| According to The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, Rein de Graaff is 'a fine, responsive accompanist who will go to his grave with a bent back from having carried so many visiting 'singles' over the years'. The piano player worked with many stars - Dexter Gordon, Dizzy Gillespie and Sonny Stiff among them - but also forgotten heroes he rediscovered himself, like Webster Young, James Clay and Billy Root. De Graaff has great respect for McPherson (born 1939). Rein's favorite music is bebop - friends call the piano player 'Professor Bop' - and McPherson is one of the last authentic boppers who learned the trade by listening to, and seeing the inventors of the style in person. He studied with Detroit pianist Barry Harris, who happens to be one of Rein's favorites. Barry and Rein can be heard performing together on Rein's cd Nostalgia (Timeless CD SJP 429).
Young Dutch bass player Marius Beets (1966) is De Graaff's new companion and the successor of Koos Serierse, who worked with Rein for more than twenty years. Marius belongs to a very musical family: his two brothers are also professional jazz musicians and his mother plays classical piano.
Marius' strong sense of time, big acoustic tone and rapid solo lines suggest he learned a thing or two from Paul Chambers and Ray Brown. just as McPherson, he is Rein's right partner for this well-chosen collection of love songs. - Jeroen de Valk
His recorded output as a leader is relatively small but highly varied. For this session, he decided to give his drummer Eric Ineke two days off and record a series of duets with alto saxophonist Charles McPherson and bass player Marius Beets.
The music confirms what most readers of these liner notes already know: De Graaff (1942) is a brilliant piano player because he never planned to be one. He never tries to be flashy, or overwhelm the listener with pyrotechnics and fancy chords,
but uses a horn-like approach.
He plays because he likes to do it. In order to guarantee that he never had to press a piano key against his will, he kept a day job as a businessman. He is also a true family man and knows everything there is to know about the Second World War and motorbike roadracing. All these activities never interfere with his music, however. Rein is a natural musician with great ears and a solid time. And above all, he swings!
McPherson's playing isn't flashy either. His technique is formidable but he uses it solely to serve the music. Charles' ballad renditions will remind you of Charlie Parker's. Bird was, of course, not only the fastest alto man of the USA but also a lyrical balladeer.
De Graaff has great respect for McPherson (1939). Rein's favorite music is bebop - friends call the piano player 'Professor Bop' - and McPherson is one of the last authentic boppers who learned the trade by listening to, and seeing the inventors of the style in person. He studied with Detroit pianist Barry Harris, who happens to be one of Rein's favorites. Barry and Rein can be heard performing together on Rein's cd Nostalgia (Timeless CD SJP 429).
Young Dutch bass player Marius Beets (1966) is De Graaff's new companion and the successor of Koos Serierse, who worked with Rein for more than twenty years. Marius belongs to a very musical family: his two brothers are also professional jazz musicians and his mother plays classical piano.
Marius' strong sense of time, big acoustic tone and rapid solo lines suggest he learned a thing or two from Paul Chambers and Ray Brown. just as McPherson, he is Rein's right partner for this well-chosen collection of love songs.
jeroen de Valk
Music journalist for Het Parool, Utrechts Nieuwsbiad, jazzNu and other publications, author of biographies on Chet Baker and Ben Webster.
Recorded at Pinehill Studio, Leersum, Holland, 16 and 23 January 1999. |