Here’s a nice registration of a new Big Band arrangement by Eric Miyashiro of the famous tune called ‘Birdland’. We played this at the 2019 Trumpet Party and besides Eric playing his part there’s a great solo by Florian Wempe. And the amazing Wim Both playing lead-trumpet. Hope you enjoy it!
Categorie: news
Yes, we did it, we arranged it, and now it’s available: the album HOMME FATALE on VINYL! We’re very proud to have this album also available as a real record, sounding awesome and looking good. So for everyone who has a turntable, find us after our gigs, because we’ll have it with us all the time, or order your own copy here
Last summer we played the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Hague with VinnieVibes – the energetic band of Vincent Houdijk. The gig was awesome, there was a huge line to get into the venue we played, and the responses were amazing.
SO – GOOD NEWS: we recorded the whole thing, and it’s being mixed and mastered as we speak, to be released soon as the new VinnieVibes album! I had a sneak preview this week, and it’s really something special. I’ll keep you posted about the release date (follow me on facebook and you’ll know it the minute it’s available), but make sure you check it out when available..
In a few weeks time the next Trumpet-party is due – an incredible night with a bigband and some intense and impressive trumpet playing. This year the great Wayne Bergeron (Maynard Ferguson Big Band and the soundtrack of The Incredibles) is going to be the featured artist, and I can tell you that’s gonna be quite something! Repertoire is going to be some traditional bigband stuff, some great arrangements by Bergeron himself, some Buddy Rich pieces (oh-ooh..) and who knows we’ll be playing Gonna Fly Now. More info and tickets are available here.
Woohoo! We worked on it for quite a while, because we wanted it to be really good – the new album of Ratzke with the songs of Homme Fatale. And it’s ready, and I think it’s really good! Man, the hours we put in it to get all the sounds right, and the instruments I played! Not only like four different drumkits, but also vibraphone, some keys, a metal bin with drumsticks in it (beaten with two hammers!) and a top-part of a heater! But it’s been worth it, after Joris Wolff (our engineer and producer) put everything in the right spot. It’ll be available soon (we’re still planning on a release party), but here’s a teaser to make your mouth water..
Oh, and I didn’t update you for a while on the touring, so just to give you an idea: I can still be regularly found at the Bimhuis with the Konrad Koselleck Big Band (our steady gig there); we’ve been really busy touring Homme Fatale (Ratzke) around the world (taking it from Amsterdam to Berlin, Hamburg, New York and many more); also the late-nights in Utrecht have continued, this time as a semi-live tv-show (I know, very very cool) and there’s been other stuff there too. Also important is that 2018 is going to be very exciting, but I’ll tell you more about that later. Stay tuned for more international touring and festival announcements..
This summer I had the privilege to be a member of a jury in the international Big Band contest of the Meerjazz Festival in Hoofddorp. And what a treat it was! The level of Big Band playing was very high in the competing bands, they’re all playing great arrangements, and it’s such a thrill to listen to the great variety of sounds that Big Band has to offer! It was a real joy to be part of this, and an honour to be part of this jury of heavyweights (musically spoken ;-))
While finishing off two years of playing Starman (New Zealand will be the last one to enjoy it next month) we’ve been very busy writing and arranging for the new Sven Ratzke show called Homme Fatale. Actually the last two months have been completely filled with rehearsing, making sheets, writing songs, throwing them away, rearranging a third version of an arrangement, and making more sheets. But now we’re entering a periode of playing try-outs, and it looks like the show will be very fresh and amazing! Of course I can’t tell you too much yet, but check out our tour schedule if you’re curious about the show – we’ll be playing it all over the world again!
The month of December we’re touring the Netherlands with Ratzke’s Christmas Show. Is there anything better than to spend a musical night in the theatre around Christmas with somebody who’s rather with his audience than at home around those days?! In every town there’s a special guest, from Eric Vloeimans and Claron McFadden to Lavinia Meijer and Freek de Jonge. The rest of the show is a musical journey through all of Ratzke-land, together with his band and Fay Lovsky. Come and join us in:
Utrecht – Eindhoven – Den Haag – Nijmegen – Arnhem – Amsterdam
Check out the dates here.
So, I just refreshed the looks of this website a bit – about time most of you would probably say 🙂 While in the meantime it’s so easy to do so with WordPress. Anyway, also some of the content got updated, and I’ll fix some more in the coming time. Let me know what you think!