TOOTS ON BELLS (1)
On Sunday 25 September 2022, I played “The Days Of Wine And Roses” on the carillon of Grimbergen, together with Olivier van der Bauwhede on harmonica. Concert in the context of 100th birthday of Toots Thielemans.
TOOTS ON BELLS (2)
Jean ‘Toots’ Thielemans – one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time – was born on 29 April 1922. To commemorate his 100th birthday, on Friday April 29, I improvised on the carillon in Mol on jazz standards that Toots played in a unique way on his harmonica. On the programme a.o. For My Lady, On Green Dolphin Street, The Days Of Wine And Roses, Stardust, Ne me quitte pas and Bluesette.
DJANGO BELLS
In 2007, carillonneur Carl VanEyndhoven met the members of the jazz manouche ensemble ‘Minor Sing’ at the festival “Swing sous les Etoiles-Miribel” (France). The alliance between carillon and manouche caught on with the audience: it was a memorable concert and the beginning of a lasting collaboration. In the years to follow there wereperformances in France, Belgium, The Netherlands and the Czech Republic. The joint fascination for the
music of Django Reinhardt and the unique sound of the bells resulted in the name of the new quintet: “Django Bells”. It is also the title of this first CD which was recorded in May 2017 in Prague.
CONCERT WÜRZBURG
On 2 August 2023, I played a concert on the carillon of the Neubaukirche (Alte Universität) in Würzburg. The Bayerischen Rundfunk made a short report beforehand, which was broadcast on both radio and TV. You can watch the report via this link: Carillon Concert Neubaukirche Würzburg
‘Left Unsaid’
On 23 January 2024, I played the premiere of “Left Unsaid”, a composition for carillon by Maurick Reuser. He wrote this work “in memoriam Wim Henderickx” (1962 – 2022) who was his composition teacher at the Antwerp conservatory. The carillon is by the 18th-century bell-founder Alexius Julien and hangs in the St Gummarus tower in Lier (B).