ACK VAN ROOYEN - 90
Jazzline (A Delta Music Media Label): D 77083
Ack Van Rooyen (flugelhorn) Paul Heller (tenor sax, arrangements) Peter Tiehuis (guitar) Hubert Huss (piano) Ingmar Heller (bass) Hans Dekker (drums)
Recorded in Bonn during the summer of 2020
They say that age is just a number but when it’s also the sum of a lifetime of experience at the leading edge of one’s profession it is something to celebrate and when the occasion of a ninetieth birthday can be marked in a way that is as polished and impressive as this recording it is nothing short of remarkable. Yet, in spite of Van Rooyen’s advanced years, on the evidence the lithe, faultless performance he delivers at the head of his impressive sextet it seems patronising to describe him as a veteran, given his command of a technique that tosses aside any considerations of age.
In the course of a long and fruitful career he has played with American ex-pats Kenny Clarke, Lucky Thompson and Slide Hampton, holding down a trumpet chair in the Clarke/Boland big band and Bert Kaempfert’s Orchestra, plus a high profile appearance as a soloist on Eberhard Weber’s celebrated ECM recording `Colours of Chloe` and a stint with The United Jazz + Rock Ensemble, whilst alongside his life as working musician he teaches in The Royal Conservatory at The Hague in the Netherlands where he began his musical life as a classical student.
The members of his band, though considerably younger, are similarly well endowed in terms of experience and technique, saxophonist Paul Heller in particular having no less than ten recordings as leader to his credit plus numerous sideman sessions with some of the biggest names on the international circuit. His association with Van Rooyen goes back three decades and, his affinity with the leader is clearly reflected in the way he has constructed the arrangements to effect a relaxed conversational dialogue between the two horns. Stylistically he plays with a characterful but gentle vibrato that perfectly sets off Van Rooyen’s lambent tone. Interspersed with tasty guitar licks, underpinned with warm bass pulses and driven along on crisp percussive accents and slick brushwork with solo statements typically of no more than five or six bars duration, the music is bright and suffused with a buoyant optimism. Notwithstanding the occasion there is nothing overtly valedictory about the session and apart from a couple of nostalgic pieces the compositions and the solos emanating from them are both lively and melodic, devoid of angst laden expressiveness.
The album opens with a jaunty tune by Kenny Wheeler, a former friend and collaborator, in which everyone gets to display their soloist talents and proceeds with a sunny version of a traditional tune before settling into a more pensive mood with a melody written by Michel Legrand for the movie `Yentl`. A Paul Heller original follows featuring the agile brush work of Hans Dekker and this together with his second contribution, the energetic `Hague Shuffle` constitute, for me, the highlights of the album. Add a couple more ballads and a Brazilian piece arranged with added colour from Heller’s overdubbed clarinet and bass clarinet and we have a most appealing recital of music that can’t fail to please anyone who likes uncomplicated but fresh and stimulating jazz. Undoubtably the best way we can send our belated birthday wishes to Ack Van Rooyen is to place his celebratory album on our shopping list and rejoice in his continued haleness.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
Jazzline (A Delta Music Media Label): D 77083
Ack Van Rooyen (flugelhorn) Paul Heller (tenor sax, arrangements) Peter Tiehuis (guitar) Hubert Huss (piano) Ingmar Heller (bass) Hans Dekker (drums)
Recorded in Bonn during the summer of 2020
They say that age is just a number but when it’s also the sum of a lifetime of experience at the leading edge of one’s profession it is something to celebrate and when the occasion of a ninetieth birthday can be marked in a way that is as polished and impressive as this recording it is nothing short of remarkable. Yet, in spite of Van Rooyen’s advanced years, on the evidence the lithe, faultless performance he delivers at the head of his impressive sextet it seems patronising to describe him as a veteran, given his command of a technique that tosses aside any considerations of age.
In the course of a long and fruitful career he has played with American ex-pats Kenny Clarke, Lucky Thompson and Slide Hampton, holding down a trumpet chair in the Clarke/Boland big band and Bert Kaempfert’s Orchestra, plus a high profile appearance as a soloist on Eberhard Weber’s celebrated ECM recording `Colours of Chloe` and a stint with The United Jazz + Rock Ensemble, whilst alongside his life as working musician he teaches in The Royal Conservatory at The Hague in the Netherlands where he began his musical life as a classical student.
The members of his band, though considerably younger, are similarly well endowed in terms of experience and technique, saxophonist Paul Heller in particular having no less than ten recordings as leader to his credit plus numerous sideman sessions with some of the biggest names on the international circuit. His association with Van Rooyen goes back three decades and, his affinity with the leader is clearly reflected in the way he has constructed the arrangements to effect a relaxed conversational dialogue between the two horns. Stylistically he plays with a characterful but gentle vibrato that perfectly sets off Van Rooyen’s lambent tone. Interspersed with tasty guitar licks, underpinned with warm bass pulses and driven along on crisp percussive accents and slick brushwork with solo statements typically of no more than five or six bars duration, the music is bright and suffused with a buoyant optimism. Notwithstanding the occasion there is nothing overtly valedictory about the session and apart from a couple of nostalgic pieces the compositions and the solos emanating from them are both lively and melodic, devoid of angst laden expressiveness.
The album opens with a jaunty tune by Kenny Wheeler, a former friend and collaborator, in which everyone gets to display their soloist talents and proceeds with a sunny version of a traditional tune before settling into a more pensive mood with a melody written by Michel Legrand for the movie `Yentl`. A Paul Heller original follows featuring the agile brush work of Hans Dekker and this together with his second contribution, the energetic `Hague Shuffle` constitute, for me, the highlights of the album. Add a couple more ballads and a Brazilian piece arranged with added colour from Heller’s overdubbed clarinet and bass clarinet and we have a most appealing recital of music that can’t fail to please anyone who likes uncomplicated but fresh and stimulating jazz. Undoubtably the best way we can send our belated birthday wishes to Ack Van Rooyen is to place his celebratory album on our shopping list and rejoice in his continued haleness.
Reviewed by Euan Dixon
