Saskia Laroo
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Saskia Laroo

Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands | INDIE

Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands | INDIE
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"Saskia Laroo - a New Jazz Goddess"

In the recently set tradition of unfurling new, amazingly original jazz talent, dear readers, I throw open the wraps right off a truly prodigious talent... Saskia Laroo, of the Netherlands. In the brief spell of a few years, this astonishingly talented trumpeter has scaled more heights than a professional mountaineer could ever dream of! She has played the trumpet, which to my mind is rather an unladylike instrument and hence all the more difficult to tackle, with a virtuosity and authoritative command that leaves the knowledgeable jazz freak gasping, and groping for words. She?s out-a-sight, man! A cool cat if there ever was one.
Listen to her CD Jazzkia in which she has grappled with an ambitious project, to sound like Miles Davis¡ªwho to many diehard fans like me, signifies the ultimate in originality, inventiveness and profundity. She not only sounds like Miles on her first composition entitled ?Spin? but, close your eyes and imagine him bent over, eyes closed whole body and soul focused on the theme he?s portraying and nothing else.
If Miles Dewey Davis were alive, and were he to play this composition, it would perhaps been very nearly the same. The touch of genius in using the right phrasing, the right tones coaxed ever so lovingly out of a muted trumpet, that indefinable ?impatience? with which he used to assault every tune, as much in a hurry as a lover stealing a kiss under highly unfavorable circumstance¡ªwhy, everything that lent luster to Miles Davis and his totally unforgettable style of trumpeting, is there in Saskia. What knocks one?s eyes (and brains) out is the fact that she isn?t half as deadly looking as he used to be: she?s a delicate blonde, with her cuteness quotient vying shoulder-to-shoulder with, if one could imagine, a more diminutive Barbie Doll.
The press kit tells us that Saskia was named De Jordaan [the garden] but she later changed her name to the sexily brief appendage we use now: she was always interested passionately in music, and learnt more than twenty one different instruments before settling finally for the trumpet, an unusual choice for a young lady musician by any means, or stretch or imagination. Also, she started learning the trumpet at the tender age of seven.
¡°For forty minutes, the crowd seemed transported to another galaxy, the world outside had come to a standstill, so mystical and magical is the effect of Saskia's musicianship.¡±
The facile ease that Saskia demonstrates in wielding the clumsy horn, makes every listener feel deceptively that it must be an easy instrument. One gets tempted to see her DVD to be able to finally relate to her being a real flesh-and-blood trumpeter [she wrote to me that the DVD should be ready in a few months, the delay probably exemplifies her meticulousness, the great attention to all the minute details, after all she has her own record label to run... and a perfectionist at the helm of affairs is always a welcome attribute for any company.]
Jazzkia as a collection of a wide variety of tunes, from the intellectually charged numbers penned by Saskia to the well-established classics of the bebop era, cool period and the modern jazz movements of 1950s and ?60s, offers immense gratification. Having presented selections from this album and another masterpiece called ?Sunset Eyes 2000? to some 50 diehard jazz fans at our Pune Jazz Club last Sunday, it was touching to see the magical effect¡ªthe heads nodding, feet tapping and a soft drone of highly approving babble rising as each number neared its predesignated climax. For forty minutes, the crowd seemed transported to another galaxy, the world outside had come to a standstill, so mystical and magical is the effect of Saskia?s musicianship.
Saskia and her manager Ausra inform me that a tour to India is possible in November, and this bit of news has set many a hearts a flutter, in a tightly gripping fever of anticipation. Her selection of sidekicks seems like a gifted virtue practised with proficiency, too. One of her most devoted sidemen is Teddy Edwards, whom many jazz critics have described as one of the most influential saxophonists that ever walked this earth... his contribution to the post bop era, especially the rise of funk and later diversions and forays into similar genres, is beyond comparison and invaluable in terms of worth. The liner notes for the Jazzkia are penned by Edwards and he speaks in glowing terms about Saskia and her music. Many jazz fans rue the fact that he gets no mention in the magnum opus of Ken Burns. Well, choice of music and musicians is a highly personal matter, I guess.
Another wonderful coup d?ø~t she has accomplished is to have as a guest artiste, the venerable Mr. Ernie Andrews, a blues singer with the voice of John Lee Hooker [many friends tell me he sounds like Lou Rawls, with that grainy character giving his voice a rasping quality tough into to cut through inches of steel!] Well, some jazz critics like Dr. Billy Taylor have rightly - www.allaboutjazz.com


"Going to jamsessions and doing business at the same time."

Article in "de Volkskrant", Dutch national newspaper
April 23, 1998: Article by Gert van Veen. (translated from Dutch by Annette Roco)

She prefers to run her business all by herself: managing her own record label, band, update her homepage at the internet. .For Saskia Laroo, 38, playing the trumpet is like top sports, for her it 's some sort of workout. You have to keep in shape. She cannot find the time anymore to practice at home, she is one of the lucky ones who has a naturally good tone. She goes from gig to gig, jamsession to jamsession in all kinds of Amsterdam establishments playing with for instance her role model / mentor tenor player Hans Dulfer who is the famous alto sax player Candy Dulfer 's dad. He gives Saskia the energy to keep going at hectic times. It seems that trumpet player Laroo found the way to do it all. She performs seven nights a week. In clubs, discotheques, bars, cafe 's, jazzclubs and youthcentres all over the country and sometimes promotional tours and concerts abroad. Every night with different formations. Free jazz sessions or as a guest with a seventies funk band or with Hans Dulfer 's "Dance Date". Trumpeteer Saskia Laroo is a musical cameleon who combines playing with five different own bands in a more casual role with numerous other groups.
She has been touring for about twenty years now since the day she enrolled for the workshops at the Bimhuis, the Amsterdam jazz temple. Bands she played with over the years are: Fra Fra Sound (she was one of the founders), PI man, Rosa King Band and Five Times a Lady, all popular European formations. Her fame came when she started her solo career with the release of her first album "It 's like Jazz" with her own record label Laroo Records in 1994. For Dutch standards a big hit with 25.000 copies sold. Her 1998 new cd "Bodymusic" seems to go into the same successfull direction. Laroo 's debut as a soloist came late at age 35, simply because she never thought about it before. "I had already recorded with various bands but never as a solo player. It never occurred to me that I had the potential to be one" she told us at her appartment annex studio in the Amsterdam Old West district. But then all of a sudden there was Candy Dulfer becoming so successfull as a saxophone player that it inspired me to go for it with the trumpet.
Laroo started playing her instrument at age 8 in a brassband of a village called Den Ilp, where she grew up. After highschool she went to college to study mathematics to later change direction to a trumpet education at different music schools. Already before she graduated most of her attention was occupied by live music. At age 23 she alredy played with a different band every night: salsa, reggae, dixieland etc. What she still does occasionally. But this year she and her Saskia Laroo Band will play at the prestigeous "North Sea Jazz Festival". That 's every musicians dream - the big break everybody is waiting for. The playing list: July 10th as a guest solo player with singer P'etra 's triphop group, July 11th starring with her own Saskia Laroo Band and July 12th with guitar player Jan Kuiper 's Jungle Warriors. In the meantime she added the Laroo internet homepage to her list of accomplishments. It 's important for her to handle everything herself that concerns Laroo Music. "I love taking care of my own affairs. I am very busy networking. I wanna be as independent as possible and I 'm still growing".
Being in front of an audience is the most exciting experience for her. "For me performing is relaxing especially after being at home all day working hard on every aspect like organizing concerts, interviews, photosessions. Take a wednesdaynight for instance: she usually attends at least two jamsessions of which one is at a very well known jazzplace called: "Cafe Alto" together with Hans Dulfer if he happens to be in town. Sometime ago I thought I couldn 't make it that night because of a deadline. So I sent Hans a message. He got back to me right away saying: "What are you talking about". He didn 't take no for an answer. He made me understand that even if you are tired sometimes you 've got to keep playing because it fuels your energy level. It 's like the Olympic Games. He plays without a microphone- that 's how much volume he produces. So I 'm doing that as well now because I wanna show him that I 'm ready to do the same".
Like Dulfer, Laroo is not a conventional jazz musician. Her musical territory is somewhere between jazz and pop. Both found new audiences nationally as well as internationally. At the time of this interview Hans Dulfer is in Japan promoting his new CD which is number 3 at the Jazz top 10 and Laroo 's on number 4. Hopefully me and my band will be able to do some concerts in Japan further down this year.
For someone who 's being around the block a couple of times Saskia Laroo still appears very girlish also her vocabulary. She calls a new special effect device for her trumpet "cool" - "de Volkskrant", Dutch national newspaper


"Laroo, Saskia - Jazz Trumpeteer"

By: Dominick A. Miserandino

Saskia's Jazz has been described as, 'kinder, friendlier music in the field of Jazz. Saskia Laroo plays for the people while still being innovative.' Having grown in popularity throughout Europe, she's now started gaining popularity in the U.S.
DM) You describe your music as "crossover" music. What exactly does that mean?
SL) For me, actually, music is crossover music all the time when people are making music together. The musicians communicate with each other and the audience by means of music. So exactly it's a crossing over of the musical personalities, each with different background and talent. The ingredients can be completely from one style, but-- just like a language-- music has so many dialects, and who's to say what defines a style? Okay, generally speaking, you could have bigger and smaller crossovers in music. For example, two country musicians from different states will already probably sound a lot different, especially among people that are familiar with this music. When I first heard bebop music, it all sounded the same to me. The same thing happened when I tried to "look for the fun" in hip-hop music. I couldn't listen to it too long. Now that I have gotten to know the artists, their music, and their audiences, I can 't get enough of it (like bebop and many other musical styles). When I fall in love with a new musical style, I want to share that with other musicians that I know from other scenes. I've learned that all musicians need to discover other musical styles in a tempo and in a way that suits them personally. But it used to make me feel quite lonely when I could move freely among scenes while most of my colleagues would stick with their own circle.
It can be quite nice and relaxing to stay within your own musical scene for a lot of musicians; that 's why they stick with a certain musical style. I am a very curious person, though, who loves to take great musical risks when performing, so I can appreciate different styles of music and see what they might have in common or might be able to benefit from. For this, I analyze bass lines, drum patterns, horn licks, and so on. For example, I like to analyze a musical style like salsa, jazz or hip-hop and try to play the phrasing and investigate the ingredients that I feel make the music swing and make it authentic for that style.
Besides that, I am always wondering when I hear music: "What's the thing that turns people on to this music?" As a child, I always was very conservative, I didn't really want to change. But after going through a couple of "growing up" changes, as everybody does, I learned to accept changes, and with music it's actually the same.
At first I didn't like drum 'n' bass music too much. Hip-hop music was too unfamiliar. I didn't understand the LP "Miles Live in Europe" because I didn't recognize the melody from the song "Autumn Leaves" on this album.
Now I am so happy that I learned to appreciate all this. I try to stay close to new developments in music, because it's a great feeling to stay close to the excitement of creation.
DM) How does the music scene differ in the Netherlands from what it is here in the United States?
SL) In the Netherlands, there is more contact between various music scenes, and that means more chances of meeting people from different musical backgrounds and getting a chance to play with each other. But the history of music in Netherlands is very different. A great deal of Dutch people like very much American-originated music styles, such as blues, rock, funk, soul and jazz, and we try to play it, to understand it, and to mix it with music from Africa, the Caribbean, South America, the Orient, and Russia, as well as classical and more.
Endless combinations:
Native-rooted Dutch music in the Dutch language is, at the moment, very popular, too. The music I make is a combination of dance music (house, hip-hop, funk, soul) and jazzy improvisations, horn lines and freestyle rap. I call it "Dance Jazz," "Dance Music with Jazz," or "Jazz Music" to dance to. The obvious difference between the Dutch and the American music scene is that everything in the USA is more and bigger. More musicians, more performances and bigger and different scenes. If you can play one style of music good enough to have a good life, why should you learn more styles? Over here in the Netherlands, people were always complaining that there weren't enough good musicians for the job. So the salsa bands had to look for straight ahead jazz horn players and deal with changing their "swing" phrasing into straight eighths. But the result was a big mix of all-around players from various backgrounds. I find in the USA the different music scenes in the same way accessible as in Netherlands. I didn't find exceptions in the rest of the world. But I haven 't been everywhere (yet).
DM) What motivated you to start Laroo Records?
SL) It all started in 1992 when I performed for a major record company in the Net - source: http://www.thecelebritycafe.com/interviews/saskia_laroo.html


"Self-made Saskia"

Date of release September, 2004; Writer: Nastassia Kascyukovich
Released in Belarus, Distributed: C.I.S. countries (former USSR) and Baltia countries
Website: www.nestor.minsk.by/jz (Russian) http://home.nestor.minsk.by/jazz/ (English)
Translated from Russian by Ausra Listaviciute

The emancipation of the woman has its long history but nevertheless there are some areas where women are still seldom. For example trumpet playing. To speak that this is only men profession would be not correct because there is Saskia Laroo, The most famous woman jazz trumpet player living n the Netherlands.
The first association with Saskia’s name is Saskia of Rembrandt sitting on his knees (Autoportret with Saskia on the knees). Nevertheless those two Saskia has nothing in common. Saskia Laroo is delicate small blond, very friendly and curious for everything what is new. She produces the same kind of music: rhythmical, loud, a mixture of all styles possible. Ten years ago the black market was selling her music as the ‘music for bed’. I have met her during the jam session at Vilnius Mama Jazz festival and could be a witness of how fast Saskia Laroo is hypnotizing all the public with a sound of her silver trumpet. Everybody wants to dance immediately. Saskia, who propagates dance jazz is tolerant to al the critics which are saying that her music is a pop one. Her music sells immediately and it is never mind whether it is under the category of pop or jazz music.
Atraccted by the sounds of Miles Davis she ran away from the studies of mathematics at the university to the music school. She graduated when she was 25 (!) and launched her first CD when she was 35 (!). At the age of 45 today Saskia is the leader of 4 bands. Next to the trumpet she plays recorder, cornet, cello, bass quitar, little bit on saxophone, piano and electric organs. Besides that she is singing and rapping. Already for ten years she is the owner of her own record label. Saskia Laroo is titled as the most famous and the most popular woman playing jazz trumpet.

Discography:
1999 Sunset Eyes (bebop)
1999 Jazzkia (pure jazz)
1998 Bodymusic (dance jazz)
1994 It’ Like Jazz (acid jazz)

Saskia, have you grown up as a musical child?
Yes and no. My mother is beauty specialist and art painter and my father was painter of houses and had a paint shop. I was born in Amsterdam but when I was six we moved to a little village, named Den Ilp where there was much more opportunity for playing outside the house with other children. I didn’t listen so much to music, we just sang children songs and played the music I learned at music school. Whatever was on radio or TV but we were mostly playing outside the house in the yard.
It changed when I was 18. I moved back to Amsterdam first to study mathematics and a year later the switch to music.
Does that mean that you have chosen the trumpet when you were already an adult person? And it also means that it wasn’t a wish of your parents or teachers?
Actually it was not mine decisions. The local brass band in the little village I was living in, asked me to join them. They suggested to play trumpet. Although I didn’t 't like the sound of trumpet at age 8, it was a challenge for me to learn a song on the instrument. After one week I could play 2 songs. Today I’m very happy about the fact that I’m playing on trumpet, which sounds soft and sensitive but also loud and powerful. The dramatic musical effect can be immense so actually the range of expression of emotions is very similar to the human voice, only there are now words. It 's like top sport and you do need physical good condition. It 's a lot of effort just to play one note, unlike playing the piano where you just can press a key to get a note. It 's a very hard instrument to play but when you sound good it 's an enormous reward. It is the "lead " instrument because it can be very dominant and I like to be the leader in music.
*Which musicians made the biggest impact to you?
When I was about seventeen, friends of my parents gave me a tape with the compositions of Miles Davis on it. Someday My Prince Will Come was one of them. Something happened with me. I listened to the tape over and over and tried to play along with it. A year later I borrowed an album of him from a friend which I also couldn’t stop listen to. This album was named L ascenseur pour 'l echafaud. And it is still my favorite music. So Miles is still always with me.
*Could you say that he is your hero?
I think that Miles is a real cult figure. He was always aware of all new music developments and "was there" and part of it. He just was the hippest "cat". Each age has its own heroes. When I was teenager I do wanted to attend the concert of Steenly Dan and Jimi Hendrix. But Miles is something different – he is above time and any age.
*On your album Bodymusic you are playing together with another star saxophone player Candy Dulfer. As far as I know you have met Candy in the childhood?
I started - Magazine: Jazz Quadrat


"Saskia Laroo - trumpeter"

interview in JAZZ IMPROV Magazine By Eric Nemeyer

1 Tell us about growing up in Amsterdam and how you became interested in jazz?
SL: Briefly, I was born in Amsterdam but didn ’t grow up there. Since age six I grew up in a little village but returned laterat age 18 in 1978 to Amsterdam. I tried to play and got lessons on a lot of musical instruments, recorder, cello, guitar, piano and trumpet. I didn ’t listen a lot to music because I was very busy with other things, like other Dutch children: playing outside in the yard, rowing a boat and reading books, and as a teenager: besides school, homework and reading, I was having intellectual discussions with my friends and was going out. Also I didn ’t have any money to buy records because my parents weren ’t rich. They weren ’t poor but I just never asked them for money and didn ’t have any myself. I got introduced to jazz at highschool, and when I started to live in Amsterdam I discovered music life including jazz music, which I liked very much because of improvisation and swing.
In detail:
*a) Home: I was born July 31, 1959 as the oldest of four girls in "de Jordaan"(the garden), a famous neighbourhood in Amsterdam, comparable with the New York Village. My parents owned a paintshop. In wintertime we were living in Amsterdam and in summertime we lived in a summer cottage in a small village 10 kilometers North of Amsterdam, named "Den Ilp", which had only 800 people living there. Since I was 3 years old I was bugging my parents to send me to school since that seemed like so much fun. I attended several kindergartens, with different backgrounds and religions(around eight) in Amsterdam and Den Ilp because they all seemed to have no place to have me on a steady basis. I found all schools very interesting. When it was time to leave kindergarten and attend primary school, my parents had to make a choice as where to be permanently based, which became the village. I had a very normal childhood and attended high school in Zaandam (a town North of Amsterdam) on "het Zaanlands Lyceum". After graduation when I was eighteen I left home in Den Ilp to go back living in Amsterdam and to study mathematics.
*b) Musical instruments: I never thought of a musical career, I didn ’t think I would have the talent. I had had music lessons from age seven, first on recorder for five years till I was eleven years old at the local musical school in another nearby small town, named "Purmerend", and later from age twelve, when it was time to choose a real instrument, according to my parent ’s school advisors, for three years on violoncello at the local musical school in Zaandam. When I was fifteen, all girls in school were playing guitar and cello was not hip, so I bought a classical guitar and tought myself with help of friends how to play chords of folk songs as well as some classical guitar. I had some friends who tried to make music with guitars like Jimi Hendrix but they didn ’t let me play with them. After one year I lost interest in the instrument because I found that the music and chords, which was mostly built on triads, was not the sound I was looking for. I knew there should be more to music harmonically, with perhaps unconsciously jazz in mind. Not long ago I found new interest in triads due to some recent performances I did in American Gospel Churches, like the Salvation Army. The chord progression in these at first sight simple songs intrigue me a lot because I see a lot of links to Jazz, in some cases, they were missing links to me so far. Meanwhile I was playing a little, on the very old piano, my father had bought which was tuned two whole tones too low. I wanted to learn how to play the piano but they told my parents that you can dam up the canals (of Amsterdam?) with pianists, so many are there.
*c) The trumpet: Meanwhile I was playing cornet since age eight(1967) but I didn ’t take it seriously because I had picked up the impression that the cornet wasn ’t considered to have much status by some classically oriented people I had met along the way. Every small village in the Netherlands has one or more brass bands, named fanfare (with brass, saxophones and drums, percussions) and "harmonie"(also with clarinets and flutes I believe) . The repertoire harmonie ’s and fanfare ’s in the Netherlands play consists mainly of marches, some re-arranged classical pieces and nowadays, also some big band oriented jazz as well as pop songs. I heard them practising from the school building when I went by on the bicycle and thought the sound was terrible, it sounded like farting to me. My favourite instruments when I was around eight were: flute, harp, violin and piano. Since I knew how to read notes the people from this brass band in Den Ilp, named "De Eendracht"(meaning: the Unity), decided to ask me to join them. I was challenged to try get a sound out of a small cornet called a piston and was allowed to take the instrument home, after having been taught the scale of C maj - JAZZ IMPROV Magazine


"Saskia Laroo, SUNSET EYES 2000—Laroo Records, & Music."

Saskia Laroo
SUNSET EYES 2000—Laroo Records, & Music. Website: www.laroorecords.com.
Nothing But The Truth; Moving In; There is No Greater Love; Sunset Eyes; Cheek To Cheek; Don’t Touch Me; The Blue Sombrero; I Got It Bad; Wheelin and Dealin’; Blue Bossa; Sunset Eyes Latin.
PERSONNEL: Saskia Laroo, trumpet; Teddy Edwards, tenor sax; Art Hillary, piano; Wendell Williams, bass; Gerrick King; Ernie Andrews, vocals.

By Winthrop Bedford
The right company bolstered by a group full of positive attitudes can play a significant role in the resultant music at any performance or recording session. Trumpeter Saskia Laroo, based in The Netherlands, traveled to Los Angeles to create Sunset Eyes 2000 with theright company—a host of superb players, whose experience and individual histories span the last half of the 20th Century. The most notable among her band mates is tenor saxophonist Teddy Edwards. Edwards’ credits include studio work and a long list of influential jazz players— including Clifford Brown and Max Roach with whom he performed and recorded land mark albums.
“Nothing But the Truth” is the album opener. The truth is that this minor blues is all about the groove—and when that is present, everything else can lock right in. That’s exactly what happens here. The theme is solidly stated by the solid front line ensemble of Edwards and Laroo. Edwards solos superbly. Laroo is up next. She bends the time. She bends notes. She weaves the blues into graceful eighth note lines and sultry long tones. There are no pyrotechnics here. There’s something more important—a solo that swings with heart and soul. She communicates right here that she has seriously studied and played this music, and reached a point where the knowledge, theory, technique and so on have given way to the power of her imagination and sensitivity. Edwards is a fine composer and seven of these compositions provide the platform for Laroo’s delightful trumpet excursions.
“Moving In” is an up-tempo swinger that features a hard bop styled melody line, based on the chord changes to “Sweet Georgia Brown.” Laroo and Edwards are impressively in sync, as they breeze through the cross rhythms, and subtle articulations inherent in the melody. “Sunset Eyes” is the most well known of Edwards’ songs. The “A” Section of the song is a vamp, followed by a harmonically colorful bridge. On this track Saskia is on muted trumpet, and delivers a sensitive, swinging solo, with an effective use of space. One of my favorite tracks is the standard “There Is No Greater Love.” She is once again on muted trumpet, and the influence of Miles Davis’ sound and approach on her concept has to be cited. She navigates her way confidently through the changes—giving us a potpourri of lyrical eighth note lines contrasted with sweet long tones.
“Don’t Touch Me” has the sound and 6/8 feel of “Since I Fell For You.” This gut-bucket, down-home piece features the vocals of Ernie Andrews. Saskia responds to Andrews’ lyrics with short phrases, and then proceeds, on harmon-muted trumpet, by giving us a taste of soul, in a bluesy chorus.
“The Blue Sombrero,” is an up-tempo samba that features Saskia on muted trumpet, once again. She develops short eighth note motifs throughout and shows off her mature approach to improvisation through her effective use of syncopated rhythms. Pianist Art Hillary leads the rhythm section. His accompaniment lends inspiring support to the soloists, and his own solos are examples of consistently fine taste, honed over many years.
Teddy Edwards makes the Ellington ballad “I Got It Bad” his personal feature here. Edwards is up first on his straight ahead blues,
“Wheelin and Dealin.” His solos here in 2000 are every bit as masterful as his work with Clifford Brown in the 1950s, Milt Jackson’s live recordings in the mid 1960s, and many others.
Saskia wears short skirts, tight fitting tank tops, and makes effective use of her pretty face and attractive physique in marketing materials and appearances. Anyone who is on the path themselves understands that there are no shortcuts to becoming a sensitive, confident, improviser in this music. The resultant depth we are able to express through our music is in direct proportion to the effort. Saskia is a solid soloist, whose sound and ideas evidence the investment she has made to reach this level.
P.O. Box 26770, Elkins Park, PA 19027 USA
Phone: 215-887-8808 �� Fax: 215-887-8803 �� website: www.jazzimprov.com
REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION—Reviewed in Jazz Improv® Magazine V5N1 ©2004 - Reviewed in Jazz Improv® Magazine V5N1 ©2004


"Saskia Laroo: Jazz Yatra 2004"


This AllAboutJazz.com article has been sent to you by: info@saskialaroo.nl
For the full story with links and photos, go to
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=16192
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Saskia Laroo: Jazz Yatra 2004

By Max Babi

Greetings from India!
Back to business , we witnessed one day of excellent live performances at the Jazz Yatra 2004 in late November at Mumbai [Bombay]. It kicked off with two India-based bands: a trio with a dazzling pianist Harmeeta Singh whose brilliance shone explosively like a sun wrapped up in thin clouds, a good bass guitar and drums. Next featured a positively outstanding guitarist, Sanjay Divecha, who the program said had learned jazz at the Berklee School of music and had performed with leading jazzmen all over the US, with good support from the bass and drums. His own compositions sounded classy, and there is no gainsaying the obvious fact he is slated to go far.
The last performance on that day was that of Saskia Laroo, the young and energetic trumpeter from Holland. She came prancing onto the stage dressed seductively in a miniskirt and black stockings with sequins flashing mischievously. I noticed she is a left-hander, perhaps ambidextrous -- for the pictures at her website show her being right-handed: anyway, that makes her more of an unusual entity than ever. She plays with the right hand compulsively fiddling with a wireless mike and another pocket-sized gizmo that I think was the ring modulator.
";The crowd ostensibly went wild with her [Saskia Laroo] amazingly engaging show(wo)manship.";
The faint echoes, reverb and other electronic effects she used from time to time, changed the entire acoustics of the excellent Bhabha Auditorium within the Tata Fundamental Institute of Research, on the southern coast of Bombay (Mumbai). The crowd went wild with her amazingly engaging show(wo)manship. The wireless mike allowed her to saunter through the audience right outside and back in from the other door. She danced and pranced, clambered up and glided down, all the while playing jazz tunes. Many of these were tributes to the venerable Miles Davis, and she later played her own rather catchy composition ";Body Music,"; aimed at the younger crowd to get them clapping and dancing -- and charging up the atmosphere, as if an electric storm were imminent.
'It's A Jazz Party; was another foot-tapping tune that caught the fancy of the audience who sang along, goaded by Saskia, and I was surprised to see grandmothers in burquas (head to toe veils) clapping in time and getting up to sway the hips a bit now and then. Amazing showmanship, everyone with me agreed. Saskia later came to Pune, and brought the house down once again at the Jazz Garden, an open air restaurant on a riverbank, that features jazzmen and women as often as possible.
Here she was slightly more exuberant -- perhaps due to a smaller crowd that vibes even better, for almost all the 250 plus persons were my friends from our Pune Jazz Club, with their jazz-loving circle of friends. This was an historical event for us, and I must thank Saskia for having made the trip. Her pianist and co-vocalist Warren Byrd made a greater hit with his real cool cat demeanor, deep blues-singer's voice and funky style. India looks forward to having these two stars come back here some time, hopefully for a longer period.
This was the Jazz Yatra -- I have tried to show just a glimpse here. I had missed the legendary Jean Luc Ponty the day before, due to various engagements elsewhere -- this is a jazz festival that is second oldest and third largest in the world. Last year it was a ";European Jazz Yatra"; and this year Jazz India is toying with the idea of having a ";Latin American Jazz Yatra."; The word 'yatra' in Hindi means a pilgrimage, rather an apt label for a jazz festival I must say! I am in touch with Gabriel Estryk -- a musician and events manager who is lining up three genius performers in this genre -- two bands from Argentina and one from Brazil. I may try and get all the bands for the twelve slots in the 3-day long festival.
If any readers know such hidden geniuses, and the world outside the USA is creeping and crawling with jazz artists who need exposure, please ask them to get in touch with me as soon as possible.
Hey all you brilliant young jazz artists out there, contact me if you want to travel to India and perform. There are increasingly attractive opportunities here not only for performing, but for cross-pollination via Indian Classical Music, which at times appears pretty close to jazz, especially in the improvisational regimes.
Till next time then, take care, write to me and have fun: put some more jazz in your lives and see how it sparkles!
Cheers!
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This article copyright © 2004 All About Jazz and contributing writers. All rights reserved.



- copyright © 2004 All About Jazz


"Saskia Laroo - Jazzkia"

Saskia Laroo
Jazzkia
Laroo Records, SL9901
Saskia Laroo, trumpet; Albert Sarko, piano; Jos Machtel, bass; Martin van Duynoven, drums

Jazzkia is one of the most refreshing new CDs released in quite a while. Saskia Laroo is destined to carry the torch of some of the legendary trumpet giants of the past. This particular album is a tribute to Miles Davis, but also allows Saskia to show off her composition skills on a tune called "Spin." She then does "Bye Bye Blackbird," "My Funny Valentine," "Perdido," "Doxy," "But Not for Me," and "So What," in addition to a few other straight-ahead Jazz standards including "Saint Thomas."

Her muted trumpet may remind you of Miles, but the style and improv are strictly that of a rising star in the Jazz world. She even uses the lower register to advantage on several tunes; many trumpet players shy away from that. She is currently gigging in Europe, but is no stranger to the United States.

When you listen to this CD your spirits will be lifted, and your vision of Jazz will be clearer.

by Arthur C. Bourassa

Jazzkia is available through the Jazz Now Direct CD Store.

- Jazz Now Magazine


"Trumpeter Saskia Laroo Plays It Down the Middle"

Friday, December 29, 2000

JAZZ REVIEW
Trumpeter Saskia Laroo Plays It Down the Middle

By DON HECKMAN, Special to The Times

There's a gallery on Saskia Laroo's Web site in which she is portrayed in a series of categorized photographs. One set is with "jazz musicians," another is with "Latin musicians," a third is with "funk musicians," and yet another is with "Dutch musicians." It would also have been possible to add a "smooth jazz" grouping, since she has thrived in that arena as well, but Laroo doesn't seem to make that sort of stylistic distinction.

The range of labels, in any case, accurately describes the eclectic interests of the Dutch trumpeter who, despite her relatively low visibility on the American jazz scene, is highly regarded in Europe and is a successful marketer of her own recordings.

On Wednesday at the Jazz Bakery, Laroo opened a four-night run with the same group of players that appears with her on her latest album ("Sunset Eyes 2000," Laroo Records): tenor saxophonist Teddy Edwards, pianist Art Hillery, bassist Wendell Williams and drummer Gerrick King.

Despite her stylistic range, for this outing Laroo chose to emphasize her straight-ahead jazz talents, an appropriate choice given the mature, middle-of-the-road groove provided by her associates.
Playing a set of material ranging from originals to a Miles Davis-tinged stroll through "Blackbird," she was an adept improviser. To her credit, she played several tunes at strikingly fast-paced tempos, never backing down in her soloing, often popping out soaring high-note phrases. And her Harmon mute playing on "Blackbird" managed to suggest Davis without attempting to imitate him.

Edwards' efforts were right down the middle of his familiar, rich-toned, hard-driving style. More than many, he has managed throughout his long, productive career to blend the warmth of a swing-era sound with the articulateness of a bebop imagination. And his ensemble passages with Laroo were first-rate, with both players finding a lush, compatible blending of sound.

Given the rarity of female jazz trumpeters, Laroo's performance inevitably was obliged to deal with a subtext of audience skepticism. But she handled whatever questioning attitudes might have been present in the best manner possible--by letting her playing speak for itself.

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Copyright 2000 Los Angeles Times
- Los Angeles Times


"Saskia Laroo, bold and beautiful. Hornplayer Saskia Laroo is a jazz goddess"

March 1, 2001

Saskia Laroo, bold and beautiful


Dutch Girls on Trumpets

Hornplayer Saskia Laroo is a jazz goddess

By India Blue



Trumpeter Saskia Laroo from Holland had the looks and dance more reminiscent of Amsterdam’s sex industry than the city’s jazz roots as she stirred up the crowd at Main and Hopewell in Glastonbury on Saturday night.

Laroo is not what you picture in a jazz trumpeter, wearing a short, tight, black leather skirt and fitted top. She was all sex kitten with super lungs. The prowess of her playing, though, is infectious, as she brings the other players to the forefront and excites them to musical frenzies. She is self-assured and generous in her ability to let others take center stage and then she brings it home at the end of every song, drawing the attention--very deservedly--back to herself. Laroo was brought here by the club’s booking agent, Domingo Guerra, who met her in Amsterdam’s Cafe Alto. He had gone there to see the legendary saxophonist Hans Dolfer when Laroo walked in, trumpet under her arm, and sat in with Dolfer. She then proceeded to do what she seems to do best--blow the room away. Guerra thought she was a must-see and he talked the owners at Main and Hopewell into taking a chance on Laroo in the States. All I can say is lucky us.

The band of local musicians Guerra put together to back her up was a stellar cast in itself. Warren Byrd on piano on Saturday night instead of Alex Nakhimovsky, who was there on Friday night, was the only change in the two-night lineup. Bob Laramie from Paranoise was on bass, Michael Pavone on guitar, and finishing the lineup was Sylvia Cuenca from New York on drums. Guests were called up on both nights and vocalist Margaux Hayes started scat singing with Laroo. The two women sang vocal volleys back and forth, which kept the show fresh and the audience stimulated. Byrd had great solos and during a few songs he created interesting sound effects by banging on the piano strings. Laramie did some double-handed fret technique and Pavone is truly Mario’s son, both masters of musical improvisation, as he wailed on the guitar. Cuenca was absolutely professional and accomplished and as pretty as Laroo, which made Guerra introduce them as "two beautiful ladies with a couple of so-so guys."

The room in Main and Hopewell is perfect for this type of show--small and intimate. The only downfall is if you happen to be seated behind a brick pillar, but otherwise the ceiling is low and the acoustics are good.

© 2001 Hartford Advocate/India Blue. All Rights Reserved
- © 2001 Hartford Advocate/India Blue. All Rights Reserved


Discography

*SL1101: Two of a Kind (acoustic jazz), a tribute to Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk; a collaboration of duo Saskia Laroo (trumpet, acoustic bass) and Warren Byrd (piano, vocals, bongo). Recorded in the USA.

*SL0801: Really Jazzy (funkjazz) With Warren Byrd (keyboard, vocals), Frank lacey (trombone, voc), Gene Jackson (drums, voc), Ronald Wright (drums, voc) , rappers Firestorm, Phantom and Stewlocks, Eyesful (beatbox, digeridoo) and more. Liner notes by Hans Dulfer.

*SL9401: It ’s like jazz (acid jazz) Saskia Laroo - trumpet, alto sax, electric & upright bass.
Special guests: Mac Maestro & QF Da Funkee P & Zebulon - rap vocals; Johnny Kelvin & Ghasem Batamuntu - vocals;
Hans Dulfer - tenor sax; Benjamin Herman - alto sax; Rob Gaasterland - keyboards

*SL9801: Bodymusic (dance jazz) Saskia Laroo - trumpet, upright & electric bass
Special guests: Mellow Mac & MC Cocktail & MC Mad Ten - rap vocals; Rosa King & Marita Blijden & Mola Sylla & Ghasem Batamuntu - vocals; Candy Dulfer & Benjamin Herman - alto sax; Ghasem Batamuntu - sopranino sax; Rob Gaasterland & Kino Haitsma - keyboards; Leslie Joseph - electric bass

*SL9901: Jazzkia (pure jazz) Saskia Laroo -trumpet
Albert Sarko - piano; Jos Machtel - upright bass; Martin van Duynhoven - drums

*SL9902: Sunset Eyes 2000 (bebop) Saskia Laroo meets Teddy Edwards featuring Ernie Andrews
Saskia Laroo - trumpet; Teddy Edwards - tenor saxophone; Art Hillery - piano; Wendell Williams - upright bass;
Gerrick King - drums; special guest: Ernie Andrews - vocals

Photos

Bio

Saskia Laroo, hailed by American public and press at large as "Lady Miles of Europe", is one of the few women trumpet stylists, blowing for more than three decades. Born July 31, 1959 in Amsterdam, she began on trumpet at age 8, never dreaming of becoming a professional musician. That all changed when Saskia, turned 18, after briefly majoring in Mathematics at University of Amsterdam switched her focus to a career in music. She worked extensively in various groups from this point, primarily on upright bass, though eventually, on both bass and trumpet. Saskia Laroo combines today’s music by uncontrived romps into new styles, eagerly limned as "nu jazz" or "swingin’ body-music"--a vivacious blend of hiphop, jazz, salsa, funk reggae, and world, that many other artists dare not venture. Her artistry and her groove ring vibrantly and free on her four albums journeying us through the music she has absorbed and plays from heart and soul.