recorded with his own groups, including trios with John Taylor, Palle Danielsson, and his current bands with guitarist Nguyen Le and bassist Michel Benita (Trio ELB), as well as a trio he shares with pianist Alan Pasqua. Erskine conducts clinics, classes and seminars around the world.

Read more about Peter on

http://www.petererskine.com/current.htm & http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Peter_Erskine.html

Peter at the Bimhuis, Amsterdam - 30 October 2009. by Fred van Wulften

ALEX ACUŇA

Alex Acuña, born in Pativilca, Peru, played in local bands from the age of ten, and moved to Lima as a teenager. At the age of eighteen he joined the band of Perez Prado, and in 1967 he moved to Puerto Rico. In 1974 Acuña moved to Las Vegas, where he played with such greats as Elvis Presley and Diana Ross. Between 1975 and 1977 he made part of jazz history when he became a drummer and percussionist for one of the most innovative and pioneering jazz groups of our time, Weather Report. He recorded two albums with the group Black Market and the highly successful Heavy Weather, which included the famous tracks Birdland and Havona. Heavy Weather became the first jazz-fusion album to sell a million copies. Acuña left Weather Report in 1978 and became a session musician in California, recording and playing live with Ella Fitzgerald, Paul McCartney, Sergio Mendes, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Al Jarreau, Yellowjackets, Lee Ritenour, Joni Mitchell, Whitney Houston, Peter Gabriel, Placida Domingo, Carlos Santana and Antonio Carlos Jobim, among many others. He has worked as an educator at the University of California, Los Angeles and the Berklee College of Music.

Read more about Alex on http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Alex_Acuna.html

Alex with Weather Report, 1977, Zurich by Ueli Frey www.drjazz.ch

EDDIE CONARD

As a percussionist and sideman, Eddie Conard has become famous in and outside of Holland. He has been the session-percussionist both on records and live with many Dutch artists such as Kane, the Rosenberg Trio and Candy Dulfer. International artists, including Gino Vannelli, Chaka Khan, Eros Ramozzotti, Wall Street Crash and Sting, contracted him for their European tours.