Peter Beets, piano
Marius Beets, double bass
Gijs Dijkhuizen, drums
Peter Beets
The best young pianist I’ve heard in the last ten years. Beets leaves nothing unsaid. He swings with authority, creates constantly, improvises as though he was born doing it, and all of this with a light and lithesome touch. (George Fendel, Jazzscene)
He has shared the stage with jazz greats like Chick Corea, Wynton Marsalis, Elvin Jones, George Coleman, Johnny Griffin, Chris Potter and John Clayton. He recorded with Jeff Hamilton, Larry Grenadier, Greg Hutchinson and Curtis Fuller and in 2001 his album New York Trio was released, which brought him international acclaim.
Peter Beets was born on the 12th of June, 1971 in The Hague. From birth he was surrounded by music: classical from his mother who is a music pedagogue, and jazz from his father who has a great love of Oscar Peterson and Art Blakey. This musical family, which includes two older brothers, Marius and Alexander, moved in 1972 to Groenlo, where Peter received his first piano lessons at the age of six. Although originally both parents did not associate the word “musician” with the word “career”, music is definitely in the family’s blood. Both Marius (1966) and Alexander (1968) became professionals, on string bass and tenor saxophone. After college, Peter studied from 1992 at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. He combined his music studies with law school, but the jazz virus matured and he decided to concentrate exclusively on music.
From 1985 the brothers performed together as The Beets Brothers. In 1988 Peter won the prestigious Pall Mall Swing Award and a year later the Princess Christina Award. After this point, Peter’s career began to rise rapidly. In 1990 the first recording of The Beets Brothers appeared, followed by two more, School is Closed Now (1993) and Brotherwise (1995). In 1996, Peter recorded a remarkable trio album called First Date with drummer Jeff Hamilton, the driving force behindMonty Alexander and Oscar Peterson. Peter became a much wanted pianist both inside and outside the Netherlands, accompanying, among others, Deborah Brown, Dee Daniels and “First Lady of Jazz” Rita Reys. In 1998 he finished his conservatory studies and won the Prix Martial Solal in Paris. In the same year he became the regular pianist of The Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw. With trombone and jazz legend Curtis Fuller, Peter made a live recording in 1999 and won in that same year yet another prize, the Concours de Solistes de Jazz in Monaco. More recordings followed: in 2000 Powerhouse, in 2001 All Or Nothing At All.
In 2001 he recorded the CD New York Trio with the stunning rhythm tandem Rodney Whitaker and Willie Jones III, the first CD of Peter on the renowned Criss Cross label. After the sequel, New York Trio Page Two, recorded with the world-famous Larry Grenadier on bass, he made a third CD for Criss Cross, this time with bassist Reginald Veal and drummer Herlin Riley. In 2007 Criss Cross released the CD New Groove, on which Beets chose to perform without drums, but with the exciting line-up of piano, bass and guitar. In October 2010 Peter went back to the studio in New York to record his 5th CD for Criss Cross, Chopin meets the Blues, with exciting jazz-arrangements of the Polish grandmaster’s music. On this record he plays with Joe Cohn (guitar), Reuben Rogers (bass) and Greg Hutchinson (drums), with whom he occasionally plays throughout the year. In February of 2013 he recorded again with this rhythm section. This CD, called Portrait of Peterson is an hommage to one of his biggest idols, Oscar Peterson.
Peter Beets has been successfully touring with his trio in most countries in Europe as well as in Asia, Russia and the USA. He played twice at the famous New York club “Birdland” for a week and at the high class Lincoln Center in New York. Also memorable are his performances at Salle Pleyel in Paris, Seattle’s Jazz Alley, Yoshi’s in Oakland and the Composer’s Union Hall in Moscow. An extraordinary duet for two grand pianos with Chick Corea in the main hall of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw resulted in regular performances of Peter’s trio there since April 2005.
The success of the trio’s first Dutch theatre tour From Bach to Blues (2003) demanded a return in the theatres. It came in 2005 with the program Chopin meets the Blues, followed by Porgy and Bess (2006), presenting his arrangements of the famous Gershwin opera. In fall 2007 he performed in the theaters again with the program The Blues goes Latin in which Latin American rhythms are highlighted.
After touring extensively in foreign countries throughout 2008 Peter’s trio returned in the Dutch theatres in 2009 with “a tribute to Oscar Peterson”, dedicated to one of his biggest heroes. In 2010 Dutch piano legend Louis van Dyke invited Peter to do an extensive theatre tour called the Piano Kings and in the following theatre season Peter Beets worked together with the world famous Rosenberg Trio. Coming year he will further develop his program “the Blues goes Latin” in the Dutch theatres.