Ray Anderson, trombone 1952 USA. He took up the trombone in fourth grade, influenced by his father's dixieland recordings. Named five straight years as best trombonist in the Down Beat Critics Poll and declared ‘most exciting slide brass player of his generation’ by the Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, Anderson has shown remarkable range. He has led or co-led a daunting assortment of tradition-minded and experimental groups and is recognized as an original and compelling composer. Played and recorded with a.o. Carla Bley, Charlie Haden, John Scofield, Dewey Redman, Joe Lovano, Bob Stewart, Allen Toussaint, Steve Ray Vaughn, Branford Marsalis and many others.

Han Bennink, drums 1942 NL, is a co-founder of the ICP, long-time associate of Misha Mengelberg, and one of the most in-demand drummers in Europe. He has performed and recorded with many, many jazz musicians such as Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins, as well as European improvisers such as Peter Brötzman, Derek Bailey and Willem Breuker. Bennink received a lot of (international) awards and is internationally recognized as a leading and unique musician.He trained as a graphic artist and has exhibited work in several media, including sculptures from found objects, including broken drum heads and drumsticks; he also designs his own LP and CD sleeves.

Frank Möbus, guitar 1966 BRD. The popular guitarist Möbus studied guitar in Boston (USA) and is the founder of the group Der Rote Bereich, co-leader of Carlos Bica’s Azul, co-leader of Erdmann 3000 and is a member of the Rainer Tempel bands, Dejan Terzic Underground and Wired Paradise by Yuri Honing. He played with lots of international musiciens such as Louis Sclavis, Chris Speed, Mark Helias,Till Brönner, Jim Black, Maria Joao, John Tchicai, Herb Geller, Karl Berger and Herb Robertson. Played all over the world and teaches guitar at the conservatory in Luzern (CH) and in Weimar.

Ernst Glerum, bass 1955 NL. During his studies he joined contemporary music ensembles (ASKO ensemble) as well as improvised music groups (Curtis Clark, Hans Dulfer, JC Tans, Theo Loevendie).With the Amsterdam String Trio and the Instant Composers Pool Orchestra he played many international stages. Has performed with such artists as Steve Lacy, George Lewis, Bud Shank, Teddy Edwards, Lee Konitz, Benny Maupin, Jamaladeen Tacuma, John Zorn, Don Byron, Uri Caine and many others, often along with Han Bennink. Performs also in the Guus Janssen Trio, Trio Bennink/Borstlap/Glerum and Available Jelly. He was recipient of the Boy Edgar Prize 2009.

Paul van Kemenade, altosax 1957 NL, started 1977 own groups and played in jazz-world-improvised music bands like Contraband, Vaalbleek, Podium Trio, Surinam Music Ensemble and many more. Played with South- and West Africans, with Aki Takase, David Murray, Kenny Wheeler, Jasper van ‘t Hof, Zim Ngqawana, Metropole Orchestra, Feya Faku, Ali Haurand, Palinckx brothers, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Niko Langenhuijsen and many more. He still leads his own bands and plays a.o. with Braam, Vloeimans, Fraanje, Busch, German groups and many others. He is director of festival Stranger than Paranoia and received in 2000 the Boy Edgar Prize and in 2007 a Royal decoration.

Press reviews

The Guardian (UK): **** Vortex, London 2010.
Alto saxophonist Paul van Kemenade’s good-humoured quintet sounded, on its vivacious Vortex visit, like a contemporary jazz band to its fingertips. Some of it suggested what a Charles Mingus group might have become, but there was nothing retro about this show. The great Dutch drummer Han Bennink smiling ecstatically, and sustaining a more emphatically propulsive pulse with the brushes than most drummers manage with sticks.The group juggled amiably with a catchy three-note motif on the sprightly Who's in Charge?, the leader's bop-rooted alto lines and Anderson's remarkable repertoire of hard-blown accents, rich long sounds, swarming-bee noises and slithery elisions developing it over Glerum's booming bass-walk. Möbus's Pet Shop opened in sleepy, long tones deepened by thick horn harmonies like an Ornette Coleman ballad, and the piece gracefully combined an ambient feel with a contrastingly pebbly and urgent chatter from the drums. Van Kemenade's quiveringly tender tone and delicately inviting phrasing led his own Close Enough, before an effusively Cuban groove closed the set. A similarly impish second half included a long-lined Anderson theme reminiscent of the cool-bop guru Lennie Tristano, more languorously Mingus-like hip swing broken up by Möbus's shards of abstract guitar sound, and bursts of ensemble clamour as convivial as an old New Orleans band.

LondonJazz (UK):
This multinational quintet clearly love each other's musicial company; the smiles on their faces said it all - Anderson couldn't help grinning all the way through, Glerum beamed as the band settled in, and Bennink's irrepressible laughter and whoops were just part of his rich repertoire. This ensemble has a natural ability to vary the pace, and swing from one gear to another in the blink of an eye. Anderson's understated masterclass on slide trombone was an exposition of its full range and tonal richness - acknowledging, in this context, JJ Johnson's and Mangelsldorff's small groups - counterpoised perfectly by Van Kemenade's alto, batting licks mixed with precise duets, and pushing out growls straight from the Mingus canon. Bennink, wicked as ever, cooked up a rich stew of light clatterings, all manner of brushwork and sharp attacks - astonishingly, on a single snare drum. Glerum's practiced bass often set the tone, blending with Möbus's carefully placed chordwork.

JazzTimes (USA): Berlin Jazz Festival 2010
Outta’ New Jersey came trombonist Ray Anderson, a repeat visitor to this festival over the years. Anderson showed up one night at the club Quasimodo in a great band led by fine Dutch alto saxophonist Paul van Kemenade and witty Dutchman Han Bennink on drums … well, a single snare, to be precise, played colorfully with brushes, sticks and the occasional shoe.

Ruhrnachrichten (BRD):
One of the highlights of the Berlin JazzFest 2010.

Leeuwarder Courant (NL):
Equivalent giants.