ZILT plays Mengelberg & Ellington is the project born from the ongoing musical conversation between Jasper Blom and Ian Cleaver on Just Listen. They met at the Amsterdam Conservatory, where Blom, a renowned saxophonist, was teaching – and Cleaver, a talented young trumpet player, came to study. Their lessons grew into jam sessions, and soon they took their music to the small stage of a whiskey bar in the center of Amsterdam: Café ZILT. With Thomas Pol on bass and Wouter Kuhne on drums they played compositions by the idiosyncratic Dutch Jazz pianist and composer Misha Mengelberg, balanced with pieces by the legendary bandleader and composer Duke Ellington.
This album captures ZILT’s playful interpretation of this repertoire and the spontaneous and informal style they developed to match their material, calling to mind the small crowded stage on which their music evolved. We can hear Blom and Cleaver explore the boundaries between high and low art, popular and high-brow, in a musical dialogue between different generations and eras of Jazz.
ZILT
Jasper Blom – Saxophone
Ian Cleaver – Trumpet
Thomas Pol – Bass
Wouter Kuhne – Drums
Tracklist
Please note that the below previews are loaded as 44.1 kHz / 16 bit.Total time: 00:41:04
Additional information
| Label | |
|---|---|
| SKU | JL015 |
| Qualities | DSD 512 fs, DSD 256 fs, DSD 128 fs, DSD 64 fs, DXD 24 Bit, FLAC 192 kHz, FLAC 96 kHz |
| Channels | |
| Artists | |
| Composers | |
| Genres | |
| Analog to Digital Converter | Horus, Merging Technologies at DSD 256 |
| Cables | Van den Hul 3T, exclusive use |
| HRP Mastering Engineer | Tom Caulfield |
| Loudspeakers | Mastering Room Speakers – Grimm LS1 |
| Mastering Engineer | Jared Sacks |
| Microphones | Bruel & Kjaer 4006, Schoeps, Neumann, AKG |
| Instruments | |
| Original Recording Format | |
| Pre Amplifiers | Rens Heijnis, Custom Design |
| Producers | Jared Sacks & Jonas Sacks |
| Recording Engineer | Jared Sacks |
| Recording Location | MCO Studio 1 in Hilversum, The Netherlands on June 15 & 16, 2020 |
| Release Date | September 2, 2022 |
ZILT plays Mengelberg & Ellington - Download
| Label | |
|---|---|
| SKU | JL015 |
| Qualities | DSD 512 fs, DSD 256 fs, DSD 128 fs, DSD 64 fs, DXD 24 Bit, FLAC 192 kHz, FLAC 96 kHz |
| Channels | |
| Artists | |
| Composers | |
| Genres | |
| Original Recording Format | |
| Release Date | September 2, 2022 |
ZILT plays Mengelberg & Ellington (180g Vinyl)
| Label | |
|---|---|
| SKU | JL015 |
| Qualities | |
| Channels | |
| Artists | |
| Composers | |
| Genres | |
| Analog to Digital Converter | Horus, Merging Technologies at DSD 256 |
| Cables | Van den Hul 3T, exclusive use |
| HRP Mastering Engineer | Tom Caulfield |
| Loudspeakers | Mastering Room Speakers – Grimm LS1 |
| Mastering Engineer | Jared Sacks |
| Microphones | Bruel & Kjaer 4006, Schoeps, Neumann, AKG |
| Instruments | |
| Original Recording Format | |
| Pre Amplifiers | Rens Heijnis, Custom Design |
| Producers | Jared Sacks & Jonas Sacks |
| Recording Engineer | Jared Sacks |
| Recording Location | MCO Studio 1 in Hilversum, The Netherlands on June 15 & 16, 2020 |
| Release Date | September 2, 2022 |
Press reviews
De Volkskrant
It is not only the interplay of Blom with the crackling and ingeniously blaring Cleaver that is great, also the way in which each one constantly challenges and lures the other with witty inventions and strange twists keeps you on your toes.
Jazzenzo
Trumpeter Cleaver is perhaps the greatest talent of the young generation: he has a nice sparkling tone and post-war jazz in his back pocket. […] Cleaver makes a great impression with his lively trumpet playing and Blom is there to provide a response. A delightful production that not only embodies the best that Dutch jazz currently has to offer but also a fitting tribute to Mengelberg!
Jazzenzo
Saxophonist Jasper Blom not only enjoys a considerable reputation as a musician and band leader, but also as a teacher. Together with three students – trumpeter Ian Cleaver, double bassist Thomas Pol and drummer Wouter Kühne – he performed regularly in café Zilt, located on the Amsterdam Zeedijk. A real Jazz place where the underworld and music meet: an environment where the primal power of this genre comes into its own, just like in New Orleans at the beginning of the last century.
The quartet has specialized in performing the repertoire of the great Misha Mengelberg, a musician who has been able to surprise audiences for decades with his orthodox approach. On their first album, which is simply called ‘ZILT’, his compositions form the main part. We also find two pieces by Duke Ellington, which of course receive a Mengelberg treatment: ‘Azalea‘ and ‘I Like The Sunrise‘.
Trumpeter Cleaver is perhaps the greatest talent of the young generation: he has a nice splashing tone and the post-war Jazz in his pocket. The structure of this production is remarkable, in which almost every performed composition is alternated by a short interlude, which is called ‘Impro‘. A spirited performance of Mengelberg’s ‘Rollo III‘ is the start: the four musicians immediately give it a lot of gas to arrive at the well-known ‘Who’s Bridge‘ via a grinding interlude, which is given a nice messy performance. Cleaver makes a big impression with his lively trumpet playing and Blom answers him. In Ellington’s classic ‘Azalea‘ the tenor saxophonist takes the lead, with a completely unsentimental approach.
Full of irony, ZILT plays ‘Rumboon‘, another piece full of jokes and pranks by the Dutch grandmaster. It is clear that his musical legacy is in the best hands with this quartet. Full of question marks is the interpretation of the enigmatic ‘Rollo II‘, another Dadaist exercise. That after the song skillfully dismantled ‘I Like The Sunrise‘ is a sign of this ensemble’s artistic audacity. It is therefore not surprising that the musicians close the album with the insane ‘Blues After Piet‘: a piece full of detours and idiotic sounds.
A wonderful production, which is not only an embodiment of the best that Dutch jazz currently has to offer, but also a fitting tribute to Mengelberg!
1 review for ZILT plays Mengelberg & Ellington (Download & Vinyl Bundle)
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I’d love to visit the ZILT Cafe and listen to Jazz there. In the meantime this album transports me.
I guess it’s one definition of Jazz: a balance between improvisations and enticing, melodic themes. Also between a playful presentation of the unusual, but lovely, sounds an instrument can make, and a very high level of expertise as individual players, and as a group, able to make room for each other, then meld.
It’s beautiful, toe-tapping, fun. I hope to hear more.
Bill Maietta (verified owner) –