Artists
The festival offers a varied program with some of the world's very best
artists in the Boogie Woogie and Piano Blues genre.
Musical styles range from authentic Boogie Woogie to early Barrelhouse
and Blues Piano and from Rhythm 'n Blues and Jazz to Gospel and Rock 'n
Roll
The band members of the Martijn Schok Boogie & Blues Band will accompany
the artists during the festival evening. Line up of the festival band:
Martijn Schok (piano)
Rinus Groeneveld (tenor saxophone)
Greta Holtrop (vocals)
Stephan Jankowski (guitar)
Eduardo Blanco (trumpet)
Maarten Kruijswijk (drums)
Hans Ruigrok (bass)
The Martijn Schok Boogie & Blues Band is the swinging band of Dutch
boogie woogie and blues pianist Martijn Schok. The band toured in Denmark,
Germany, Belgium, Italy, France, Spain and the USA. Martijn and his band
also performed during the famous Jazzfestival in New Orleans, USA, and
the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland.
The band is the 'home band' of the Heineken International Boogie &
Blues Festival Holland, accompanying the invited international piano players
from all around the world. |
Festival
band: Martijn Schok Boogie & Blues Band
(photo: Robert Joore)
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Festival
dedicated to Little Willie Littlefield
The Heineken International Boogie & Blues Festival Holland 2014 will
be dedicated to Little Willie Littlefield. The legendary piano player and
singer passed away on June 23rd 2013. Little
Willie Littlefield was our audience favorite and has been present at almost
every edition of the festival since its first edition in 2004, either
performing or as Special Guest. Without Willie, the festival will never
be the same.
Littlefield
was one of the last original blues and boogie woogie artists. The festival
2014 will be a tribute to Little Willie Littlefield.
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The
festival will be a tribute to the blues and
boogie woogie legend Little Willie Littlefield
(1950's
publicity photo issued by Ben Waller's Enterprises)
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Tommie
Harris (zang, USA)
Tommie Harris was born in 1939 in
the south of America, in Alabama, and grew up with Blues, Jazz and Gospel,
and in later years he was also influenced by other music styles such as
Rhythm 'n Blues and Soul. Harris has a beautiful and very soulful voice
and a varied repertoire. This festival evening in Ermelo, the repertoire
will be focused on Blues, Boogie Woogie and early Rhythm 'n Blues.
In 1987, Tommie Harris has been inducted in the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame,
together with other big names like Clarence 'Pinetop' Smith, Ella Fitzgerald
and Erskine Hawkins. He performed as a vocalist and as a drummer with
various artists, such as Luther Allisson, Jimmy Reed, Sam & Dave Big
Jay McNeely and Red Holloway.
Tommie has toured in Switzerland with Little Willie Littlefield .
We are proud to announce to you: the one-and-only... Tommie Harris...! |
Tommie
Harris (zang, USA)
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Mike
Sanchez (piano/zang, UK)
Mike Sanchez performed with great
succes at the festival in 2011 and received standing ovations for his swinging
show.
Mike is one of the pianists in whose playing you can hear the unique piano
style of Little Willie Littlefield.
For Sanchez, Littlefield was a source of inspiration and between them a
great musical friendship has grown.
British singer, pianist and guitarist Mike Sanchez is one of the most exciting
and charismatic performers of Rhythm & Blues and Rock 'n' Roll in the
world today. His indelible image as a frenetic front man, pumping powerful
boogie-woogie from the piano in a soaking suit, has won him fans from all
over the world and attracted a following from many famous rock and blues
legends who have lined up to work with him.
Mike spent four years as a full-time member of Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings,
fronting the band alongside Georgie Fame, Beverly Skeete, Albert Lee, Andy
Fairweather-Low and Eddie Floyd on their annual world tours. The Rhythm
Kings released their album ‘Just for a Thrill’ and a fabulous
DVD entitled ‘Let The Good Times Roll’, both featuring Mike’s
extensive role as a member of the ex-Rolling Stones bassist’s touring
band
In December 07 Mike was invited to appear as a guest vocalist with Bill
Wyman's Rhythm Kings at one of the most publicised musical events of the
year - the final Led Zeppelin reunion at London's O2 Arena, a tribute to
the memory of the late Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records. Mike
performed alongside such soul legends as Ben E King, Percy Sledge and Sam
Moore.
The well-established magazine Blues in Britain voted Mike 'UK Keyboard Player
of the Year' for four consecutive years (2000-2004). Mike's main aim has
always been to make every live show his best yet as he continuously enjoys
growing acclaim and admiration for his electrifying stage performances from
new and old fans of all age groups across the world. |
Mike Sanchez (piano/vocals,
UK)
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Sarah
Wynne (vocals, UK)
The wonderful singer Sarah Wynne, from the UK, will be performing
with Mike Sanchez.
In the
years 1951 to 1953, Little Willie Littlefield recorded in the USA with singers
Little Esther Phillips, Little Lora Wiggins and Lil Greenwood.
During the festival, Sarah Wynne and Mike Sanchez will perform great songs
that remember to this special period of Littlefield's career of more than
65 years.
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Sarah
Wynne (zang, UK) |
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Martin
Pyrker (piano, Austria) and Sabine Pyrker (drums, Austria)
Martin Pyrker was born in 1954 in Vienna and discovered his love for the
piano and for the blues in 1971, when he was 17 years young and already
playing the drums for 4 years.
A blues program on the radio, an acquaintance with the pianists Vince
Weber, Hans-Georg Möller and Axel Zwingenberger from Hamburg, who
caused at that time the boogie woogie fever in Germany, and the meeting
with the Viennese “blues guru” Hans Maitner, protagonist of
the legendary radio program “Living Blues” fascinated Martin
Pyrker of a kind of music that has meanwhile become 100 years old: the
classical piano-blues and boogie-woogie.
Pyrker’s legendary concerts in the 1970s with Zwingenberger, Weber
and Möller and, originated from this, the first piano-boogie woogie
record in Austria (“Boogie Woogie Session 76” / EMI) were
the beginning of a growing enthusiasm for this kind of music in Austria
and Germany and influenced further generations of young pianists.
Solo and together with many other well-known artists at home and abroad,
Martin gave a lot of concerts in jazz clubs, blues bars and at blues and
boogie festivals, where he also shared the piano with long gone legends
of the blues: Blind John Davis, Roosevelt Sykes, Memphis Slims, Champion
Jack Dupree, just to mention a few of them.
Since
the legendary boogie woogie festival of Cologne (WDR 1974) and Vienna
(concert hall 1976) the renaissance of boogie woogie could not be stopped
anymore, unnumerous tours through Europe and USA followed (as "Stars
of Boogie Woogie" and others).
More than 2000 performances and concerts at home and abroad have left
their mark on Pyrkers career since then. Also a lot of records were produced,
out from a repertoire of more than 100 own compositions and the most important
blues and boogie woogie standards, solo and together with international
stars of the blues, recorded in Vienna, Wels, Paris and Fort Worth.
Martin Pyrker today is the most known authentic blues and boogie pianist
in Austria and his CDs are well known in USA, the origin country of this
kind of music.
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Martin
Pyrker (piano, A)
Martin
and Sabine Pyrker (piano, A)
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Chase
Garrett (piano/zang, USA)
Chase
Garrett, voted 'Best Local Act' by The Daily Iowan in 2011, began playing
piano at age nine and by seventeen was performing professionally across
the U.S.
In his travels he has shared the stage with some of today's most influential
blues, boogie woogie and jazz pianists including Axel Zwingenberger, Michael
Kaeshammer and James Goodwin.
Having been heavily influenced by artists like Oscar Peterson, Otis Spann
and Meade "Lux" Lewis, his style has grown into a diverse mix
of boogie woogie, blues and swing.
Chase has dedicated himself to music and is as much of a performer as
he is a producer and preservationist and in that respect has recently
moved to New York to pursue his goals. |
Chase
Garrett (piano/zang, USA)
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Harlem
Hoppers (Swinging Dance Show Team, Paris, France)
The Harlem Hoppers is the swinging Dance Show Team of Jelly Germain.
Jelly Germain is specialist in traditional authentic American tap and jazz
dance styles.
Jelly
started his career in France at the National Conservatory of Arts and
Mime Followed by studying at the school of Cirque Carre Slivia Montfort.
He performed initially at the Trois Maillets Cabaret and at the Nouvelle
Eve and by 1991 developed his great choreographic skills with the Holland
Show ballet for the first Dutch T.V Channel “veronica”.
By 1993 he was working on projects in advertising videos, such as Coca
Cola with the band Pandoras, and developing his directing skills through
the Dutch dance company Rhythm Ace. He also began his teaching career
with the Dance Academy of Amsterdam and by 1994 was appointed as choreographer
of the Lido in Amsterdam. He worked successfully with Bruno Barry (Choreographer
for the Netherlands National Ballet) and also produced the musical Mr.
Bojangles of Harlem.
His solo career moved forward dramatically with starring roles in such
shows as the international tour of “Riverdance”, “Black
and Blue” in Broadway 1996 and variety shows back in Europe at the
Sporting Club de Monaco and the Casino Rhul in Nice. Such shows gained
Jelly his international reputation for solo performance, directing and
choreographing great innovations for the dance world.
Not only has he developed his performance techniques, he has shown imaginative
skill in leading the Spanish “Show Time” company of performers
who are great exponents of a wide range of dance styles. He devised the
musical “Harlem Swing” to showcase the young talents of the
future and Jelly is the choreographer and leader of this dance troupe.
He uses an exciting mix of styles – versatile and complex, challenging
and exciting for performers and audience alike – great creativity
rooted within the Boogie Woogie dance traditions.
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Jelly
Germain (Parijs)
Harlem Hoppers (Parijs) |
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Martijn
Schok (piano, NL)
Martijn's piano style is characterized by a large dose of swing,
a steady groove and a high degree of virtuosity. It is clear he has a great
deal of respect and admiration for the music of the early American boogie
woogie originators.
Martijn is a respected interpreter of the boogie woogie style and appears
at famous international festivals, such as the festival in New Orleans (Louisiana,
USA), the Queen City Blues Festival in Cincinnati (Ohio, USA), the Motor
City Boogie & Blues Festival in Detroit (Michigan, USA), and the international
boogie woogie festivals in Switzerland, Belgium, France, England, Spain
and the USA.
October 19th 2013, Martijn received the German Pinetop Boogie Woogie Award
Pianist des Jahres (Pianist of the Year).
Martijn is founder and Chairman of the Stichting Boogie Promotions Holland,
dedicated to the promotion and preservation of Boogie Woogie and Piano Blues
in Holland. He is organizer of the annual Heineken International Boogie
Woogie & Blues Festival Holland, together with vocalist Greta Holtrop
and Dick and Diana Doorn.
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Greta
Holtrop (zang, NL)
With her versatile vocal talent and charismatic stage presence, the Dutch
singer Greta Holtrop forms the perfect partner for Martijn Schoks swinging
piano style. Her expressive voice, full of sincerity and emotion, seduces
the ear with sultry interpretations of sensitive blues songs, turning just
as easily to lively, swinging boogies. Boogie woogie great, Big Joe Duskin,
has described her vocal tone as somewhere between Billie Holiday and Dina
Washington.
Together with Martijn Schok, Greta performed during Boogie Woogie and Blues
Festivals in the USA, Switzerland, France, Belgium and England.
Greta is vocalist and presenter of the successful theatre show, The Grand
Piano Boogie Train with pianists Martijn Schok, Jaap Dekker and Jeroen Sweers.
Greta performed many times for national television in Holland as well as
regional TV stations in the USA. For the year 2014, performances are scheduled
during various jazz and blues festivals.. |
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Rinus
Groeneveld (tenorsaxofoon, NL)
The Amsterdam based Rinus Groeneveld is one of Hollands best tenor saxophone
players. With his recognizable sound he blows a unique mix of jazz, blues,
boogie woogie and rhythm and blues.
Rinus played all over the world with many jazz and blues musicians, such
as Mose Allison, Big Jay McNeeley, Rosa King and Hans Dulfer. Rinus has
been part of the Martijn Schok Boogie & Blues Band since 1994, and
is the recording engineer of CDs of the band, and runs his own analogue
recording studio Greenfields Forever in Amsterdam.
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Maarten
Kruijswijk (drums)
In
the life of the Amsterdam based drummer Maarten Kruijswijk (1964) the groove
is the central thing. After completing his education at the Dutch Conservatory
in 1989, he peformed for three years in the salsa band Fruta Bomba. After
that he played, and still does, with tenorsaxophone player Rinus Groeneveld
and played with Big Jay McNeely.
Maarten's jazz preference is Swing & Boogie. Combining these very swinging
styles with his experience with Latin rhythms results in a natural basis
for playing groovy New Orleans beats.
Because of his work as a drummer at the Dutch Acedemy for Dancing, he is
always inspired to play music in a way that can be well danced on. "Rhythms
exist to be danced on and to have fun!".
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Hans
Ruigrok (contrabas en basgitaar)
After
finishing his study at the Conservatory Music School in 1986, Hans Ruigrok
(1955) toured for seven years in Europe with the Glenn Miller Orchestra
of Wil Salden.
He played with, amongst many others, with PB and the Nighttrain, Max Teawhistle,
Big Jay McNeely, Georgie Fame, Johnny Meijer, Bolle Jan Froger and many
others.
Is musical preferences are Jazz, Boogie Woogie, Blues and Soul. And enjoys
the real Amsterdam Harmonica Music very much too.
Also, he runs and owns the Amsterdam based Jazz Café 't Geveltje. |
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Stephan
Jankowski (gitaar, NL)
Stephan
studeerde gitaar aan het GIT in Los Angeles, kwam daarna naar Hilversum
waar hij het conservatorium volgde. Hij was gedurende 10 jaar elektrisch
gitarist in Upside Down, de begeleidingsband van saxofoniste Rosa King
waarmee hij de halve wereld rondtoerde.
Hij
werkte verder met: Georgie Fame, Hans Dulfer, Hans Zilver, Fronk, Arthur
Umbgrove, Rick de Vito, P.B. & The Nighttrain, Sofie & Sofour,
Skymasters, Hot Bolshevik, Double Brown, Sister Sledge, Jack Clement,
the Watchman, All The King’s Roses, Aggieland en vele anderen.
Daarnaast
is Stephan actief als producer en runt hij zijn eigen NOPO opnamestudio
te Amsterdam. |
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Eduardo
Blanco (trompet)
The
sound of a lone trumpet rises above the accompanying old school jazz groove
of upright piano, double bass and drums. Well-chosen notes, played with
impeccable timing by a sharp dressed young musician. Those are the mesmerizing
sounds of trumpet player Eduardo Blanco (1976).
Blanco
received his musical education all over the world, and each experience
throughout the years is reflected in his own style – an intricate,
atmospheric, deeply personal interpretation of vintage old jazz. His journeys
around the world provided him with ever-changing careers that clearly
show his great versatility – from playing gigs every night in the
lively music scene in Barcelona, Spain, to studying jazz for two years
at the renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA, or jamming with
jazz greats at vibrant clubs deep in the heart of Amsterdam.
His
versatility is further demonstrated by his sessions with salsa legend
Pete ‘El Conde’ Rodriguez and big band DVD recordings in Barcelona’s
premier concert hall Palau de la Musica. But his focus remains, as it
always has, on his true love: performing early bebop with the best jazz
musicians available – as a tribute to his musical heroes and because
of a heartfelt passion for the genre.
After
teaching at Barcelona’s famous Taller de Musics music school for
six years he returned to Holland permanently. Since then he has quickly
become an in-demand session player and a respected bandleader with his
own quintet.
His
widely recognized talent and commitment to bringing classic jazz to new
audiences worldwide brought him into contact with two jazz legends: drummer
John Engels and bassist Jean Louis Rassinfosse, both of whom worked extensively
with the late great Chet Baker. Engels and Rassinfosse recognized in Blanco
a shared passion for pure jazz and were thrilled when Blanco brought them
together to share the stage again after so many years.
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