What the press says about Interzone ...

What the press says about Interzone

Klaus-Peter Heß, on the CD 'Terra incognita', in the 'Münsterische Zeitung', May 10, 2007:

Hymns to love - "Interzone" intones a Jazz Suite
When poetry and jazz meet, there are two alternatives: either the music or the spoken word becomes peripheral decoration. With the suite 'Terra incognita', composed and arranged by Jean Paul Steeghs, a third reading presents itself. Probably even the only reading that makes sense: that of musical interpretation.
Thirteen love poems by the Dutch Ton Luiting complement the jazz opus. But like it should be with a mature composition, by whom or whatever it was influenced, it naturally stands out in its own right, without words.
The modern jazz suite is being performed by a German-Dutch ensemble: the nonet 'Interzone', with saxophonist Martin Classen from Münster. How appropriate the name of the band, how precious, how exciting, how superb its achievement. Partly, the orchestration is so dense and compressed, that one believes to be listening to a big band. And yet at the same time so loose, dynamic, free, and open, that it appears to have been written for a small ensemble.
Also the expressional spectre leaves no wish unfulfilled. In Passing depression impetuous expressivity goes hand in hand with tender melodics. The triptych The unattainable desire poures out a heartbreaking melancholy, Explication a care-free joyfulness. Hymns to love, in all its emotional states of mind. Hence: unknown territory.
Finally, 'Terra incognita' is also a beautiful CD. Delivered in multiple unfoldable graphic design by the Dutch comic artist Henk Kuijpers, who in a modern style tells a pensative relational tale.
Terra incognita: a noble work of total art, that no jazz record collection can do without.
- Klaus-Peter Heß

Ton Ouwehand, on the CD 'Terra incognita', in 'Twentsche Courant / Tubantia', January 29, 2007:

Jazz & poetry
Apart from a single example involving Simon Vinkenoog, the combination jazz & poetry mostly stands for a lot of trouble. As Bernlef phrased it: poets who get blown away by horns. The 9-headed German-Dutch jazz ensemble Interzone on the other hand proves that fruitful combinations on this issue most definitely are possible. Terra Incognita is a beautiful jazz suite by composer Jean Paul Steeghs, who lended his inspiration from the poetry collection of the same name by Ton Luiting. The last seven minutes of the CD we hear thirteen short audio tracks on which the poet reads his poetry himself. Preceding these tracks, an inviting jazz suite of one hour's length. A very carefully tended production. And there's sublime playing. Good horns. Beautiful piano solos by Tilmar Junius. And it remains attractive to listen to music with titles such as Passing depression, At the gallery, and Frivolous memoriam, while at the same time you're offered the opportunity to hear the poems that the composer got his inspiration from.
**** - Ton Ouwehand

Rinus van der Heijden, on the CD 'Terra incognita', in the online jazz magazine Jazzenzo, 1 February 2007:

Jean Paul Steeghs - Terra Incognita
A jazz suite containing music as extended as a 4-meter indoor carpet. It is not just jazz that passes by here. Beautifully orchestrated, composed music, passages hinting at classical music, improvised and composed jazz, of course, and fragments holding more popular sounds, it's all there.

This is actually the way to listen to this CD: as being dedicated to all music. The initiator of the 'Terra incognita' project is Jean Paul Steeghs, who in 2005 lost his two year old daughter Gomy. 'Terra incognita' therefore is also dedicated to life itself. To emphasise this, Steeghs requested the cooperation of poet Ton Luiting. Luiting's vision on 'Terra incognita' was recorded in 'Twelve poems of immaculate love'. These poems close this remarkable production. The ensemble Interzone consists of three reeds, a trumpet player, two trombones, a pianist, a bass player, and a drummer. Steeghs holds the musical coordination, Luiting reads his poems himself. With these poems the latter proves to be a midieval troubadour, that elevates his poetry nonetheless to modern day and age. Not only by his choice of words, but also in his performance.
----------------------------------------------
Post scriptum by Jean Paul Steeghs:
Unfortunately, Rinus did not get his facts straightened out.
Gomy was actually not my daughter, she was my favourite cat, the only one among many I've ever had the privilege of encountering and caring for, to really listen with me to a radio broadcast of an Obrecht vocal mass, among many other extraordinary things.
Hence the dedication, and the name of Interzone's publishing house: Gomy Music.

Illand Pietersma, review & interview on the CD 'Terra incognita', in 'Dagblad van het Noorden', 12 January 2007:

'Here I found quiet and space'
Ten years ago bass player Jean Paul Steeghs was all through with jazz and the Randstad. In Nieuw Beerta he rediscovered the quiet for music. As jazz composer he wrote and produced the beautiful CD Terra Incognita, in which several (former) Northerners participate.
- By Illand Pietersma

"It may sound corny. But here people still greet one another." One of the things Jean Paul Steeghs missed in the west of The Netherlands. "I didn't even know my own neighbours there. We had an offer to go and live in a so-called 'Vinex'-location (newly built suburbs area - JP). The desolate sadness. In those anything but soundproof houses there's no way you can work. Here in Groningen houses still are affordable. And there's quiet and space", Steeghs says in his thirties-built villa, just outside Nieuw Beerta.
Ten years ago he was all through with music in particular. After graduating on double bass and composition, he played with - among others - Denise Jannah and Michiel Borstlap. "But I was not content with the musical praxis, especially at commercial gigs. There you were, playing very good music with top musicians, and somebody would come up to you and say 'nice playing, the music didn't bother us...'."
He decided to turn the wheel drastically and went to Brazil with his wife to work in a philanthropic hospital. "She has a medical background, and I had an education in information technology. On that basis we'd help the poor population. For over a year we lived in the slums. Shared the lives of the utmost depraved and shared their music as well. Very impressive. Until the whole project turned out to be completely corrupt."
Back in The Netherlands Steeghs graduated in orthopedagogy at the Free University, and lectured at the subject for a while, until a new professor struck the subject off the curriculum. In Groningen he reviewed final theses at the Hanzehogeschool for a while. "But my reviewing was considered too critical. Then I thought, you know what? I'm gonna write music again. Here, on the skirts of The Netherlands."
Ton Luiting's poetry, mostly known as a Hilversum-based politician, but also for being a jazz lover and a poet, formed the inspirational source for the music. "Especially the layering in his work appeals to me. It runs parallel to my own music: originating from organic developed structures and layers with long tensional lines."
Steeghs (1964) plays the piano since an early age. "In my adolescence I got swept away by the music of Soft Machine, and through it I ended up with jazz. I then got into the 'minimal music' of composers such as Steve Reich and Terry Riley. In those days I wrote pieces too. The eminent critic Ernst Vermeulen described them as 'a new branch of the tree of minimal music.' Quite an honor indeed. Consequently I got into modern classical music and the English free jazz. It's quite diverse, and you can recognize it in my music. It's a combination of traditional jazz and contemporary improvisation."

It's a kind of modern big band music, which often sounds landscape-like and full of imagery. "That is very well possible. When I got stuck again, I went outside, check on the chicks or the cats. And then I looked over the scenery. Had I lived in the city, the music would have most definitely sounded more hectic. But here in Groningen I found the quiet and space in my head."
His band Interzone consists of nine German and Dutch musicians, among whom former Groninger Tilmar Junius. "Mostly top musicians from the German broadcast orchestras and the Glenn Miller Band. Their commitment touched me deeply. I knew: something very special is happening here."
Remarkable too is the CD cover. "For years I have a drawing of Franka from the 'Cadillac Club' series hanging on my wall. That's why I asked cartoonist Henk Kuijpers to design a cover in the same atmosphere. He immediately was excited about the idea and created a kind of sequel to the story: the end of the affair between Franka and saxophonist Lee. Kuijpers very sophisticatedly devised the 2-sided three-panel cover as a miniature comic strip. I am very happy with it."
Steeghs himself doesn't play anymore. "Well. Yes. The neighbour, an arable farmer and a dairy-cattle farmer up the road have this cover band, 'Jezebel'. They were looking for a drummer. That sounded like fun. As a bass player I used to work side by side with the drummer, didn't I? So we play heavy rock and punk, The Who, Sex Pistols and stuff. It still is great to actually play music."

Hessel Fluitman, on the CD 'Terra incognita', in 'Friesch Dagblad', 18 December 2006:
(Extended Dutch version of this review in: JazzFlits, no. 20/2006, 24 December 2006, at page 8)

Exciting European jazz based on collection of poems
A poet who records his emotions about an unrequited love in a collection of poems, and a composer/bandleader who finds this poetry collection some fifteen years later in a second hand bookstore and gets inspired to transform the poems into music. A rare but fortunate coincidence.
Still, this is what happened to the poems written by Ton Luiting. Jean Paul Steeghs has written modern music to these poems, for the six horns plus rhythm section of his band Interzone. New music, exciting music. Not in the least because of drummer Jens Düppe. The trumpet, two trombones and three reeds are up in front of course, and weave intensely at a beautiful carpet of sound.
From the very first tones the excited and joyful mood that is being presented takes you along. In other pieces, the orchestra and soloist wriggle and rub against each other in a pleasant way, which creates a thrilling sound spectrum that begs for a resolution. The music moves from expansive orchestral sounds to intimate duo pieces, and back again to complex harmonies. Playful and flexible. With the poetry as guide, Steeghs created parallel musical spheres. It is lively and flexible music.

Extra
As an extra Ton Luiting himself recites the entire collection of poems. Because Henk Kuijpers designed an appropriate drawing for the cover based on his comic strip heroine Franka, and divided it very sophisticatedly over the six panels of the digipak, the CD is of cultural excellence in both literary as musical and graphical sense. Turning over and manipulating the CD cover in front of you, you enjoy this adventure on unknown territory in multiple ways.

(An extended Dutch version of this review by Hessel Fluitman is to be found in JazzFlits, no. 20/2006, 24 December 2006, at page 8)

Klaas Koopman, in 'De Gooi- en Eemlander', 29 March 2006:

Article by Klaas Koopman in 'De Gooi- en Eemlander' of March 29, 2006

'Terra Incognita' on CD Interzone - Collection love poetry Ton Luiting inspired Steeghs to write jazz suite

Hilversum - In December 2004 the Dutch-German jazz band Interzone played in Soest. Poet Ton Luiting was one of the visitors of this concert. Afterwards he talked to Jean Paul Steeghs, the leader of the nonet. Ten months later, Steeghs obtained Luiting's collection of poetry 'Terra Incognita' at a second hand book store. The poems impressed him so much, that he composed a jazz suite based on the poetry of 'Terra Incognita'. Yesterday and today the suite is being recorded at the Wisseloord Studios in Hilversum. The CD will be released this fall.
At first Ton Luiting (69), a true Hilversum residential, was amused that a conversation on the music of Interzone could lead to a jazz suite inspired by his Terra Incognita. "I wanted to compliment Steeghs on the concert", Luiting recalls at the Wisseloord Studios. "When Steeghs inquired whether I was a performing musician as well, I answered him that I, among other things, am a poet. Very peculiar indeed that he discovers a collection of my poetry several months later". Luiting published his 'Terra Incognita' in 1988. "It is a collection of love poems dedicated to a lady who did not respond to my love for her", as the poet describes it.

Layering
What was it in the poetry that appealed to Steeghs (42)? At a break during the recording session he says: "The layering of this almost chronological account of encounters with a woman who has remained unattainable for the poet. As a reader, one does not only follow the poet in his concrete action (the things he does and he doesn't), but also in the way he interprets people and circumstance in every arising context or situation, and above all, in the way he continuously assesses and evaluates himself in these situations. These three mutually and cybernetically intertwined processes enhance the poetry with a clear structure and a development within this structure, both horizontally as well as vertically. This is a very sofisticated compository principle, especially when one realizes that the reader at no point gets the impression that this collection of love poems comprises a composition.
It is this concept that I embraced upon as a starting point for the suite. The moment I got down to writing the music, I just had finished some new & raw material on 6 to 9-voice polyphony, in combination with minimal music and free improvisation. This base material has been applied throughout the whole suite, and varied, structured, and modeled after the individual poems, to eventually obtain a development similar to the poetry".
Jean Paul Steeghs (42) lives in Nieuw Beerta. He studied double bass at the Hilversum Conservatory (1984-1990). He also is an academically trained orthopedagogue, and lectured at the Free University of Amsterdam on the subject, before devoting his time entirely to (his fascination for) music. In 2003 he founded Interzone as an international musicians and composers collective, that plays contemporary European jazz. At this point its nonet setting gives a voice to 'Terra Incognita'. André Cimiotti, Martin Classen & Malte Schiller (reeds), German Marstatt (trumpet), Jürgen Neudert & Uli Plettendorff (trombone), Tilmar Junius (piano), Ingo Senst (bass), and Jens Düppe (drums) have rehearsed the suite in eight days at locations in The Hague, Dortmund, Münster, and Cologne.

Top musicians
"It is a very serious, difficult, but fulfilling professional passion", says composer-arranger Steeghs. "These are all top musicians, who play in the regular German broadcasting orchestras, the Glenn Miller Orchestra that tours for 200 days a year through Europe, or dedicate themselves to their teaching activities at several conservatories, or to their own musical projects".
In the epilogue to the poetry collection the link is being made between the poems themselves, and Brahms' Piano sonata no. 5, that he wrote for his (silent) love Clara Wieck, the wife of his colleague Robert Schumann. Is this the reason why Steeghs ensured himself of the cooperation of the 'classical' Matangi Quartet? "Yes, I actually applied some melodic aspects of the piano sonata. The string quartet will be recorded on 17 and 18 April in the studio. They participate in two of the twelve movements".
How does Steeghs characterize his 'Terra Incognita'? "As contemporary jazz", answers the composer, "that is closely related to European contemporary classical music. This composition is a basic concept that will be performed in a different way every time it is being played. Improvisation is one of the cornerstones of jazz". And Luiting? "The moment I'd finished my poems, the thrill was gone. I've been married to my true love already for thirteen years now".

Ton Luiting, in JazzFlits, January 2005:

Review by Ton Luiting in JazzFlits of January 2005

Disciplined small big band
"The funeral of Prince Bernhard clearly had its influence on the number of visitors of this broadly announced concert. The over twenty visitors were however treated to an exciting experience. This Dutch-German octet under supervision of the somewhat scholarly Steeghs played with utmost concentration and discipline. No jokes, eyewinks or mutual chats. With extreme focus, the conservatory trained musicians performed the complex arrangements flawlessly.
Jean Paul Steeghs introduced most of the pieces, and consequently sat down at the first row, which gave full attention to the performing musicians, without being distracted by a baton-swinging director. The cueing of tempos and other musical events came from drummer Wim Kegel or Martin Classen.
At the start of the concert, with Rosebuds by composer Sebastian Altekamp, I thought of the famous East Coast ensembles of Shorty Rogers, only to leave that impression soon after. The repertoire, that mainly consisted of original compositions of the band members, was diverse and at times exciting. Solos were distributed evenly among the musicians, so there was no role for a so called 'star player'; a credit to be ascribed to Jean Paul Steeghs. Personally I was very impressed with drummer Wim Kegel, who as of today will rank on my top-3 list of top drummers in Holland.
During the concert I noticed that the musicians were very good music readers, never took a wrong turn, and matched one another in musical excellence.
The climax of the evening was achieved with the first piece after the break, called Peg-leg Bates by composer Stan Tracey. With his own Requiem, Steeghs proved he is an imaginative composer and arranger. A pleasant and entertaining concert that deserved more visitors."

Klaus-Peter Hess, in the Münsterische Zeitung of April 27, 2004:

Review by Klaus-Peter Hess in the Muensterische Zeitung of 27/04/2004

One for all, all for one
"According to the American trombone player, composer and arranger Jimmy Knepper, the hierarchy of coordinated musical teamwork is structured relatively simple: 'With two horns you can improvise. With three horns you have to organize. With four you have to write something. Five or six need an arrangement.' A prerequisite that his Dutch colleague Jean Paul Steeghs understands only too well. Due to his creative pencil and complex arrangements, the band Interzone diffused an impressive and intense big band atmosphere at the Kulturschiene (located in Central Station of Münster), without having a line-up that numerically only could arrive at the scene by big touring bus.
Five horns up in front, accompanied by piano (Tilmar Junius), double bass (Ingo Senst), and drums (Philipp Pumplün). In the sound spectrum nothing was missing. Heavy and saturated sounding head arrangements, fresh and excitingly integrated solos, well timed interactions. What more does one want?
Where inexperienced arrangers usually make the mistake with these kinds of line-up to try to get fullness of sound by applying forced and frequent horn phrasings, on this occasion the 40-year old Steeghs applied interwoven textures following the Robin Hood credo: 'One for all, all for one'. Within the German-Dutch horns line-up by Ad Colen, Martin Classen, Hans Malte Witte, Christian Kappe and Martijn Sohier, this principle of artistic fellowship worked marvelously well. Apart from some individual flaws, that could be easily corrected by a stricter musical conduct and management.
Interzone is a project that works in various line-ups, both numerically and personally. The program consisted mainly of original compositions by its members. The fact that this approach did not result in a random collection of musical material, is mainly the credit of Steeghs' abilities. His musical spirit and mature perspective on the overall concept made the concert to a stylistic, expressive and sonorous treat for the ears.
Orchestration made to measure. How rightfully Martin Classen remarked: 'It is true that I composed this piece, it's however only through this arrangement that the piece is really finished'. The labor surely paid off."