Europe is quite aware of the music made by trumpeter
Eric Vloeimans, and much more than Americans, simply because he does not visit stateside all that much. This club date done at Yoshi's in Oakland, CA likely turned more than a few listeners into converts, especially if they enjoy the self-examining side of jazz. With electric guitarist Anton Goudsmit and acoustic pianist
Harmen Fraanje,
Vloeimans conducted this program of originals and a lone standard in a most sensual, sparse, chamber music-style that is as arresting as it is introspective. Not serene in the strictest sense, the trio delves in film noir nuance.
Vloeimans isn't as much a romantic as he is interested in under-the-surface tones and implied emotional inferences. Those who may need more energy in a factor that involves volume may not appreciate this approach, but the sheer musicality of what you will hear is at an unquestionable high level. At times the trumpeter simply drops out to allow his sidemen all the necessary room to tell their mysterious tales, and both are quite capable of wringing every drop of emotion out of their hearts, letting a raft of sweat and tears splatter to the floor. Where "Corleone" is Godfather-inspired in a spirit soul or chamber-like framework, a calm-before-the-storm motif is established that is utterly foreboding. "March of the Carpenter Ants" has that slightly bouncing off-the-walls feeling, but is ever so spatial in midtempo and increasingly dramatic tones. The sung style and overblown trumpeter evokes ethnic overtones during "Fatima," which may be the single track where he is duly featured. There's an ECM resonance on "Ernesto"" that has reverent church-bell inferences via the tiny trumpet notes of
Vloeimans, "Wet Feet" is the shortest cut at three minutes, very dainty and disarming, while "Harry Bo" is the most energetic, interactive, and tango-structured piece. The music generally is very enjoyable, and displays an inner spirit not needing a drummer, while
Fraanje and Goudsmit are accompanists who not only understand their roles, but take great liberties in asserting their ideas within a mezzo piano dynamic. This is polished, sophisticated, under-the-radar music, exceptionally conceived and played, that exemplifies what contemporary continental jazz stripped of confining swing-dictated American jazz influences can sound like, and proudly so. ~ Michael G. Nastos