JekerJazz Maastricht 2010: Funk’d

This requires a little bit of info. The past four days, Maastricht celebrated the 20th edition of JekerJazz, a musical fest in the heart of the city with cafes, pubs, lounges and small diners offering free music to their audiences. I got involved a couple of months ago and helped Giel Coenen and Appie Weijers with some PR and promotional activities: Using social media and networks like Facebook, Twitter and the incomparable WordPress blogconcept to spread the word. On Saturday we had a few things going on in which i was highly involved. A homage for Glenn Corneille, the musician who sadly passed away due to a tragic car accident in 2005, started with music in the old bell tower of the City Hall. Kenneth Tan, a very good photographer made some real nice pictures and if you click his name, you get a pretty good idea of what it was like up there.

We spent the afternoon in bar lounge Cabane, watching a DVD of Corneille’s latest concert with his Corneille Roelofs Trio in the company of his parents and their friends. It was a heartwarming experience with some moving moments, especially for Glenn’s parents. Even though it was a DVD, after each song played by the Trio, the audience in Cabane applauded just like the people on the DVD did. As if it was a genuine live concert. It sure sounded like one.

So, for the evening there was a lot to choose from and we left it to where chance might lead us. I got wind of some groovy sounds and when i went into the Falstaff cafe, i couldn’t have been more surprised. So many bands were programmed i really didn’t keep track of who was in what band and such. And there he was, Roger Corneille. Yes. he’s Glenn’s cousin. My entire day was a Corneille one it seemed, and not a bad day to spend it in the company of Corneilles. For the musical talents sure weren’t limited to Glenn, who really was one of a kind in the way he mastered his instrument. But his cousin Roger has something to call his own as well!

And it wouldn’t be real Mizar6-ish, or Mizar5-ish if there wasn’t a Steely Dan connection somewhere along the way. So we’re going to see who’s in this truly funky groovy Funk’d from Venlo, a small southern town northwest in the province of Limburg: Duncan Tilmans (drumz), Werner van Gool (keys), Charles Coppens (bass), Roger Corneille (vocals) and Berland Rours on guitar. And it’s this Berland guy who is our Steely connection. Besides being a real good player as you can easily assess when having seen the clip above, he’s also on drummer Ron van Stratum’s latest album: Swingin’ In The Swamp.

Will leave it to you to find the answer: Ron van Stratum (drums, percussion); Jim Beard (keys); Mike Roelofs (keys); Wilbert Kivits (keys); Jon Herington (git); Frank Peeters (git); Berland Rours (git); Roman Korolik (bass); Henk de Laat (ac-bass); Peter Hermesdorf (sax); Andy Middleton (sax); Sam Vloemans (trp); Nadine Nix (voc). CD mastering by Scott Kinsey.