EKE takes off from free improvisation.
This method, in which creative process and sound-result coincide, comes as a thrilling, on the edge, experience for both the audience and the performers.
While improvising the players of the trio are responsible for their own voice in the counterpoint relying on their highly individual musical languages, that are through experience of playing together as band intensively, sharply tuned to one another. The result: fresh instant compositions with great contrast in lenght, dynamics and texture.
Punk comes to mind, no rules, the trio setting with the drums at the hart of the rhythm, the energy and unpredictability.
pppunk at times however that can be pppianisimo.
Soprano-, tenorsax and Eb-clarinet; electric clavichord; drums, bells and chains - That all comes as a trio called EKE. Aware of contemporary conceptions these spunky individuals focus on reshaping free improvisation using elements of noise, jazz, 20th century composed music and punk. The result is a dynamic, forward-moving and fresh audio experience
In September 2007 Yedo Gibson, Oscar Jan Hoogland and Gerri Jaeger played together for the first time as an ad hoc group at BOOG 29, a venue for improvised music in Amsterdam set up by Oscar Jan Hoogland in 2006. From the start it was obvious that this wasn't a one-night-stand band on the bandstand. The flexibility of the compact trio-setting felt right and musical universes expended - and it still does with every new improvisation. During the time following the band members played together a lot within the great diversity of activities that they developed in Amsterdam and the rest of Holland during the last years. There was Boucalee Ensemble, a double quintet put together by Hoogland playing the music of the dutch composer Paul Termos. There was an intense collaboration with bassist Raoul van der Weide which resulted in two wonderful concerts in Utrecht (SJU Jazz Festival), and an exciting recording. And of-course there is Gibson's Royal Improvisers Orchestra with its huge twenty people line up in which, just as within Boucalee Ensemble, all three members participate.
By the end of 2008 the focus has been back on the trio under the name EKE. (verb - obtain or create, but just barely, make an amount or supply of something last longer by using or consuming it frugally.) Hoogland switched from piano to his home developed electric clavichord divining the trio's sound more distinctively and introducing the volume-bottom to the band. EKE finally concluded the year with a very successful concert at Amsterdams Bimhuis, during the dOeK festival 7.
contact and booking mail to ekemusic [at] hotmail [dot] com
Reviews:
"[...]This free anarchist trio based in Amsterdam is indeed a strong shot to your mind, blowing ideas with such a precision and ferocity that you will feel the urge to hold your chair.[...]incredibly soft with intriguing noises and harmonics with great control over their instruments[...]what is really striking is their ear and communication[...]"
Luiz Novais
De Volkskrant over EKE:
Jonge impro-honden met zeggingskracht
[...]De jonge toetsenist Oscar Jan Hoogland van het trio Eke toonde zich een muzikant met prettige zelfrelativering en sympathieke zeggingskracht. Geen voorzichtig gerommel, maar dikke geluiden haalde hij uit zijn collectrors item: een goedkoop elektrisch versterkt klavecimbel. Drummer Gerri Jager tikte er spastisch doorheen. Yedo Gibson ontblootte zijn kuit en drukte zijn klarinet ertegenaan om een gemoffeld piepje te laten horen. Dik voor mekaar.[...]
Koen Schouten, De Volkskrant
Kevin Whitehead on dOeK festival 7 at the Bimhuis Amsterdam:
[...]Oscar Jan Hoogland kicked off the program, Friday 19 December in the Bimhuis, with the trio eke: Brazilian transplant Yedo Gibson on reeds, Gerri Jäger on drums, Hoogland on clavichord, the baroque-era keyboard that allows for key-controlled pitch-bends. But Hoogland’s clavichord is amplified, tuned an octave low, and used to raunchy effect; sometimes he manipulated amplifier feedback like a guitarist. His fellow players also made less than obvious choices. Gibson often made pivotal use of percussive notes popped out of the horn in the manner of a 1920s “gaspipe” clarinetist; at times, these precisely placed rhythms/pitches made him the band’s de facto drummer, if at that moment Jäger elected not to keep time, being engaged with rustling textures.
The trio’s loosely organized pieces were distinct from one another, because the players isolate certain strategies on individual pieces. On one number, Hoogland barely touched the keys, using the clavichord as a resonating box to amplify small objects, while Gibson played pressurized notes on soprano with pads closed, and the bell muffled against his calf. On another, Hoogland coaxed sounds from cat’s yowl to video game sound effects from his keyboard. Jäger touched on but didn’t overdo the rock beats; the drummer kept the time open.[...]
Kevin Whitehead
Draai om Je Oren over EKE:
[...]De avond werd geopend door het trio Eke (Oscar Jan Hoogland op elektrische clavichord, Gerri Jäger op slagwerk en Yedo Gibson op klarinet en tenorsax). Het trio kenmerkte zich met een queeste naar de ultieme soundscapes. Bepalend hiervoor was het onorthodoxe, door Hoogland zelf gebouwde, elektronische klavecimbel, aangevuld met snaren. Niet alleen werd daarmee in belangrijke mate de klankkleur bepaald; het instrument fungeerde tevens als ritme-instrument en bas. Drummer Jäger speelde in de alom bekende 'ritsel-en-ratsel'-traditie. [...] Terwijl Hoogland zich bezighield met geluidseffecten, zorgde saxofonist Gibson voor ruige, weerbarstige, primitieve solo's.[...]
Jacques Los, Draai om Je Oren
