Blues, Reds & Other Songs for Madonna Robin Verheyen, Marc Copland & Goeyvaerts String Trio

• 1 Seraphim Et Cherubim 10:12
• 2 Angelus 06:06
• 3 La Maitresse 04:17
• 4 Tryptich, Pt. 1 01:01
• 5 Tryptich, Pt. 2 07:06
• 6 Tryptich, Pt. 3 05:29
• 7 Ave Maris Stella 07:10
• 8 Portrait En Blue Et Rouge 10:42
• 9 C'est Paradis En Mon Coeur 15:26
• 10 Ubere De Caelo Pleno 06:04
• Total Runtime 01:13:33

Info zu Blues, Reds & Other Songs for Madonna

In this day and age, who still writes love songs for a chosen woman of yesteryear? With sounds that whistle deep blue and remind you of the blues - the origins of jazz? - in his new composition Robin Verheyen takes colors from Jean Fouquet’s ‘Madonna’ and assigns them to his tenor and soprano, the three musicians of the Goeyvaerts String Trio and the 88 keys of Marc Copland’s piano.

The masterpiece ‘Madonna’ in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp dates to around 1452 and is the right half of a diptych. The other piece, in Berlin, depicts the client of this work of art and his patron saint. Together, they form the so-called Melun diptych. In Antwerp you can see a ‘Maria Lactans’: the intimate theme of a mother breastfeeding her child. Because the subject was always updated to the fashion, taste or insights of the time, it continues to give new meaning.

In Master Fouquet’s version, seraphs and cherubs appear. Throne and crown also replace the old-fashioned Gothic gold aureole. But the Madonna remains exalted with all good things: ‘de tous bien plaine’. That is certainly how the coveted chanson by Hayne van Gizhegem from Fouquet’s time sounds (which was incorporated by Robin Verheyen into his composition). They both free their art from devotion and cautiously put the autonomous aesthetic experience first. Mary becomes heavenly and profane, simultaneously. Her ivory skin remains unblemished, but - so the gossip of the time wants: “Isn’t that Agnes Sorel”, the mistress of the French king? Is the most beautiful woman of the beau-monde a model for the Mother of God?

In ‘Blues, Reds and Other Songs’, Robin Verheyen draws inspiration from the characteristic harmony of the budding renaissance with quotes (such as the hymn Ave Maris Stella), canon techniques and faux-bourdon. Could the musical ornaments and fugal imitations of that period already have predicted the uniqueness of jazz?

A composition is made up of different layers. In a painting, this is represented by the harmony between horizontal, vertical and the suggestion of depth with a front, middle and back plan. Mary with child, the throne and the angels, especially the blue ones, in the depths can be translated into the polyphony of the music. In contemporary music we may too often listen to what’s on the surface: the highest voice, the melody. Polyphony, on the other hand, is an exercise in a continuous interaction between all voices that shift in a virtuoso way between foreground and background. Verheyen’s composition makes the connection between all these voices and layers in an organic way.

Tempo and rhythm is the flow with which the eye explores the composition. The exposed bosom probably lingers on many retinas a little longer. Let’s not view that perfect geometry by today’s standards lest this noblewoman be suspected of plastic surgery. The idealized form fits within a Platonic perspective and is even a compelling moral exhortation to relationships stripped of sensuality or desire. The mysterious appeal of the painting and this newly created music corresponds precisely within the search for what perfection and aesthetics mean in a given time.

Marc Copland, piano
Robin Verheyen, saxophone
Goeyvaerts String Trio

Marc Copland
grew up in Philadelphia. He first played saxophone and then moved to New York. Later in Baltimore and Washington DC he worked as a pianist for example with Gary Peacock, who was to become his long-time musical partner. In the mid-1980s, he returned to New York. In 1988, his debut album appeared as a pianist, since then has released more than 25 CDs under his own name, all in casts with world-elite musicians and published on renowned labels (Savoy, Steeplechase, Hat Hat, etc.). Since 2000, it became more important to Marc to play in trio and duo. Those small ensembles have received the best reviews in the professional world. His duo partners include global jazz giants such as John Abercrombie, Gary Peacock, Dave Liebman, Ralph Towner and Greg Osby.

Robin Verheyen
first started lessons on the saxophone at the age of 12, winner of the Django d’Or at the age of 25, member of various bands and head of the Robin Verheyen Int. Quartet, with world-class musicians Bill Carrothers, Nicholas Thys, and Dré Pallemaerts and the Robin Verheyen NY Quartet with top names in the NY scene trumpeter Ralph Alessi, bassist Thomas Morgan, and drummer Jeff Davis.

He has called a variety of cities his home (Turnhout, Amsterdam, Paris, New York). One can definitely say that Robin Verheyen has a focused approach to his career.

Born in Turnhout in 1983, Robin Verheyen first studied for three years in Belgium, then two years in the Netherlands, and one year as an honour student (“dean’s list”) at the Manhattan School of Music with Dave Liebman, Steve Slagle, Frank Vaganée, Jasper Blom, Ferdinand Povel, Dick Oatts, and John Ruocco. He ended his musical study with honours in Amsterdam.

In 2005 Verheyen moved to Paris for a year where he played in bands led by Giovanni Falzone, Remi Vignolo, Nelson Veras, and Bruno Angelini and was a member of the Belgian group Saxkartel (with Kurt Van Herck, Sara Meyer, and Tom Van Dyck).

In Paris he met the Finnish pianist Aki Rissanen with whom he’s been working since in their duo and trio with drummer Markku Ounaskari. They recorded a cd together called ‘Semplice’ that was released in 2009 on Alba Records. In 2013 they released the trio album ‘Aleatoric’ on Eclipse Music.

In 2007 Robin Verheyen moved to New York. There he has played and recorded with the Pascal Niggenkemper Trio, as well as the bands of Nicolas Letman-Burtinovic, Dan Loomis, Charnett Moffett, Jesse Stacken, Michael Bates and more. He also co-leads the band Narcissus with Flin van Hemmen, Clemens van der Feen and Jozef Dumoulin with whom he has released two cd’s for the label W.E.R.F. In 2008 he recorded the cd ‘Andarta’ on Origin Records with Grammy award winner Roy Hargrove and the Roy Assaf/Eddy Khaimovich Quartet.

In May 2009 the French Jazzmagazine declared him one of the top 12 European saxophone players among big names like Pietro Tonolo, Christoph Lauer, Trygve Seim,… In 2010 he received a commision by the concert hall De Bijloke in Ghent to write a 50-minute chamber music work for them. This work was premiered as part of the Jazz&Sounds Festival in November 2011 and received wide acclaim.

He has played as a sideman with Grammy Award winning artists Roy Hargrove, Maria Schneider, Branford Marsalis, NEA Jazz Master Toots Thielemans and many others like Charnett Moffett, Tom Rainey, Massimo Biolcati, Nelson Veras, Ravi Coltrane, Gerald Cleaver, Tyshawn Sorey, and Will Calhoun.

He was invited on stage several times by jazz legends Branford Marsalis and Ravi Coltrane to join their band during their performances.

While working as CC de Warande artist in residence in his hometown of Turnhout in 2006/2007, he formed his International quartet with top-level musicians. Playing with Verheyen are the American pianist Bill Carrothers , the Belgian drummer Dré Pallemaerts and the Belgian bassist Nicolas Thys. In 2007 the Robin Verheyen Quartet did their first tour and in 2008 they played at the Jazz Middelheim Festival in Antwerp, Belgium as well as at the Paris Jazz Festival and their first CD Painting Space was released on the Belgian label W.E.R.F.

In 2009 there followed Verheyen’s second release, the critically acclaimed ‘Starbound’, on the Munich-based Pirouet label. The Belgian newspaper De Standaard called Starbound one of the top 10 releases of 2009.

All About Jazz said: ‘It’s Verheyen’s ability to find every creative possibility within a limited framework that puts Starbound over the top, and adds Verheyen to the list of reasons why jazz in the 21st century will be just fine.’ Jazztimes said about Starbound: ‘Twenty-six-year-old Belgian saxophonist Robin Verheyen displays a masterful command of his horns on his auspicious debut as a leader.’ The French magazine Jazzman a couple years ago appropriately prophesised, “You don’t know who Robin Verheyen is? That’s going to change!” In 2012 he released the album ‘Trinity’ with his NY quartet on the label 52 creations. They presented the album at the Jazz Standard in NYC and toured in Europe playing the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Gent Jazz Festival. The current line-up of this group is Russ Johnson on trumpet, Drew Gress on bass and Jeff Davis on drums. In 2013 Robin received a grant by Chamber Music America to write the new work ‘Beyond Illuminiations’ for this band. They will premiere this work in 2014. Since 2012 Robin has been working with pianist Marc Copland as a duo and in a quartet with Gary Peacock and Joey Baron. They performed together at the 2013 Jazz Middelheim Festival in Antwerp. They are currently planning a series of concerts in 2014. As a composer Verheyen is currently working on a new commission for the MA Festival in Bruges that will be premiered in August of 2014. This will be a work based on music by 14th-century composer Guillaume de Machaut combined with Robin’s jazz and classical influences. It will feature Robin Verheyen and Russ Johnson as soloists next to a woodwind and a string quartet.

The Goeyvaerts String Trio
was founded by violinist Kristien Roels, violist Kris Matthynssens and cellist Pieter Stas in 1997 with the sole aim of performing twentieth- and twenty-first-century repertoire. The trio takes its name from the Belgian composer Karel Goeyvaerts, who played an important role in developments in European new music. Not only does the ensemble perform existing works, but it also actively commissions new compositions for string trio.

After the trio released its CD recording of string trios by Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern and Alfred Schnittke on the renowned international label Challenge Records, the recording received the highest possible rating in multiple music magazines, as well as a Gold Label from Klassiek Centraal, a nomination for best CD production for the Belgian classical broadcasting network Klara and a recommendation in Gramophone. In 2012, the Goeyvaerts String Trio released a new CD entitled String Trios from the East featuring compositions by Sofia Gubaidulina, Alexander Knaifel, Oleg Paiberdin and Giya Kancheli. Of this recording, the Dutch music publication Luister wrote, ‘These three musicians’ performance here borders on the impossible in terms of concentration and precision.’ The trio’s album Stabat Mater, featuring Arvo Pärt’s Stabat Mater in just intonation and Ivan Moody’s Simeron, followed in 2014. With the support of over 500 international investors, the Goeyvaerts Trio raised £15,000. Of the trio, the Flanders Arts Institute wrote, ‘We already know they’re outstanding performers, but the fact that they managed to pull this off is proof that they’re also enthusiastic entrepreneurs.’ This CD was showered with the highest critical praise, heralded as Editor’s Choice in Gramophone and included in the list of the ten best Arvo Pärt recordings of all time. Dutch magazine Luister also ranked Goeyvaerts String Trio the highest ranking. The recording was most recently awarded an Edison, and the trio hailed by Klara as ensemble of the year. The Belgian city of Sint-Niklaas also honoured the trio with its 2014 Culture Prize.

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