!!! the famous SABBATICAL is almost over!!!
WITH SOME OF THE BUSIEST PERIODES OF OUR LIVES ALMOST BEHIND US, WE WILL START TO MAKE SOME TIME FOR MBF AGAIN. ALTHOUGH IT WON'T ALWAYS BE EASY (one of us is a brand-new daddy, what a kick!), WE'LL START TO PERFORM AGAIN THIS SEASON (if the booking-god is in our favour, that is). SO STAY TUNED, COS' AS A WISE AND FAMOUS MASTER ONCE SAID: WE'LL BE BACK!
MONK BY FOUR explores the music and the styles of the famous jazzpianist and -composer Thelonious "Sphere" Monk, also known as "the High Priest of Bebopâ€. Although a lot of Monk's tunes became jazz standards, the repertoire tackled by this band also consists of lesser known music. Everything is presented with original arrangements by the band members and combinations ranging from solo to the whole quartet. The accent lies on surprise, interplay, dynamism, enthusiasm, humour and off course on...Monk!
THE BAND started out as a project by Matt Heyman for the Conservatory in Antwerp, with as goal to explore some of the Monk songbook. After this first succesfull try-out somewhere around may 2006, they took the project further out, and decided the delve some deeper in the virtual goldmine of known and unknown Thelonious Monk tunes.
This resulted in a series of concerts in venues such as the Hnita Jazzclub in Heist-op-den-Berg, the Music Village and JazzOlive in Brussels, the Hopper, the USA Jazzclub, deSingel & the Muze in Antwerp, Cantaloupe Café in Aarschot, the Jazzzolder in Mechelen, the Hot Club de Gand in Ghent, Kaffee 'T Schaap in Hasselt, Café RoodWit in Berchem, Café Apero, Café Reynaert and STUCCafé in Leuven and the Lemmensinstituut...
On some special occasions, tenorist Victor Perdieus will join us in celebrating the music and musings of Monk, thus making our quartet a quintet: the birth of Monk by Four +ONE...
The bandmembers are:
ROEL VANHOECK (altosax), studied classical saxophone at the Musicacademy of Mortsel, and continued to study jazz at the Lemmensintituut, where he graduated under Frank Vaganée. He is currentely a member of the Vannistelrooyquintet & Vacuum Child, and regulary leads his own quartets. He attended masterclasses by such people as Bob Mintzer, Erwin Vann, John Ruocco,…
LENNART VAN PRAET (piano), studied classical piano at the Musicacademy in Dilbeek. After these studies he started (and already finished too!) studying jazz with Ron Van Rossum at the Lemmensinstituut at Leuven. He plays in such bands as Doo Doo Down, Starcheck, and Nagelbijter, apart from leading the LVP trio. Also, he followed masterclasses with Jack Van Poll, Bill Carrothers, Toots Thielemans,... and teaches piano in various schools.
VINCENT DIERICKX (drums), studied percussion on the Musicacademy of Mortsel and has already gained some experience as a pop- and rockdrummer. After his studies at the University, he started at the Lemmensinstituut to study drums with Dré Pallemaerts, where he finished his studies last year. He followed masterclasses with Billy Hart, Phil Woods, Stéphane Galland, Toots Thielemans etc.
MATT HEYMAN (bass), studied 3 years of classical double bass with Frank Coppieters at the Conservatory of Brussels. He has recently finished his jazzstudies with Nicolas Thys at the Conservatory of Antwerp, where he was also taught by Piet Verbist and Gulli Gudmundsson. He already followed masterclasses with Ron Carter, Hein Van de Geyn, and Eddie Gomez among others. Matt is sideman to such bands as the YJO (Youth Jazz Orchestra), Dries Vleugels Group, and Ramses IV, is the leader and (co-)arranger of Sullivan Street Group and Monk by Four, and teaches double bass, ensemble and music history at the Musicacademy of Herentals and jazzhistory at the Jazzstudio in Antwerp.
If you are interested in BOOKING "Monk by Four", you can CONTACT Matt Heyman on [email protected]