Rise and Shine

Ruud Breuls-Simon Rigter Quintet.
Musicians: Ruud Breuls: trumpet, fluegelhorn
Simon Rigter: tenor saxophone
Karel Boehlee: piano
Jos Machtel: double bass
Marcel Serierse: drums
Recorded: 2-3 January 2019 at the Wedgeview Studio, The Netherlands
Recording engineers: Udo Pannekeet, Marcel Serierse
Label: Challenge Records, CR73480
All songs by members of the of the quintet, except Let’s cool one: Thelonious Monk

www.challengerecords.com
www.simonrigter.com

‘Rise and Shine’: a convincing and strong record. The interplay between the melody section and the rhythm section is of the highest level. A great band with a distinctive sound. Excellent solos on all tracks by all players, each of them in full control of their instruments.

Ruud Breuls plays seemingly effortless trumpet. On Flugelhorn he has a full, golden sound. Tenor player Simon Rigter skates through all registers of his instrument without any hiatus. A great, warm and personal sound he has. Pianist and Fender player Karel Boehlee not only weaves the most strong and beautiful solos but also offers a strong and solid harmonic background to the band. Jos Machtel has a full, strong bass sound and is able to come up with beautiful solos in which he makes use of the full range of the instrument. Marcel Serierse on drums is well at home in any tempo. Great drive, great fills and accents, and when it is time to play solo he is there and has a story to tell.

My advice: play this cd loud. Either on your sound system at home or on your mid to high class earphones. This cd even sounds well on my sound system in my 12-year-old car. ‘Rise and Shine’: no background music here.

The music of the Ruud Breuls-Simon Rigter Quintet comes out of the long-gone jazz club tradition. The jazz club where you would go with your friends, have a drink or two; where smoking was still allowed, and soul food was served. Some of these jazz clubs live on in an updated version. However, this quintet has surpassed the clichés of the jazz club and stands on its own. It has a much larger future ahead than an history behind.

The arrangement of the band of the original ‘Let’s cool one’ of Thelonious Monk proves that the tradition of jazz is thoroughly known, well digested and set to their own hands. This band makes this historical piece of music sound as it was written yesterday.

Pianist Karel Boehlee has written four of the eight compositions on this cd. The opener, Mr. T. has a cheerful, clarion theme and great chord changes for improvisations. Two others written by him are beautiful ballads: ‘Goodbye Cerbaia’ which takes you to another world. Karel Boehlee exposes his colors, as well as Simon Rigter when he uses the full range of his instrument and makes sparse use of vibrato. ‘Passage of Jaco’ on which he plays Fender Rhodes, take you to another realm altogether. His ‘Get your fringe back’ is more on the Hard Bop, funky side. With drummer Marcel Serierse keeping everything together. What a great timekeeper! Yes, people used to dance on this kind of music. Nowadays: close your eyes and listen to these great solos.

More on the Bebop side is the composition ‘Blanton’ written by Simon Rigter. A tribute to one of the greatest bass players in the history of jazz, Jimmy Blanton. Full of clever quotes and with a great feature for bass player Jos Machtel. The other players of the band take their own concise and to the point solos. The same count for the closer, ‘Rise and Shine’. Just a nice and funny title for a song, according to Simon Rigter. This medium-up tempo piece offers ample space for the soloist and wants you wish for more.

Wouter Turkenburg
December 2019