NativeDSD Founders Jared and Jonas Sacks invited Meditation and Singing Bell Artist Leonie Schuurman (Body & Sound Sister) to our recording studio for the album Singing Bells Meditation.

With the streets quiet and the sky looming on an otherwise uneventful Sunday afternoon during an hours session Stereo, 5 Channel Surround Sound and Binaural Pure DSD 256 recordings were created.

We recommend to lie down if possible using headphones (best with the Binaural version) or speakers. Start with some deep and calm breathing. Make sure you are comfortable. It is nice to maybe remind fellow house-mates or family that you will be ‘offline’ for the next hour and ask them not to disturb you. If you are into scents or candles, this is the time to light them!

Begin by playing the meditation sounds and focus on understanding which frequencies resonate best with your body. As you immerse yourself, you’ll start to feel as if you’re floating on waves, gently carried by the resonating frequencies. In this state of pure bliss, you’ll find yourself eagerly awaiting the return of those harmonious tones.

Bells have a toning effect that offers therapeutic relief to the body such as muscle tension release, improved concentration and overall positivity as well as reducing stress, improving sleep quality, boosting immunity, or increasing creativity. The Tibetan Brass Meditation Bells used in this recording are free standing bells. Ringing a Bell helps you change your mind state if you feel that your thoughts are drifting away from the present moment. Once you ring the bell, your mind becomes re-focused on the “now”.

Enjoy!

Leonie Schuurman, Singing Bells Artist

The post Singing Bells Meditation [Pure DSD] appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

“My grandson. His birth, in early 2023, had an overwhelming emotional impact on me. I experienced an unspeakable feeling of sheer joy and happiness, but there was also an almost unavoidable underlying sense of worry. What challenges await him and his generation? I had no choice but to start looking for songs of love, hope, comfort, life, and childhood, and perform them in the most intimate and vulnerable setting.

How lucky I was to run into pianist Jeroen van Vliet again. We had played as a duo before (at the closing weekend of the old Bimhuis in 2005), and he was part of my semi-acoustic quartet, Executive Lounge. His strong sense of form, sensibility, creativity, and musical intuition would make a perfect match for my intentions for this album.”

– Angelo Verploegen

Angelo Verploegen, Flugelhorn
Jeroen van Vliet, Piano

The post Little Dancer: Songs of Love, Hope & Comfort appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

The album reunites Angelo Verploegen with drummer Jasper van Hulten who previously appeared together at NativeDSD on The Duke Book, a unique Jazz duo treatment of Duke Ellington Orchestra classics. It also marks the 5th album at NativeDSD featuring pianist Marc van Roon.

“It’s not really in my nature to look back. For me, being a musician is mainly about staying in shape, preparing for upcoming projects, and finding an outlet for my inspiration and ideas. So, it’s a constant flow of forward motion.

But… turning 60 last year suddenly led me to look back, to reflect on what I’ve been doing all these years. In this moment of retrospection, I felt the urge to select some of the compositions I’ve written over the past 25 years for various formations and occasions and perform them with a classical jazz quintet lineup.

Now, if I could interest Jared and Jonas Sacks in recording this project for Just Listen Records, we would have a handful of musicians for our fifth (yet another handful!) album together. And things worked out! I feel extremely happy and privileged to have done this with a group of outstanding musicians: saxophonist Nils van Haften, pianist Marc van Roon, bassist Guus Bakker, and drummer Jasper van Hulten, along with the Just Listen crew. All of the (a little over a handful) original compositions presented here tell their own story…”
– Angelo Verploegen

Angelo Verploegen, Flugelhorn
Nils van Haften, Saxophone
Marc van Roon, Piano
Guus Bakker, Bass
Jasper van Hulten, Drums

The post A Handful Of Stories appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

In the modern jazz landscape, where innovation and experimentation prevail, the human interaction of jazz sometimes runs the risk of being lost. Saxophonist Jasper Staps and pianist Rembrandt Frerichs are returning the focus to telling a musical story and the pure beauty of jazz on their highly anticipated debut album. After a friendship of twenty-five years and countless joint performances in between their individual projects, they are finally joining forces to treat the world to The First at Last – two seasoned jazz icons playing in quartet with two fresh up-and-comers who have swing running in their blood, making a magnificent album of “simply good jazz”.

The album is a celebration of their deep-rooted friendship and a tribute to the musical movements that have inspired them from a young age. Jasper Staps and Rembrandt Frerichs met years ago at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and immediately felt a strong connection. While Jasper shaped his career as an arranger, conductor and sideman in jazz orchestras, Rembrandt followed his curiosity and developed into a pianist-composer who performed all over the world, experimenting with different musical genres, from Middle Eastern and Early music to collaborations with classical music orchestras. Although they each went their separate ways, the friendship remained strong and brotherly, always finding each other during small performances in between, playing jazz music. On this album, Staps and Frerichs are joined by young musicians Matheus Nikolaievsky on double bass and Mitchell Damen on drums. The interplay between the experienced jazz veterans and the rhythm section of rookies creates an interesting dynamic within the band. It is a meeting of established names and promising newcomers, resulting in a lively and fresh sound.

Jazz on Historical Instruments – a vintage sound

A remarkable aspect of this album is Rembrandt’s choice to play on a historic 1903 Fortepiano by the top French instrument maker Erard. An instrument that represents a piano sound also heard by Gershwin and the early jazz pianists when they made their jazz…. This historic instrument has a unique character, a somewhat sleeker sound than modern Steinways that are often so harsh that they suppress all the overtones of saxophone and double bass. Staps his saxophone has a very vintage character as well. “I chose the piano because of Jasper’s sound,” says Frerichs. “Jasper has such a beautiful timbre – when he plays you step into a bath of sound. I wanted the same vintage tone, and playing on a first-rate instrument that they might have played on in the fifties – it’s a nod to classical chamber music, historical performance practice, as well as the jazz we listened to as boys.”

The quartet has chosen to record with Just Listen Records, an audiophile label that makes their own recordings, and always do so in a live setting, in a place where the musicians can be in the same room and close to each other, preserving the live energy. They are happy to embrace possible imperfections or bleed in the pursuit of rendering their music as naturally as possible.

Jasper Staps, Saxophone
Rembrands Frerichs, Piano
Matheus Nikolaievsky, Double Bass
Mitchell Damen, Drums

The post The First at Last [Pure DSD] appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Intizar: Songs of Longing is exclusively available in Stereo and 5 Channel Surround Sound DSD at NativeDSD.Com

Motamedi, a celebrated singer in Iran, is a masterful improviser and has a head full of Iranian poetry – he gets inspired by the mood of the music and then chooses a poem to improvise freely over the music. This album contains pieces that fit the more spiritual, traditional Persian repertoire, as well as a number of more worldly songs on which the Rembrandt Trio is expanded into a larger ensemble, with violin, cello and clarinet. Thus, the collaboration between the Rembrandt Trio and Motamedi becomes an adventurous journey through the colorful Persian musical landscape, where musicians from different continents find a shared language in music and improvisation.

Motamedi & Rembrandt Trio

The Rembrandt Trio, consisting of Rembrandt Frerichs (piano), Tony Overwater (double bass/violone) and Vinsent Planjer (drums and percussion), shares a deep curiosity and wanderlust, and has successfully collaborated several times with Iranian grandmasters like Hossein Alizadeh and Kayhan Kalhor. Because of their jazz background, the trio has extensive experience in improvisation, which is essential to their successful collaborations with Iranians; improvisation plays a crucial role in traditional Persian classical music.

Motamedi’s approach is fascinating; upon hearing the trio’s first bars, he delves into his memory to find poems that fit the mood. He knows countless poems from the Persian canon, which he recites and sings, while freely improvising on the trio’s music and being rhythmically guided by the metre. The text is fixed, but the melody and music intertwine, responding to each other and allowing for plenty of improvisation.

The collaboration between Motamedi and the Rembrandt Trio grew out of a special friendship that began with a spontaneous jam session at Tony Overwater’s kitchen table. For the trio, which rarely works with vocalists, Motamedi’s presence adds an extra layer of meaning. Now, in addition to notes, there are also words that carry meaning, even if it is a foreign language to them. The trio faces the challenge of feeling, interpreting and translating the content of Motamedi’s vocals into their own playing.

(Songs of) Longing

The album was recorded before the recent uprisings in Iran. However, in retrospect, almost all of the lyrics Motamedi uses are directly or indirectly about the suffering of his beloved homeland. The title, “Intizar,” represents the longing for freedom and a better time. It is a word used in Turkish, Farsi and Arabic and expresses hopeful anticipation. This album symbolizes the inner struggle in Iranian culture while offering hope for a new era, a return to a freer and more open society.

Two worlds

‘Intizar’ contains both worldly and spiritual music, reflecting the two facets of modern Iranian culture. Iranian worldly music often includes popular songs from the regional tradition, complemented by Western instruments and playing styles. This album contains two pieces from the worldly tradition and four pieces more in keeping with the classical Persian tradition, characterized by the use of poetry combined with instrumental and vocal improvisation. The Rembrandt Trio and Motamedi interpret these styles in their own unique way, combining instruments from Western and ancient music.

Location

The album was recorded at the Orgelpark in Amsterdam, a former church converted into a concert hall for (church) organs. The venue’s diverse organs and exceptional acoustics, especially for chamber and organ music, made for the ideal place to record Motamedi’s vocals. The combination of organs with Motamedi’s improvisations is a rarity, making it a unique aspect of the album.

Instrumentation

The musical system of Persian music differs from the Western European system in that it is modal in nature and uses microtonal ranges, while European music uses harmony and tempered tuning. The piano, designed as a tempered instrument, is not ideal for microtonal music. Nevertheless, an Iranian piano school has emerged that experiments with the piano because of its similarity to the santur, a hammered dulcimer. In this, Rembrandt Frerichs has developed his own language by using the old fortepiano (from the time of Mozart) as a starting point. This instrument is more closely related to the santur and, because of its construction and more subtle sound, allows itself to be better used for the modal Persian ranges.

Rembrandt Frerichs played several instruments on this album: the Walter fortepiano (from 1790), an Erard fortepiano (from 1889) and a number of organs from the Orgelpark. For the piece “in the Middle of the garden,” he tuned the Walter fortepiano to the dasthgah Nava, using microtones. Tony Overwater uses both the violone, forerunner of the double bass and related to the viola da gamba, and the double bass on the album.

Vinsent Planjer plays a self-assembled set of percussion instruments that he calls the Whisperkit. Maya Fridman (cello), Maarten Ornstein (clarinet) and Myrthe Helder were invited to enrich some of the compositions and arrangements on the album with their playing.

Mohammad Motamedi – Vocals
Rembrandt Frerichs – Piano, Fortepiano & Organ
Tony Overwater – Violone & Double Bass
Vinsent Planjer – Whisper Kit & Percussion
Myrthe Helder – Violin
Maya Fridman – Cello
Maarten Ornstein – Clarinet

This album has been reviewed in our blog by music reviewer Rush Paul. Go To Article

The post Intizar: Songs of Longing appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

As a pianist who is extremely well versed in two distinct musical vocabularies – Jazz and Classical – Xavi Torres explores new ways of bringing these worlds together in his very own interpretations of Beethoven’s piano sonatas. With deep respect for these key works of the classical repertoire, Torres honors the compositions while finding freedom within their structures.

In a subtle interplay with bass clarinet player Joris Roelofs and drummer Joan Terol, Torres explores patterns and textures within the pieces, avoiding the standard jazz approach and instead making us listen to the sonatas in a new way, lifting out passages and details, bringing his own perspective and authorship to the timeless compositions.

Xavi Torres – Piano
Joris Roelofs – Bass Clarinet
Joan Terol – Drums

The post Kind of Beethoven appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

The album is available in Stereo and 5 Channel Surround Sound DSD 256, DSD 128, DSD 64 and DXD plus Stereo DSD 512.  It is also available as an 180 gram LP on this page.  It is not available on SACD.

This album captures ZILT’s playful interpretation of this repertoire and the spontaneous and informal style they developed to match their material, calling to mind the small crowded stage on which their music evolved. We can hear Blom and Cleaver explore the boundaries between high and low art, popular and high-brow, in a musical dialogue between different generations and eras of Jazz.

ZILT
Jasper Blom – Saxophone
Ian Cleaver – Trumpet
Thomas Pol – Bass
Wouter Kuhne – Drums

The post ZILT plays Mengelberg & Ellington (180g Vinyl) appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

The album is available in Stereo and 5 Channel Surround Sound DSD 256, DSD 128, DSD 64 and DXD plus Stereo DSD 512.  It is also available as an 180 gram LP.  It is not available on SACD.

This album captures ZILT’s playful interpretation of this repertoire and the spontaneous and informal style they developed to match their material, calling to mind the small crowded stage on which their music evolved. We can hear Blom and Cleaver explore the boundaries between high and low art, popular and high-brow, in a musical dialogue between different generations and eras of Jazz.

ZILT
Jasper Blom – Saxophone
Ian Cleaver – Trumpet
Thomas Pol – Bass
Wouter Kuhne – Drums

The post ZILT plays Mengelberg & Ellington appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

ZILT plays Mengelberg & Ellington is the project born from the ongoing musical conversation between Jasper Blom and Ian Cleaver on Just Listen. They met at the Amsterdam Conservatory, where Blom, a renowned saxophonist, was teaching – and Cleaver, a talented young trumpet player, came to study. Their lessons grew into jam sessions, and soon they took their music to the small stage of a whiskey bar in the center of Amsterdam: Café ZILT. With Thomas Pol on bass and Wouter Kuhne on drums they played compositions by the idiosyncratic Dutch Jazz pianist and composer Misha Mengelberg, balanced with pieces by the legendary bandleader and composer Duke Ellington.

This album captures ZILT’s playful interpretation of this repertoire and the spontaneous and informal style they developed to match their material, calling to mind the small crowded stage on which their music evolved. We can hear Blom and Cleaver explore the boundaries between high and low art, popular and high-brow, in a musical dialogue between different generations and eras of Jazz.

ZILT
Jasper Blom – Saxophone
Ian Cleaver – Trumpet
Thomas Pol – Bass
Wouter Kuhne – Drums

The post ZILT plays Mengelberg & Ellington (Download & Vinyl Bundle) appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Kobra is a cross-section of the Kobra Ensemble’s broad repertoire, in which harmonies and timbres are central. Music with character, full of love and emotion, but never sugary.

Kobra begins with two folk songs about love. The first song, Kaval Sviri, is a popular Bulgarian folk song about a flute player. A powerful song with addictive harmonies that you will want to keep diving into.

From the extroverted final chord, Kobra moves on to the intimate beginning of Ezili, a song from Haiti. In the alternation of hushed chords and exuberant rhythms, intense sadness and the celebration of love may coexist.

The Ludions form a light-hearted interlude: five small poems about striking animals, romantic pain, and exotic love. Léon-Paul Fargue’s Dadaist texts are full of children’s and gibberish, which mainly have meaning in sound. Erik Satie’s original was arranged by Gustavo Trujillo for the Kobra Ensemble.

Kobra ends with two lullabies, in very different forms. Until the Sleep is a particularly precious piece for Kobra. Hayo Boerema’s modern classical composition has never been recorded before. The beautiful text by Ida Gerhardt is a call to surrender to the night.

Finally, the fairytale-like Hushabye Mountain reassures the listener. In the flowing arrangement by Kobra’s own Nina Rompa, you don’t have to do anything but sail along to a place where you can be without worries.

In short, Kobra is a patchwork of music, brought together by Kobra’s versatile musicianship.

Kobra Ensemble
Ingrid Doude van Troostwijk
Karlijn Hamer
Lonneke Kegels
Lea Klarenbeek
Sterre Konijn
Nina Rompa
Saskia Voorbach

Making of Video

The post Kobra [DSD EP] appeared first on NativeDSD Music.