About Me
All that jazz!
FLABBERGUEST: smooth operators of rhythm, the next level of jazzhop blends... A musical crossfire of raw hip hop lyricism and fresh jazz playing. Bringing the music back to where it came from:
THE PEOPLE.
Not a crossover, not fusion, this is an encounter...
Pleased to meet you!
The concept of blending Jazz and Hip Hop music is far from new. However, in most efforts to do so, musicians have usually compromised one of the two ingredients in favour of the other, depending on which genre they come from.
This has resulted in a large number of Jazz-Hop or Rap-Jazz projects, some better than others, providing fans of both genres with multitude of options.
What makes Flabberguest stand out from (most) of their contemporaries, is the fact that its members set out to play real, improvisation based Jazz music and combine that with real Hip Hop rapping.
Neither one being emphasized at the cost of the other or watered down for commercial purposes.
The result of this is.... well, we’ll let you be the judge of that. Flabberguest hopes that you will enjoy listening to their music as much as they did creating it!
About the musicians:
Florian Hoefnagels (1972) started early on the piano and switched to drums at the age of 15. In 1997 he finished his studies at the Rotterdam and Arnhem conservatory (NL) summa cum laude. Since then, he is working as a freelance drummer, composer and guest-teacher at the ArtEZ conservatory, the Enschede Pop Academy and Rockacademy Tilburg.
In 1998 he was voted best soloist for the Dutch Jazz Competition. Florian Hoefnagels’ musical interests are various, from drum 'n bass to hiphop, rock to jazz and african to urban. Lately he played a.o. with Bill Solley and Kim Prevost (New Orleans), Flowriders, BostonTeaParty, Amina Figarova, Berget Lewis, Ebonique, David Kikoski , Benjamin Herman, Xander de Buisonje, Glennis Grace, Mark Dakriet, Replay, Big Black & Beautiful, Monsieur Dodo, Liesbeth List, Sinas, Branko en PlanPlan.
B-Phoenix (Floris ‘Bones’ Pel)- started writing raps in 1993 and further developed his skills by freestyling in the street and at local (house)-parties. He has been active on the Dutch underground scene since 2001, and made name for himself with battles and shows.
In addition he was featured on various underground releases and mixtapes. B-Phoenix has performed at Tivoli- Utrecht, Paradiso- Amsterdam, t.v. production ‘Raymann is laat’ and the North-Sea Jazz festival.
Miguel Boelens is one of the most sought-after saxophone players in Holland. While his sound is such a recognizable trade mark, the styles he plays are various. His playing is powerful, emotional and challenging, whether it is funky stuff, bands like ‘Raise the Roof’ or the ‘Bob Color Band’ or improvised jazz music with the ‘Martin Fondse Octemble’ or his latest band ‘DIMAMI’.
Jan Flubacher (Hamburg, 1972) was raised in the German cultural metropolis of Cologne. His interest in different kind of arts was broad from the very beginning. Most of these ‘flabberguest’ guys he met while studying contrabass at the Arnhem conservatory in the Netherlands. After he finished his studies in 2000 he started working as a freelance musician, composer and teacher at the ArtEZ conservatory (NL).
Over the years Jan Flubacher had the pleasure to share stage with many great musicians. The fact that making music together is a new challenge every time you go on stage is what excites him so much about his work!
Hans Kwakkernaat is a well known piano player, world famous in Holland! It is easier to count which Dutch jazz all-stars this piano-virtuoso did NOT play with than the other way round. Although he is a real jazz cat, he likes the challenge of contemporary, groove orientated and border-crossing adventures.
