MAIN CONCERT PROGRAMME - Serbian National Theatre - Thursday, 17th November 2011.
EUROPEAN JAZZ ENSEMBLE
 ALAN SKIDMORE, tenor sax
GERD DUDEK, tenor & soprano sax
STAN SULZMANN, tenor & soprano sax
MATTHIAS SCHRIEFL, trumpet
JIRI STIVIN, flutes & alto sax
ROB van den BROECK, piano
ALI HAURAND, bass
CLARK TRACEY, drums
European Jazz Ensemble – 35th anniversary 2011
The music of this cooperatively led Ensembless has a strong affinity to both tradition and renewal and endeavours at all times, through a subtle appreciation of jazz history, to create an idiosyncratic and up-to-date mode of expression. Charisma, message and spirituality are undoubtedly part of the experiential essence of these musicians - which is why they cannot and will not blindly copy what has gone before, but aim instead to supply continuity with a unique touch. Ali Haurand, a "Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" (France 2005), has as bassist and bandleader of the European Jazz Ensemble made music history.
www.jazzbox.com/eje/
ALAN SKIDMORE
Alan Skidmore was born in London in 1942. He received his musical education at the London Conservatory. When but a young man he already played with John Mayall, Alexis Korner, Georgie Fame, the Johnny Dankworth Orchestra, the Stan Tracy Band and Ronnie Scott. Then in later years with Tubby Hayes, John Surman, Chris MacGregor's "Brotherhood of Breath", the George Grunz "Concert Band", Eberhard Weber, Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen, Weather Report, Dave Holland and the BBC Big Band in London. He made recordings with Herbie Hancock, Mike Gibbs, Mike Westbrook and founded SOS with John Surman. As a guest soloist he played in Hamburg with the NDR Big Band and from 1981 to 1984 with the WDR Big Band. Tours with Charlie Watts took in the US and Europe. He has performed with Colin Towns Mask Orchestra at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. When he represented England in 1969 with his quintet at the International Jazz Festival in Montreux, they won the media’s first prize and Alan was rated best soloist. For many years the tenor saxophone prize awarded by the English Jazz Polls of "Melody Maker" has gone to him. He has made vinyl and CD recordings with Chick Corea, George Grunz, SOH, the European Jazz Quintet, Third Eye, Georgie Fame, the EUROPEAN JAZZ ENSEMBLE, as well as with his own quartet.
GERD DUDEK
Born in 1938 in Gross-Döbern (now in Poland) Gerd Dudek, after completing his studies, was a member of the famous Kurt Edelhagen Big Band from 1960 to 1964. Whereupon he joined the Manfred Schoof Quintet. As a member of the Albert Mangelsdorff Quintet and the German All Stars he undertook several tours of Asia and South America. Gerd has also played in a quartet with Alan Skidmore and Adelhard Roidinger. He was one of the founding members of the Manfred Schoof Big Band as well as of both Alexander von Schlippenbach´s "Globe Unity" and "Berlin Contemporary Orchestra". What is more, Gerd Dudek was also among the founding members of the EUROPEAN JAZZ ENSEMBLE in 1976. Besides many other productions with various groups and soloists, he made a recording in Japan in 1961. In the 1960s he went on tour with George Russell and Don Cherry. He has worked extensively in trios, quartets and duets with Ali Haurand. With the EUROPEAN JAZZ ENSEMBLE and smaller formations he has recorded more than 70 records and CDs.
STAN SULZMANN
Born in London, England in 1948, Stan’s first extensive contact with music was as a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Britain at the age of 16. Later on he studied the flute and the saxophone at the Royal Academy of Music. He was member of the John Dankworth Big Band, Mike Gibbs Orchestra and performed regularly at the Ronnie Scott Club in London. He has toured with the Kenny Clarke / Francy Boland Big Band, with Stan Getz, Johnny Griffin and many others. The first quartet of his own he formed with John Taylor on piano, Ron Mathweson on bass, and Tony Levin on drums. For many years he was a member of the Kenny Wheeler Big Band and Sextet. His quartet has made recordings with the BBC and taken part in the London, Molde (Norway), and Zurich Festivals. He played at the Hamburg Jazz Festival in Germany with Gordon Beck and Tony Oxley in 1982. Besides making the recording "Seven Steps to Evans" for MPS Records, he has recorded with Clark Terry, Volker Kriegel, Eberhard Weber and toured with Phil Woods and the Gil Evans Band. In 1987 he recorded a duet entitled "Everybody’s Song but my own?" with the pianist John Taylor. In the same year he went on a European tour with Dave Holland and Kenny Wheeler. Stan joined the EUROPEAN JAZZ ENSEMBLE in 1992.
MATTHIAS SCHRIEFL
Matthias Schriefl has received numerous awards as a soloist, composer and band leader. In 2006 he was awarded the WDR jazz prize for improvisation He received the “Star of 2007” from the Münchner Abendzeitung (Munich Evening News), and in 2008 the North Rhine Westphalia Artistic Achievement Award 2008 for composition, conducting, and instrumental music. In the same year, at the suggestion of the Cologne Philharmonic, he was designated “rising star”. In connection with the concert series “Rising Stars”, which is co-ordinated by the European Concert Hall Organisation (ECHO), his band Shreefpunk performed in 2008/2009 in leading concert halls throughout Europe. In 2007-2009 Matthias Schriefl Group Shreefpunk toured 15 European countries, Mexico, Australia, and seven West African countries, playing in numerous large concert halls throughout the tours. Matthias Schriefl has worked with many renowned international artists. He has been engaged by such prestigious organisations as the WDR Big Band as soloist and composer, and has played with the European Jazz Ensemble since 2006 when he took over Allan Botschinsky’s seat.
JIRI STIVIN
Jiri Stivin was born on November 23rd 1943 in Prague, Czech Republic. As his mother was an actress, his background can be said to be an artistic one. After graduating from high school he studied cine-photography at Prague’s prestigious Film Academy (FAMU). Having played the violin as a child, he now became fascinated by the flute and studied it with the leading Czech flutists Milan Munclinger and Jiri Válek. Beginning in the 1970s he performed with Barre Phillips, bass, and Zbigniew Seifert, violin. It was at this time that Stivin´s talent was acknowledged with a number of awards and prizes. Under the name "System Tandem" he collaborated for a long time and made recordings for the Munich-based ECM Label with the guitar player Rudolf Dasek. His activities in the sphere of old music resulted in, for example, his leading ensembles such as "COLLEGIUM QUOTLIBET", which performs medieval, renaissance and baroque music, in occasional appearances with the Prague Baroque Trio, as well as in collaborations with a number of other ensembles, e.g. the Ars Redivina, with which he performed Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos at the Prague Spring Festival. Jiri Stivin and Ali Haurand first met in 1968, while both performed with the mime Milan Sládek. After joining the EUROPEAN JAZZ ENSEMBLE in 1992, Jiri in 1996 recorded the CD "BORDERTALK" for Konnex Records, Berlin, with the piano player Rob van den Broeck and Ali Haurand. Many jazz and baroque music records and CDs reveal his wide range of musical ability. In 2001 he recorded the CD “Just The Two Of Us” with Ali Haurand.
ROB van den BROECK
Rob van den Broeck was born in Hilversum, the Netherlands, in 1940. In 1961 Rob began playing with various Dutch groups, such as, among others, Dick Vennik´s group and the Chris Hinze Combination (with Gary Brown on drums and John Lee on bass). He has recorded with Billy Higgins, Clint Houston, Joe Farell, Kenny Wheeler, Alan Skidmore, Ali Haurand and Gerd Dudek. For many years now he has headed the Band "FREE FAIR", which is famous both as a combo and as a quartet plus four trombones and four trumpets. Rob has made several CDs for the Timeless label, among them with Joe Farell, Dexter Gordon, Billy Higgins, Clint Houston, Louis Hayes and Ben Webster. He has, moreover, recorded several trio albums with the English drummer Tony Levin. He has worked together with Ali Haurand in the group "THIRD EYE" since 1972, making recordings with that group, with Alan Skidmore and Wilton Gaynair. Rob has been a member of the EUROPEAN JAZZ ENSEMBLE since 1981 and also since 1982 of its Quartet & Trio formation. Thirteen recordings chronicle his intense work with Gerd Dudek and Ali Haurand, among them: "Dedication" (1982), "Relation" (1984), "Interchange" with E.L.Petrowsky (1985) and "Live" (1987); "Pulque", "After All“ and "Crossing Level" between 1990 and 1998 (also published by Konnex Records, Berlin). Tours have taken him as far afield as Canada and Australia.
ALI HAURAND
Ali Haurand was born in Viersen, Germany, in 1943. Right after finishing his studies at the Folkwang School in Essen he founded his first trio. Since 1967 he has been a member of the George Maycock Trio. In 1969 Ali with the Dutch pianist Jan Huydts founded the group "THIRD EYE". Ali has toured with Philly Joe Joens, Ben Webster, Don Byas, Bobby Jones, John Handy, John Surman, Kenny Wheeler, Jan Akkerman, Joachim Kühn, John Taylor, Tony Coe, Eje Thelin, Joe Albany and Enrico Rava. Together with Gerd Dudek, Alan Skidmore, Leszek Zadlo and Pierre Courbois he founded the "EUROPEAN JAZZ ENSEMBLE" in 1976. From 1978 to 1984 he played with SOH, a trio that included Tony Oxley and Alan Skidmore. In 1982 with Rob van den Broeck and Gerd Dudek he formed "THE QUARTET". As leader of the "EUROPEAN JAZZ ENSEMBLE" he has been on tour in Australia, Canada, Russia, Africa and very nearly all European countries. He is also a member of Pantomime & Jazz, which includes the mime Milan Sládek from Slovakia and the Czech flute player Jiri Stivin. With Jiri Stivin he has been collaborating in a duet for a long time now. Tours and festivals have taken him all over Europe, America and even further afield; notable festivals include: Moers, Berlin, Warsaw, London, Paris, Den Haag, Vancouver, Toronto, Barcelona, Prague, Burghausen, Munich, Oslo, Sydney, Melbourne, Leverkusen, to name but a few. Since 1998 he has been playing in a trio with the alto saxophone player Charlie Mariano and the drummer Daniel Humair. The 10th, 12th, 20th and 25th anniversary concerts of the EUROPEAN JAZZ ENSEMBLE were recorded for German Television and broadcast by the WDR station in Cologne, West Germany’s leading broadcaster. Ali won the European Jazz Poll of the "Jazz Forum Magazine" in 1982, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1990, with the European Jazz Ensemble, with SOH, or as a bass player. Since 1991 he has also been doing freelance work for the WDR TV station and has acted as co-presenter of the two TV series "Round Midnight" and "Fullhouse". The more than 50 records and CDs to his name so far - as well as his many concert tours – have made him an internationally recognized artist. Thus in 2005 by being made a "Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres" Ali Haurand received the French Republic’s highest award for cultural achievements.
CLARK TRACEY
Clark Tracey was born in London, England in 1961. He grew up in a jazz environment as the son of Stan Tracey, the UK's leading jazz pianist, and from an early age took to the piano and vibraphones. At 13 he started playing the drums and began working with semi professional jazz groups until he turned professional at 17 in 1978 by joining his father's various ensembles, from trio to orchestra. Within that context he has toured worldwide and recorded extensively ever since. In 2001 Clark began his own record company, Tentoten Records and in 2007 he also started up Resteamed Records, a label dedicated to his father's works. In 1981 he formed the first of his own groups with Django Bates, Iain Ballamy and Andrew Cleyndert. Later groups included Guy Barker, Jamie Talbot, Nigel Hitchcock, Dave O'Higgins, Mark Nightingale, Mornington Lockett, Julian Arguelles, Gerard Presencer, Alec Dankworth and Steve Melling, Simon Allen and Zoe Rahman. He currently runs a new sextet featuring young luminaries Lewis Wright and Kit Downes and a quartet with Brandon Allen, Gareth Williams and Arnie Somogyi, performing British material. Clark has had 30 years' experience playing alongside some of the most important artists in jazz at home and abroad. Some of the most significant unions with American artists have been with Johnny Griffin, Pharaoh Sanders, John Hicks, George Cables, Bud Shank, Red Rodney, and Scott Hamilton. British artists include names such as Ronnie Scott, John Surman, Alan Skidmore, Kenny Wheeler, Alan Barnes, Don Weller and Tommy Smith. He has recorded over 90 albums (9 as a leader) and performed in around 50 countries. He has been awarded "Best Drums" title three times in the British Jazz Awards and Ronnie Scott's Award for “Best Drums” in 2007. He has received endorsements from Zildjian Cymbals, Vic Firth Sticks and Remo Drumheads.
C u l t u r a l...C e n t r e...o f...N o v i...S a d
N O V I...S A D...J A Z Z...F E S T I V A L...2 0 1 1