Live information

7 December 2024

Open 17:30

Live: 18:00 – 19:30

Jesse van Ruller trio

Jesse van Ruller – guitar

Clemens van der Feen – bass

Martijn Vink – drums

Jesse Van Ruller

guitar

Photo by Antonio Porcar

Jesse van Ruller is known to be one of the best contemporary jazz guitarists on the scene today. His unique sound, virtuoso technique and beautiful compositions are praised around the globe.

In 1995 he won the prestigious Thelonious Monk Award in Washington . The jury, consisting of Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Jim Hall, Pat Martino and Mark Whitfield, was of the opinion that Jesse is one of the most promising talents of his time.

In the same year he graduated summa cum laude from the Hilversum Conservatory, where he studied with Wim Overgaauw. Since then he has collaborated with many of the worlds leading musicians. He was nominated for the Dutch Bird and Edison Awards several times and to date has released 11 albums as a leader or co-leader.

Jesse leads his own trio in which he continues to display his impressive talents as a jazz guitarist as well as a composer. In this classic guitar-bass-drums setting he unerringly combines all chords and melodies on his semi-acoustic jazz guitar; tradition, expertise and innovation un-insistently go hand in hand.

Clemens van der Feen

bass

Photo by Patrick van Vlerken

After some occasional drumming on various items, Clemens (1980) began singing and playing bass in the band of his older brothers (the Feenbrothers) at the age of eleven. Later on, he studied jazz and classical bass at the Conservatories of Amsterdam and Detmold (Germany) and received his Master Degree in both fields with honors.After playing with orchestras like the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, his main focus became jazz and improvised music. He lived in New York for a while to take lessons with Ben Street, among others. Returning to the Netherlands, he grew out to be one of the most sought-after bass players around. In 2010 Clemens started the Clemens van der Feen Band, resulting in an album called “High Places” (2011), with as special guest the great Toots Thielemans! The year 2013 saw the birth of yet a new band, the Clemens van der Feen 4tet, and a new album: “14PM” which was called “ one of the highlights of Dutch contemporary jazz…” by Jazzism Magazine. In 2022 he released a singer-songwriter album called ‘Pop into Being’ under the name Clemens Zebulon. The album was reviewed by Music Maker Magazine:

“…megatalent….lovely album…beautiful record with great songs”  

Clemens is currently working with Tutu Puoane (SA/BE), the Paul Lay Trio (FR) and the Harmen Fraanje Trio. In 2021, Clemens was invited to play in theBrad Mehldau Quartet at the Transmission-Transition Festival. Clemens has performed with many other great  musicians such as the late Toots Thielemans, Jesse van Ruller, Tony Malaby, Pablo Held, Chris Potter, Nelson Veras, Fred Hersch, Becca Stevens, Jorge Rossy, Greg Osby, Marc Copland, Lionel loueke, Jeff Ballard, Ben Monder and Billy Hart. Clemens has been playing all over the world, from jazz clubs in Paris and Tokyo to the Musikverein in Vienna and Carnegie Hall in New York. Clemens plays on a double bass by Daniël Royé from the collection of the NMF.

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