SAS

Saskia Groenenberg has been performing on many stages in the Netherlands and abroad with various pop,soul and jazz formations and was a finalist in the Dutch jazzcompetition "Erasmus Jazz Prijs" in 2003. At the age of fourteen she was already performing on the stage of the Dutch jazzfestival "Jazz in Lighttown". It was her first encounter with jazz and definitely not her last! She was inspired by the bigband swing of the thirties (mainly Count Basie) and vocal jazz of the fifties. But she also loved to listen to great blues singers like Dinah Washington and Candi Staton and to the great soulmusic sang by Marvin Gaye and Donny Hathaway. She also had been influenced by the jazz,soul and dancemusic of today,her own generation. All of these styles can be heard in her arrangements but she clearly has a strong identity of her own! She mixes and integrates these styles of music into her own world and that results in arrangements that are fresh and swing and groove at the same time. She has a beautiful round,warm flexible voice that can move between powerful sounds and soft gentle improvisation with ease. During and after her studies at the Conservatory of Rotterdam (The Netherlands) she gained a lot of experience by performing with various pop and soul bands and founded her own jazz quintet a couple of years ago. In this quitet she plays with great professional musicians such as Joost Kroon, drummer of famous Dutch band "New Cool Collective" and with well known trombone player Ilja Reijngoud.With a wonderful band filled with talented musicians Saskia Groenenberg plays her own songs and arrangements that show a rich world of ideas. She tells a strong personal story that is sometimes extremely powerful and sometimes whispered but always moving. Her beautiful warm and flexible voice shows ease but is never afraid to provoke. Influences of jazz ,soul and funk of the sixties and seventies is well heard and translated into a style that is completely her own, and very convincing. Saskia graduated in 2004 with compliments about her timing,her soulfulness,fresh approach in arranging and use of lyrics and the strong presence on stage! She received praise on her vocal flexibility,unique style and POWER!Saskia Groenenberg has been involved in workshops in The Netherlands and Belgium,did several studio recordings for commercials and otherwise,did many guestperfomances.teaches singing and singing techniques and has collabarated with Dutch jazzmusicans such as Frans van Geest, Johan Clement and Stormvogel. Currently she is composing songs and arrangements for the debut CD of the Saskia Groenenberg Septet. Recently she recorded and released a CD with vocal group Three Acoustic (www.threeacoustic.nl)Saskia has been a student of jazz singer Fay Claassen and took composition classes with Belgium jazz pianist Kris Goessens. She was a soloist with the Big Band of the Rotterdam Conservatory.