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The Rosenberg Trio
There is no precise date when the Rosenberg Trio actually started to be a trio. Being kids of a very musical family they grew up with the music of Django Reinhardt.
In 1974 Hans Meelen met for the first time, members of the Sinti-community. Stochelo was 6 years old at that time. Hans started to play in the churches with Sani Rosenberg (the father of Nous'che and Nonnie), Wasso Grünholz (grandfather of Stochelo) and Storo Berger on violin.
When Stochelo was about 10 years old he started to play the guitar together with cousin and buddy Nous'che. Hans Meelen formed the band "Manouche" with Stochelo, Nous'che and Rino van Hooydonk on guitar, Hans on clarinet and Gijs van Helden or Leon de Wijs on bass. They played in Holland and Belgium.
In 1980 Hans arranged that they could play for a local radio-station and he used the recordings of that program to introduce the band to a childrens TV-contest. It was only for children so Nous'che, Stochelo and Rino were the only members of the band that were allowed to play there. People loved what they were doing and they won the first prize.
After that Nous'che and Stochelo sometimes played in churches. A record company was interested in those little boys and offered a contract. But, being members of their church, the kids were not allowed to play for the "common" world. The only thing that Hans could achieve with the family was that the boys would play one track on a record that was made for the jubilee of the local radio station. That was in fact the first recording of Stochelo and Nous'che (now a collector's item!).
From that day on till 1989 they only played in churches and gypsy camps all over Europe. In that time Nonnie started playing with his little brother and cousin. Hans Meelen often joined them on those trips. The boys became very famous but only within the gypsy-community.
Hans knew that there was so much more to reach for those talented boys and finally on the 17th of June 1989 he succeeded in taking Nous'che and Stochelo with him to Samois. He planned that they could play some songs between the acts. Nonnie wasn't there and a stand-in bassplayer had to be arranged. The audience was completely overwhelmed by the talent of Stochelo and Hans asked Jon Larsen of Hotclub Records if he was interested in recording a CD with the boys for his label, and he was.
A short time later, the first CD was recorded for the Hot Club Records label. This CD, "Seresta," found great praise among many followers of Django Reinhardt, and it was said that the successor to Django had been found. That was the moment of their breakthrough and they were soon asked to play at jazz festivals all over the world. The trio was booked to perform with Luciano Pavarotti and with Shirley Bassey. Stéphane Grappelli asked them to play with him at Carnegie Hall to celebrate his 85th birthday, an event still considered by the Rosenbergs as the highlight of their career.
Stochelo has played as guest musician on several recordings, among them the 25th anniversary CD of The Manhattan Transfer.
When the Rosenbergs go on tour, they always ask other musicians to join them. They have performed with Frits Landesbergen on vibes, Eddie Conard on percussion, Ellen Helmes on flute and Sylvia Houtzager on violin. In 1996 they toured with the Jan Molenaar's 30-piece big band. In 1997 they played at a Jazz Night with Lils Macintosh, vocals, The Beets Brothers, and the Stylus Horns II. In the season 1998/99 they went "Back to Basic". In other words, a show just with the three Rosenbergs, a combination that is so loved by their fans, all over the world.
The summer of 1999 they used for recording the CD "Je zoenen zijn zoeter" with Herman van Veen, a famous Dutch singer/performer. They went to Germany and Belgium with Herman van Veen and had succesfull shows in Berlin, München, Bonn, Brussels and Paris. They loved to take part in this show with the very skilled musicians of Herman van Veen. In the meantime their own show "Back to Basic II" went on in the Dutch theaters and they played at jazz festivals in Zweden, Finland, Belgium and The Netherlands.
They love the challenge of playing with other musicians. They recorded three songs for the new album of the Dutch first lady of Jazz Rita Reys. And they made shows with the piano player Peter Beets and the famous guitarist Jan Akkerman. A highlight for Stochelo was the Patrimonium Jazzfestival at Corsica where he played with Dorado Schmitt, Birelli Lagrene an Romane. With Romane he also did some concerts in France.
Stochelo's friendship with Romane lead to the fantastic acoustic album Élegance. An album full with new compositions of Romane and Stochelo. The CD shows the skill of both guitarists and their respect towards each other.
In August 2000 the Trio started with the recordings for their new album. The choice wasn't very difficult, after the Spanish project they loved to make a Latin album. With the help of Leonardo Amuedo, who is originally from Uruguay and a fantastic guitarist himself, they played 12 songs for the album Sueños Gitanos. This time they had the honour of having Toots Thielemans as one of their guests on the CD. The release was January 22nd 2001.
In the same time that they recorded for the CD a new documentary about their live was made. This documentary was on TV in The Netherlands in February 2001.
Also in 2001 one of the most successful cooperations in the theaters started for The Rosenberg Trio. In March they toured for 3 months with the famous Dutch pianist Louis van Dijk. It was a success from the beginning on. The virtuous piano playing of Louis in combination with the fast fingers of Stochelo and the solid rhythm group of Nous'che and Nonnie made a party of each night they perform. All the theaters are sold out months before the shows were scheduled.
