About Me
"Your music sounds very impressive!
Exciting music!
Reminds me of the fifties "film noir" scenes and soundtracks.
You're not "your average bluesband".
Miles, Bird, Billy H. come into mind".
Many people appear to agree to this quote of Bluesfarm of Jay & Maria.
An exclusive kind of band, their music is intense and full of atmosphere, it moves your soul deeply.
The musicians, having achieved distinction playing gigs both at home and abroad, are - each and every one of them – great as a soloist, but also together they form an unprecedentedly tight group.
On stage there’s a great deal of chemistry going on!
The combination of an extremely varied repertoire, a mixture of original material and adapted songs, – through which all possible emotions are expressed in the different songs, ranging from heartbreaking through melancholy to cynical – and the evident pleasure that the band exudes, keep the audience entranced from beginning to end.
Their first CD, for the greater part containing original material, will be released by the end of November, 2008.
The band members have very different backgrounds in several respects: the singer is half-Italian, the guitar player half-German, the bass player has partly German roots, the drummer has his roots on the Molukken. Actually, the blues harpist is the only genuine Dutchman..
Also their musical background shows a great deal of variety ( check “band membersâ€)
The band is fronted by singer Mariëlla Tirotto: "what you see is not what you get".
Italian dynamite wrapped in a creamy chocolate! Confused?? Read more!
What you see:
* A half Italian, slightly-built woman, 1.59m in stocking feet
* Ultra-feminine, with exotic features
* Long dark hair, long nails
* Extravagant, colourful, flowing dresses and skirts
* Court shoes or boots with stiletto heels
* A woman – literally – of many faces
What you get:
* A bundle of contradictions, a woman – literally – of many faces
* Powerful and explosive, subtle and subdued
* Intense and raw, fragile and vulnerable
* A deep, mellow and full-bodied voice that sometimes sounds low and
whispery, or passionate and husky, with gale-force energy
*The voice of a "big fat mama"; it’s been compared to voices such as
those of the black singers Etta James, Carmen McRae, Cassandra
Wilson and Eartha Kitt.
Beautiful voice, when she sings low, it reminds me a bit of Eartha Kitt, one of my favourite singing ladies (source: Nicko Christiansen from the Livin Blues Xperience)
What a voice! (Source: Bertus Borgers, the first time he heard her sing)
Whatever happens, with a voice like that, you can make it ... if it were wine, I’d describe it as deeply dark woodland berries with full, woody tones and a very long aftertaste (source: review by Sante Brun)
The half-Italian Tirotto has a smoky voice that has you starting upright in your chair, very low: she’s a dark contralto. She has a powerful voice and can do anything. Mariëlla Tirotto can’t be given a label (source: review by Nico Koolsbergen/ Brabants Dagblad)
It’s this voice that’s so immensely fascinating … warm, deep, raw, with the power of a canon, then again it’s soft and subdued, but you can almost taste the restraint (source: interview with Hans Jacobs/ De Gelderlander)
Mariëlla Tirotto has a low, husky voice that’s sometimes reminiscent of the unsurpassed Cassandra Wilson (source: review by Jean Paul Heck, journalist for the Telegraaf)
This contrast between her extremely feminine appearance and her powerful vocal chords and dynamic performance sometimes makes you wonder whether she’s actually the singer …. But that is, of course, the case. Come and check it out!!!!
In the Netherlands, she has become famous for her jazz album Stranger and her own jazz quintet with performances on national Dutch television, in the programmes Barend en Van Dorp/ NPS radio/ Vara Radio, etc.) for which jazz celebrities such as the sax player Rolf Delfos, flautist Ronald Snijders and Bob Malach (this American tenor sax player used to tour with the Steve Miller Band, a long time ago) have been invited. Versatility is her strongest point: over the years, she has sung in a variety styles in different bands: pop, rock, soul and funk as well as blues and jazz.
The master guitar player Harald Koll – Heins’ cousin– uses as many as three guitars to tell his musical tale. He makes them weep, growl (and growls along with them sometimes), sing and thrum. Sometimes he takes Mariëlla's mike to scat his solos. His passion is mirrored in his mimics, particularly during his solos, which are sometimes fiery but, more especially, always catchy.
Michel de Kok, on the blues harp, knows how to add an extra dimension to the music with his passionate playing: it’s clear that he lets himself become carried away by the music.He plays cordlessly, and this often gives him the opportunity to visit the audience. Maybe he’ll be wearing his sunglasses, maybe not – it depends on his mood.
Mariëlla’s husband, bass player / pianist Heins Greten, expresses his musical emotions by playing the bass, grooving in an incredible way one minute, while switching to his piano the next, conjuring up enchantingly beautiful, melancholic chords.
Drummer John Kakiay is the other half of the rhythm tandem. His playing, at times solid, at others, more subtle but more especially playful and laid-back, provides a firm foundation. John and Heins feel each other’s moves intuitively, so everything just swings and grooves without the rest of the band cutting in: an ensemble that’s not experienced very often.
