Presenting: Saxify musicians - Daan Herweg
Daan Herweg plays keys on “Open Up”, “You and me”, “Throwback”, “Elixir”.
I met Daan Herweg at the weekly Wicked Jazz Sounds club night, still taking place every Sunday night at Sugarfactory, Amsterdam. DJ’s and musicians get together and jam. I guess it was in 2005/06. Nowadays you can find him almost every Monday evening at NeL, Amstelveld, Amsterdam where he’s hosting one of the best jam sessions in town.
“His music reflects a feeling and is nonetheless clearly framed by ratio. Daan Herweg’s songs are sensual, they have a nice mood and possess an intelligent form that molds ideas into a composition. His piano playing is energetic, tuneful and focused, with occasional angular elements, which can suddenly turn into flowing figures. Many styles are suitable sources of inspiration, yet the music mainly centers on modern jazz. Herweg’s trio with Tuur Moens on drums and Pat Cleaver on bass makes up a select company to interpret his creations as he intended them. The threesome find each other by touch as friends and colleagues, because their personalities and musical playgrounds mingle so well.
.
Herweg boasts a liberal mind, thinking in chances and possibilities. He recognizes a fundamental similarity between commercial hit music and intellectual jazz, as both could be based on a great idea. He feels that both concepts and free forms have the potential to produce relevant art. Owing to this mentality, he functioned superbly as a band leader for Caro Emerald and co-author of hit songs for Lange Frans, while weekly playing jazz standards in hotspot Café Nel at Amstelveld, Amsterdam. So, it won’t come as a surprise that he played in both the relatively pensive quintet Quincey and the pop/jazz band Finn Silver.
.
Ultimately, though, Herweg chooses for himself. Every artist wants to make his mark in a cutthroat competition. Realizing this, Herweg creates a distinct profile for himself by mainly doing what he does best, unburdened by too much lumber. As a jazz pianist and composer, he aspires to paddling his own canoe. He wants to come out of the shadows with his own music, his own people. The first manifestation of this is the album Lucid Musings in 2014. In the process, the jazz tradition is a starting point for him, not a final destination. The influence of composers like Debussy and Brahms is obvious, as is the inspiration Herweg gained at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. Scores of sources are usable. In the end, his destination lies in the music; that is the essence.” (by Jan Jasper Tamboer, music journalist)
http://daanherweg.com/
on 14/02/2017
back to top
