Wouter Van den Broeck (piano) ; Seba Colson (trumpet) ; Bruno Vansina (baryton sax) ; Victor Foulon (upright bass) ; Matthias De Waele (drums)
Donald Byrd and Pepper Adams formed one of the most complementary duos of their generation, producing several albums that have become milestones in the history of hard bop. The trumpeter brought a clear line, controlled lyricism and a mastery of composition that left its mark on a whole section of the movement; the baritone saxophonist provided the biting retort, the harsh yet precise tone that earned him the nickname ‘The Knife’. Byrd displays his art of constructing crystalline melodic structures, whilst Adams constantly disrupts them with his angular phrasing – a dialogue of temperaments that has produced some of the genre’s most intense moments.
Wouter Van den Broeck shares with this repertoire a refusal to become set in his ways. A curious and exacting musician, he has forged his own path by exploring a variety of settings: Mathieu Najean’s quartet, his own collective Jake Walker, Don Marsh’s modern jazz quintet and, of course, the house band at Toots – all contexts in which his intimate knowledge of the tradition has been honed. But this knowledge of jazz does not prevent him from taking certain risks: at the piano, he remains an improviser attentive to the moment, almost physically present in what is being played. Trained also in the classical repertoire, and in search of a particular lyricism, he tackles here a repertoire that is rarely heard.
