ERIC VLOEIMANS

Pseudonyms

Eric Vloeimans Gatecrash

Eric Vloeimans

'I make music for the millions, but I haven't been able to reach all of them yet,' is a remark often made by trumpeter Eric Vloeimans (Huizen, 24 March 1963). Relatively early in his career he manages to win several major jazz awards, after which he makes minor breakthroughs to ...
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Instruments

trompet

Mentioned in the biography of

1974   Martijn Vink
1977   Paul van Kemenade
1988   Dick de Graaf
1991   Max Bolleman
1992   Anton Goudsmit
1992   Arnold Dooyeweerd
1993   Michiel Borstlap
1995   Ernst Reijseger
2000   Arjen Gorter
2002   Michel Banabila
2004   Harmen Fraanje
2004   Ramón Valle
2005   Jasper van 't Hof
2007   Fay Lovsky
2008   Sensuàl
2009   The New Earth Group
2009   Zoumana Diarra
2011   Fernando Lameirinhas
2011   Jan Akkerman
2011   Lex van Weren
2011   Martin Fondse
2011   Matangi Quartet
2011   Reinier Baas
2012   Matangi Quartet
2013   Dennis Kolen
2013   Jan Akkerman
2013   Nederlands Symfonie Orkest
2015   Armin van Buuren
2015   Ntjam Rosie
2016   Oene van Geel
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Concerts & Festivals

by Podiuminfo / Festivalinfo

4/15/21, TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht
6/6/21, TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht

Biography Eric Vloeimans

'I make music for the millions, but I haven't been able to reach all of them yet,' is a remark often made by trumpeter Eric Vloeimans (Huizen, 24 March 1963). Relatively early in his career he manages to win several major jazz awards, after which he makes minor breakthroughs to a wider audience. In the first decade of the 21st century Vloeimans is one of the few jazz musicians who has become a well-known Dutchman. His playing is not characterized by strings of fast notes, but by using the full sound potential of his instrument. Vloeimans operates in various projects simultaneously and later in his career he regularly guests with younger musicians and small scale ensembles. Since 2006 he has been leading the chamber jazz trio Fugimundi and the electric combo Gatecrash.

Played in

I've Got The Bullets   trompet
Kytecrash   trompet
Nikitov   trompet

1975 - 1981

Carnival ensembles and brass bands are the first musical steps made by Eric Vloeimans, who grows up in Den Bosch in what he himself describes as 'a typical Brabant working class family'. At home his musical diet consists of popular artists like comedian and singer André van Duin, James Last and trumpet duo De Gebroeders Brouwer. At the age of twelve he starts playing the trumpet himself. He joins the Heineken Fanfare in Den Bosch. After high school he manages to get accepted at the Rotterdam Conservatory.

1982 - 1989

At the conservatory he starts out studying classical trumpet. One of his teachers, Cees Smal, introduces him to jazz. He subsequently starts taking classes in the recently founded jazz department. In 1984 he sees Miles Davis perform at the North Sea Jazz Festival, and this becomes a major influence. Vloeimans starts playing in various groups, including drummer Pieter Bast's PB-5, which wins the competition of the 1986 NOS Meervaart Jazz Festival. In 1988 he graduates cum laude. In 1989 he spends six months New York, studying with Donald Byrd and performing in big bands led by Frank Foster and Mercer Ellington, Duke Ellington's son.

1990 - 1991

After his period in the States Vloeimans picks Rotterdam as his home base. He plays in many groups including the Dutch Jazz Orchestra and ensembles led by Michiel Borstlap, Theo Hoogstins, Paul van Kemenade and Pierre Courbois. In the early 1990s he achieves his first successes with his contemporaries in Dutch jazz, pianist Michiel Borstlap and saxophonist Yuri Honing. Their compositions are characterized by a combination of hitherto strictly separated worlds: the bebop tradition, fusion from the 1970s and 1980s, and the adventurous Dutch improv school from the 1960s onwards.

1992 - 1995

Late 1992 the ad hoc label Art In Jazz releases a CD box with young Dutch jazz talent, including albums by Borstlap, Honing and Vloeimans. The CD No Realistics by the Eric Vloeimans Quartet features guitarist Anton Goudsmit, with whom the band leader will embark upon a lengthy working relationship. Borstlap's sextet features Honing, Vloeimans and Benjamin Herman, the future leader of the New Cool Collective. Reviews of live concerts at the time are predominantly positive. The press often compares Vloeimans to his contemporary Jarmo Hoogendijk, who is considered the best Dutch jazz trumpeter of his generation. Vloeimans performs at the North Sea Jazz Festival with Lalo Schifrin (1993, as soloist in his demanding Gillespiana suite) and Pierre Courbois (1994). In October 1994 the second CD by the Vloeimans Quartet, First Floor, is released by Challenge Records. The band tours the Middle East.

1996 - 1999

The quartet's discography continues with the CD Bestiarium (1996), on which the German saxophonist Peter Weniger is heard as a guest. The trumpeter is also a member of an improvising trio with Michiel Borstlap and cellist Ernst Reijseger. In 1997 Vloeimans performs with the European Jazz Ensemble plus the American saxophonist Charlie Mariano, and in 1998 he tours with the Turkish guitarist Ergan Ogur. Bassist Hein Van de Geyn, artistic director of Challenge Records, has him record a CD with renowned international musicians. In September 1998 he records in New York's Avatar Studios with the British pianist John Taylor and the Americans Marc Johnson (double bass) and Joey Baron (drums). It results in the album Bitches And Fairy Tales. In July 1999 he performs at the North Sea Jazz Festival with five different outfits, including his own band with Taylor, Johnson and drummer Peter Erskine. At the very day of their performance he gets to hear that Bitches And Fairy Tales is awarded the Edison Jazz Award (the Dutch Grammy).

2000 - 2001

Vloeimans' reputation grows with various tours across the border, with his Australian colleague Scott Tinkler, the Finnish pianist Jarmo Savolainen and Michiel Borstlap and bassist Jimmy Haslip's electric band. His own Eric Vloeimans Transatlantic Quartet with John Taylor, Joe LaBarbera and Furio Di Castri tours in 2000. His playing continues to get rave reviews. A new album, Umai, is released, and he writes a composition commissioned by NPS radio for a number of Scandinavian musicians. In 2001 Rotterdam is Europe's Cultural Capital. It is in this framework that the new three day festival Jazz International Rotterdam is initiated, with Eric Vloeimans as its artistic director. Shortly after the festival finale with the Metropole Orchestra he leaves for Japan to tour the country in the company of Jesse van Ruller, Benjamin Herman and Michiel Borstlap. In December news gets out that Vloeimans is awarded the VPRO/Boy Edgar Prijs (the major Dutch jazz award).

2002 - 2005

At the award ceremony for the VPRO/Boy Edgar Prijs Vloeimans performs with a number of musicians who played an important role in his career: John Taylor, Michiel Borstlap, Jimmy Haslip, Ernst Reijseger and the French-Vietnamese guitarist Nguyên Lê. This soloist is also featured on Brutto Gusto ('bad taste'), Eric Vloeimans's first live CD, recorded in 2000. In the summer of 2002 the trumpeter receives the North Sea Jazz Festival Bird Award, in the category 'talent deserving wider recognition'. December sees the release of the CD VoizNoiz 3, a mix of jazz and electronics, which Vloeimans records with the Dutch sound artist Michel Banabila. The album is awarded an Edison Jazz Award in July 2003. Vloeimans performs at all of the major European festivals with the line-up of his CD Hidden History: pianist Rita Marcotulli, bassist Palle Danielsson and drummer Roberto Gatto. 2004 is the year of Boompetit, Vloeimans' new improvisation group with Ernst Reijseger, Anton Goudsmit and pianist Harmen Fraanje. A CD is released and the quartet performs at the North Sea Jazz Festival. In September 2004 Jazz International Rotterdam organizes the three day festival Three Faces Of Eric Vloeimans, at which the trumpeter presents three different bands. Vloeimans moves from Delfshaven to a different Rotterdam neighborhood, Kralingen. In 2005 he takes musical outings with the TPG (the Dutch postal company) company orchestra, is featured at the Holland Festival and the Amsterdam Museum Night, and tours Europe and Indonesia.

Michel Banabila

2006 - 2008

Early 2006 two new CDs are released: the quiet and experimental Nocturnal Ghost Songs with guitarist Erik Voermans, and Summersault, the first album by the trio Fugimundi with Anton Goudsmit and Harmen Fraanje. Fugimundi's exciting chamber jazz goes down well with both critics and audiences. The CD is awarded an Edison. In the same year Vloeimans is awarded the Elly Ameling Prijs, granted by the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Zuid-Holland. He collaborates with choreographer Conny Janssen's troupe. In 2007 Vloeimans receives his fourth Edison for the CD Gatecrashin' by his new electric groove jazz band Gatecrash, featuring Jeroen van Vliet on Fender Rhodes and keyboards, Gulli Gudmundsson on bass and effects, and Jasper van Hulten on drums. Vloeimans has the following explanation for the fact that he hasn't been using electronic effects on his trumpet sound until now: 'I've been wanting to do it for a long time, but I couldn't find the right equipment. I've tried various devices, but since I'm not very adept at these things, it failed every time. Now I've found a machine that I can work with.' He performs a composition by Paul van Bruggen, written specially for him, with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. In July 2008 he doesn't appear at the North Sea Jazz Festival, but he is present at two reunion concerts by the popular Dutch band Doe Maar at the Kuip (the Rotterdam soccer stadium). In the same period he is host to an evening's show at Las Palmas in the Rotterdam harbor area, where he performs with Gatecrash and guest artists like Fay Lovsky and Spinvis. In August Vloeimans is the featured guest at the Haarlem Jazzstad 2008 festival. In the fall the live CD Hyper is released, recorded by Gatecrash in 2006.

2009 - 2010

2009 is the year the Dutch television audience gets introduced to Eric Vloeimans. All because of a much discussed newspaper column by writer Martin Bril in De Volkskrant about the album Summersault. Bril takes on Vloeimans's invitation to write the liner notes for a new Fugimundi live CD. It is one of the author's last publications; in April 2009 Bril dies of cancer at the age of 49. Vloeimans plays at his funeral and during a special edition of the popular TV talkshow De Wereld Draait Door, which was regularly co-hosted by Bril. A week later the CD Live At Yoshi's, recorded at the famous jazzclub in Oakland, California, is released . In October Vloeimans tours with singer and multi-instrumentalist Fay Lovsky. In 2010 the live CD Heavensabove by Gatecrash is released, and Vloeimans is featured in a flamenco opera by guitarist Eric Vaarzon Morel. In November the trumpeter performs at the opening (by the Dutch queen Beatrix) of the new home to the Rotterdam film and music theater Lantaren/Venster. He first works with the young trumpeter Colin Benders (Kyteman), a former student of his, who has a major breakthrough as a hiphop artist, largely due to performances in De Wereld Draait Door.

2011

In January Vloeimans receives a special award by the province of Zuid-Holland for his entire oeuvre. To celebrate this he gives a concert featuring the French pianist Bojan Z and the Rotterdam Boys' Choir. In February a series of concerts kicks off for Kytecrash, a crossover band combining jazz, hiphop and improvisation. The eight piece outfit is co-led by Vloeimans and Kyteman, and includes the members of Gatecrash plus some musicians of the Utrecht collective surrounding Kyteman (rapper Pax, keyboardist Niels Broos and French horn player Morris Kliphuis). Early 2011 the project gets a great deal of publicity and the CD Kytecrash is released in March. He also performs young bassist Bob van Luijt's progressive fusion band Square Orange. In August Vloeimans is awarded the 2011 Gouden Notenkraker, a Dutch cultural award. A month later Live At The Concertgebouw is released, a record with duo-performances with German keyboard player Florian Weber.

Photos Eric Vloeimans

Audio/Video Eric Vloeimans

Video Eric Vloeimans