artists AMATORSKIBALTHAZARBASKERYBOO!CASIO KIDSDAN MANGANDANIEL JOHNSTONDOUGLAS FIRSFINN.GEMMA RAYJACKIE LEVENJIM COLEJOHN PARISHKATZENJAMMERKID FEARKRAAK & SMAAK DJ'SKRAAK & SMAAK LIVEKRAUSELALALOVERLAURA JANSENLEFTIES SOUL CONNECTIONLENINGRAD COWBOYSLYENNMAMBO KURTMARIA TAYLORMARIANNE DISSARDMILOWNEEKANEW COOL COLLECTIVE + JULES DEELDERNEW COOL COLLECTIVE BIG BANDNONA MEZOUR BROKEN GARDENREAL ONESSABRINA STARKESAYBIASEÑOR TORPEDOSIR YES SIRSIVERT HÖYEMTHE NATIONAL BANKTHOMAS DYBDAHLTIDAL WAVESTIGER LILITOM VANSTIPHOUTTOMMIGUNUNDER BYENWILLIAM FITZSIMMONSZZZ

 

NEW COOL COLLECTIVE + JULES DEELDER

(NL)

biography

last update 30 10 09
We consciously chose to put it off, but now the time has truly come,” states saxophonist Benjamin Herman on behalf of the New Cool Collective Big Band. And it’s been a long time coming… After all, after every gig—for the past 13 years—many would always come asking if they can get the party they just experienced on CD.

Benjamin: “A live record works best as part of an oeuvre. And New Cool Collective Big Band Live can be seen as half-time. A report from how we sound right now. We’re a lot looser now than a decade ago and almost nobody in the band has to look at sheet music anymore, which does marvels for the music. The repertoire has also changed: less boogaloo and more Afro-beat. And the groove is generally(...) more relaxed thanks to our trips to Africa, and of course playing with Tony Allen also really helped us mature.”

“From the beginning, our goal was to play clubs filled with screaming girls and sweating masses. We organized our own shows in places where we ourselves went out. We did not want to limit ourselves to jazz venues but rather to become part of the nightlife we loved.”

Hence the New Cool Collective Big Band spent its first years playing at Amsterdam’s Café Meander, before playing every two weeks for three years at the famed nightclub . Benjamin: “Club Meander was usually empty on a Monday night. All it had was a drum kit, a sound system and two turntables. We were given four Monday nights to fillthe place and by the third the place was packed. That’s how our legendary Big Mondays began…”

Since 1994, the band has played hundreds of sold-out concerts across the . They have played pop festivals like Lowlands, Roskilde and Sziget, and clubs in Istanbul, Vienna, , and —not to mention jazz venues like the London Jazz Café and the North Sea Jazz Festival. Whether it was with eight or nineteen members, it was always a dance party no matter where they went or for whom they played. Benjamin: “New Cool Collective was consciously made up of all sorts of musicians from different scenes and all those styles can be heard in our music. That’s why we don’t just play for politely-seated jazz lovers.”

“Whatever wedo, we try to make it true. Our shows are unique, with our sets usually stretching to over two hours. We don’t stop until everyone has gone completely insane.”

Arranger/keyboardist Willem Friede reformulated the band’s repertoire for a nineteen-piece big band, resulting in a catalogue of over 250 self-written big band arrangements. “It’s the same with the NCC Big Band: it’s all about the vibe and not about how precisely everyone plays their part,” observes Benjamin.

To make the album, a selection was made of not previously recorded material from a variety of live shows. And so after much request, the New Cool Collective Big Band party is now finally on CD. “This CD gives a good impression of how weapproach our live shows. And we’ll be promoting it by playing all the big pop halls of the , and what you hear on the CD will be what you get.” In addition, Big Mondays will be returning to Amsterdam’s Sugar Factory and Rotterdam’s Rotown. Welcome back to the nightlife!