Joe Zawinul Unofficial Italian Fansite
www.zawinulfans.org
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Michiel
Borstlap
"Body
Acoustic"
Acoustic
Interpretations of Weather Report
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Not
every Dutchman can claim one of his compositions has been
recorded by Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter ("1+1" -
Verve).
As much as jazz has become international music, Michiel
Borstlap has become an international musician and composer.
He has learned over the years to move away from the
traditional set of conventions of what jazz must be and how
it must sound.
His development can be traced on a number of albums.
Borstlap is his own man and he will surprise the world of
jazz for many years to come. Until now he played/recorded
with renowed artists such as Jimmy Haslip, Les Paul, James
Genus, Han Bennink, Ernst Reijseger, Hans Dulfer, Essiet
Okon Essiet, and Roy Hargrove.
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At
the age of 5, Michiel started touching the keys.
Barely 25 years later he had two international
palmares : he was named as The Best Soloist at the
Europ Jazz Contest 1992 , held in Brussels. In 1996
he won the prestigious Thelonious Monk Composers
Award (the presentation of this Award was a true
happening. At the attendance of several American
celebrities (Quincy Jones, Stevie Wonder, Al Gore
and the whole american jazz society, Herbie Hancock
and Wayne Shorter played his award winning song for
TV (ABC & CNN) and radio (NPR).
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A continuum in his musical development plus those awards
leaded to another remarkable milestone in a musician' s
career : an exclusive recording contract with the UNIVERSAL
MUSIC GROUP, resulting in 4 album release on the prestigious
jazzlabel EmArCy/VERVE.
Since 1992 Michiel leads his own groups. Big hits are : the
Han Bennink/Michiel Borstlap/Ernst Glerum Trio (played
between New York, Amsterdam, Budapest and Sidney); The
Michiel Borstlap Sextet (the takin'off group of Borstlap in
1992, the band played between Barcelona, Belfast, Amsterdam,
Beijing and Shanghai), and of course his most recent project
the Michiel Borstlap Group BODY ACOUSTIC. This group helped
Borstlap records his VERVE debut in 1999. The group played
on several VERVE nights at renowed festival like the Umbria
Jazz Fest., Berliner Jazztage, and the North Sea
jazzfestival. In 2000 many festivals are scheduled, a.o. in
South Africa, Germany, Australia and Japan.
The album Body Acoustic was the best sold dutch jazz record
of 1999, and was ranked #2 in the national jazzcharts,
between Branford Marsalis and Cassandra Wilson.
Internationally the album has been released in Europe,
Astralia, Japan (2/00) and North America (5/00) Michiel
moved the scene of jazz in the Netherlands by gaining
attention on public and commercial TV networks, where he
presented his own music time after time. Yamaha Grand Pianos
is endorsing the pianist since 1996 on a worldwide
basis.
For the next millenium, Michiel is preparing new endeavours
: solo concerts (his first in the main hall of the Amsterdam
Concertgebouw was already a succes), and a flirt with
Dance/clubbing music has been also commenced.
Press quotes "cristaline pianoplaying" - New York Times
(USA) "utterly magnificent" - Belfast Cronicle (N- Ireland)
"remarkable pianist" - Sidney Morning Herald (Australia)
"spellbounding" - Beijing Post (China) "diamond" - Jazzthing
(Germany) "extremely competent" - Joe Zawinul (linernote of
Body Acoustic).
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Spring
of 1996, i had the idea for a project of acoustic
interpretations of Weather Report music. No doubt that for
many years this fantastic music had inspired me, and many
others. In respect of the very personal interpretation of
the songs by this American mega group, i did not even
consider to touch them. Hence i was aiming for material that
was ready to be exposed to "acoustic" interpretations, but
played "electric".
For this album i formed a new band, the Michiel Borstlap
group. The line-up doesn't refer much to the original
line-up of Weather Report, it has guitar, acoustic bass and
piano. Next to the group i decided also to play on this
album with Trio Bennink / Borstlap / Glerum. This trio is
very special to me. Its formation was suggested by Amsterdam
Bimhuis programmer Huub van Riel, and we have been
performing in this setting since May 1997 in Holland, New
York and Australia. There have never been rehearsals before
any of the performances, the music itself dictates the songs
we fly into.
We transferred "Mr. Gone" into a "city jungle" groove
wi th tempo changes to a medium swing part. Drummer Hans
Eijkenaar interpretes the theme in the last part on his
own.
"Volcano For Hire" stands as an example for this
formation, a blowing tour with tenor, guitar and piano solos
on the incredibly composed last movement of the piece. Check
out the energy behind the percussion stock of Jeroen de
Rijk.
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Man
In The Green Shirt" features all the soloists
and reveals different moods.
In the duet "Birdland" trumpeter Eric
Vloeimans's great sound and feeling for form speak
for themselves, but we take the tempo much slower
that the original.
On "When It Was Now" Tom Beek, playng tenor
sax and bass clarinet, is featured in extended
forms of the song, wich is introduced by bassist
Anton Drukker.
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"The Pursuit Of The Woman With The Feathered Hat" is
the only song we recorded in layers, a procedure which is
normally used by popmusic recordings. It's a collage of
rhythms, colours, solos and communications. This song was
particularly interesting for an acoustic approach. Thanks
Hans !
Drummer Han Bennink is featured in "Three Views Of A
Secret", in duet with piano. To me this seemed the only
way to record this incredible composition of Jaco Pastorius:
fast and lively !
Bassist Ernst Glerum enters on "Face On The Barroom
Floor", a breathtaking ballad by Wayne Shorter. I wanted
to hold on to the chord changes and just play his
composition without any alterations.
Two original compositions performed by the Michiel Borstlap
Group complete the album: "Centurion" is a blues but
has a 7/8 bar (as suggested by Jeroen) and 2/4 bar. It
features guitar, piano and drum solos. The ballad
"Coco" is dedicated to the beautiful daughter of
bassist Anton Drukker. It features again guest-trumpeter
Vloeimans who performs the melody. Guitaris Jesse van Ruller
leads the song to an end.
When finishing the album, a friend of mine suggested to add
the multimedia track on the CD. You'll see a stunning video
clip, directed by Jonathan Herman, recorded in the famous
Amsterdam Vondelpark, quoting Joe Zawinul's "The Pursuit Of
The Woman With The Feathered Hat".
The title of the album refers to the classic Weather Report
album "I Sing The Body Electric" (1973 - CBS).
This Weather Report material, which was created in my
childhood, naturally had a great impact to me. However, i do
hope that "Body Acoustic" will not only be a tribute to Joe
Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius, Peter Erskine and
all other Weather Report "patriots" but also a continuation
of improvised popular music (jazz ?) at the beginning of the
new century. Centurion !
Michiel Borstlap.
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Joe
Zawinul's Liner Notes - Body Acoustic
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I
listened to Michiel Borstlap's project. It is quite
interesting how different he treats this particular
material. Here you have an extremely competent
musician with an exciting band playing originally
electronic orchestrated pieces with the traditional
jazz formation (duet, trio, sextet and septet)
interpretation.
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The songs have been partly dissected and very clever -
Intros, Interludes, snippets of catchy melodies- put
together again. I like it and I am pleased to hear young
musicians trying different approaches. Weather Report music
always had little hidden treasures and Michiel as well as
the other players seem to recognize these. Much luck with
the project.
Greetings Joe Zawinul
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Body
Acoustic - Tracks / Musicians:
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1. Mr.
Gone
(7.32) *
2. Volcano For Hire (6.07)
3. Face On The Barroom Floor (3.55)
4. Centurion
(7.09) *
5. When It Was Now (7.44)
6. The Pursuit Of The Woman With The Feathered Hat
(7.37)
7. Coco (5.46)
8. Three Views Of A Secret (3.56)
9. Man
In The Green Shirt
(7.23) *
10. Birdland
(5.06) *
Multimedia Track: Pursuit (4.48)
Personnel:
Michiel
Borstlap - grand piano
Tom Beek - tenor saxophone & bass clarinet
Jesse van Ruller - guitar
Anton Drukker - acoustic bass
Jeroen de Rijk - percussion
Hans Eijkenaar - drums
Ernst Glerum - acoustic bass
Han Bennink - drums
Eric Vloiemans - trumpet
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When
out of interest i searched on the internet for "Zawinul", i
bumped on the Joe Zawinul Unofficial Italian Fansite.
Immediately i felt excitement because normally surfing on
the internet is a pain the ass....too boring.
This site has some very interesting features : it allows you
to listen to live concerts of Joe, it has a lot of archive
material (photos, reviews, articles) about the American Mega
Group WEATHER REPORT.
The Joe Zawinul unofficial FAnSite is for THE source on the
internet to find out about anything related to the music of
"Papa"Joe, whether it is his dazzling SYNDICATE or WEATHER
REPORT.
Let 's dance, let's Zawinul !! ;))
Michiel Borstlap.
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Thanks,
Michiel !
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This
page was created in collaboration with Michiel Borstlap.
To have more informations on Michiel and his work, you can
go
to the official Michiel Borstlap's
website.
You can also contact
Michiel by e-mail.
We wish to thank Michiel for his precious gift to all the
Weather Report's fans.
Thank you, Michiel !!
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