Ruud Breuls & Simon Rigter Quintet - Rise and Shine (2019)

Bert Jansma (jazz journalist): "Such a nonsense, these discussions about jazz then, jazz today, jazz of the future and how to make jazz! These were my first thoughts when I heard "Rise and Shine" from the Dutch Ruud Breul / Simon Rigter quintet. Because I heard pure jazz, jazz of all eras. Not pretentious, unaffected, no secret intentions, but jazz of five musicians who have come together, 'only' to make beautiful music, each of them highly versed and always aware of the emotional content of its sound.

Tenor saxophonist Simon Rigter and trumpeter Ruud Breuls first came together in 1997 in the band Buddies in Soul under the baton of pianist and father of Dutch jazz Cees Slinger. Slinger died in 2007, leaving the Buddies Rigter and Breul alone. Both are highly respected soloists in big bands, the first in the German WDR Big Band, the second in the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw. Their current quintet includes a rhythm section of equal caliber: pianist Karel Boehlee (who accompanied Toots Thielemans in his European concerts), bassist Jos Machtel and versatile drummer Marcel Serierse.

Among the compositions they present, there is only one standard:> Let's Cool One Goodbye Cerbaia <, his pain shrouded in beauty and with Breuls as the perfect bänkelsänger on the flugelhorn. And Marcel Serierse's brooms and sticks in Rigger's leaping 'Olivia's Dance,' written for his little niece; or Boehlee's sensitive and thoughtful> Passage of Iaco <. Emotions and colors abound. "Honest music," adds Simon Rigter. "We recorded that in a single take, added nothing, fixed nothing." Sincere jazz.