Yuri Honing saxophones
Frank Moebus guitar
Stef van Es guitar
Mark Haanstra bass guitar
Joost Lijbaart drums
Influences
Wired Paradise is visual music.
The group was formed in 2002, originally with one guitar but in 2004 the second one was added.
Saxophonist Honing blends the two electric guitars from different backgrounds (jazz and rock) with electronics , bass guitar and drums. The saxophone replaces the voice, and unifies itself on many occasions with the other instruments.
Most compositions are inspirered by recent masterworks from Hollywood, such as Kill Bill, Usual Suspects and L.A.Confidential.
Though originally a jazzplayer, Honing developed a taste for people like Bjork, Iggy Pop and bands like Goldfrapp and Radiohead.
Style doesn’t matter regarding Wired Paradise, it is all about communicating modern times through music. Honing uses jazz, rock, dance and electronics fearlessly to proof his point that jazz is not a style but a language.
On their most recent release, Meet Your Demons, Honing and his band confirm this with lavishing rock, hypnotising electronics and roadmovie tunes.
Saxophonist and composer Yuri Honing is one of the most succesful Dutch jazzmusicians. Even before he graduated Cum Laude at the Conservatory of Amsterdam a double bill with Branford Marsalis at an international jazzfestival provided him his first recordcontract and national acclaim.
Honing’s international breakthrough is in 1996 with the release of Star Tracks, an album based on popsongs performed with his trio. It’s then when Honing starts describing jazz as a language, not a style.
From that moment on Honing starts to work with topplayers from around the world.
He records and plays with Misha Mengelberg, and their album Playing recieves an Edison nomination in 1998.
In 2001 Honing leaves for New York to record the Edison awarded album Seven with the legendary pianist Paul Bley , double bass player Gary Peacock and drummer Paul Motian. Following the release Honing teamed up with Paul Bley and bass legend Charlie Haden in Holland.
In 2003 Honing performs with worldrenowed guitarist Pat Metheny and bassist Scott Colley at the North Sea Jazz Festival.
Yuri Honing also produces impressive projects with bigger ensembles. In 2001 his cross-over between Arab music and European progressive jazz, Orient Express, draws a lot of attention and once again Honing recieves an Edison nomination.
On Memory Lane (2002) , the saxophonist works together with The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. A few years later his collaboration with conductor/arranger Vince Mendoza and the Metropole Orchestra results in the highly acclaimed album Symphonic.
In 2006 Honing starts the electric group Wired Paradise , consisting of the Yuri Honing Trio featuring the German avant-garde jazz guitarist Frank Möbus (Der Rote Bereich) and the Dutch rock guitar hero Paul Jan Bakker (Anouk, Kane). The highly original debut double CD Temptation once again produced an Edison nomination for Honing.
While the saxophonist travels all over the world (more than 50 countries) with his acoustic trio and while his innovating electric group gaines more and more popularity in Europe, the year 2007 embodies Honing’s first classical music release. Together with pianist Nora Mulder he sinks his teeth in the ‘vocals’ of Schuberts Winterreise.
In december 2007 he presents his first edition of his annual musicfest Winterreise in Paradiso, the world famous popstage where names like Prince, The Police and The Rolling Stones gave memorable performances. On this premiere he plays Schuberts Winterreise, performs with the new Wired Paradise and is a featured soloist with the Rima Khcheich Group. It’s a huge succes, resulting in a new annual music festival in Paradiso, Amsterdam with a set date on december 29th.
In spring 2008 the long awaited second album of Wired Paradise, Meet Your Demons, will be released.
Tx for the concert at BIMhuis yesterday, which I greatly enjoyed ! Mesmerizingly beautiful and moving. Rima is amazing, as are all members of the band. I would welcome more extended improvisations ;) Cheers, Jan
hi Yuri, well, really nice to be connected here virtually somehow. Really like the electric trackz here around and your great tenor sound and playing. It's been a while I heard your music on some records and I really love the classical tenor stuff in smaller jazz combo settings but the new stuff is really amazing...
Hi Yuri, hello from Berlin and thanks for the friend's request and for stopping by my page. Compliments for your music and your sound - i like it! Helmut
Hoei Yuri, I see that you'll be in the neighbourhood in a few days...great, maybe you'll see Martijn Vink - send him hellos.. greetings from Colombia, Bojan
