Jasper van‘t Hof - keyboards
Bo Stief - bass
Annie Whitehead - trombone
Tony Lakatos - sax
Christian Kappe - trumpet
Moritz Müller - drums

Noone expected Dutch keyboarder and pianist Jasper van‘t Hof and his new band project HOTLIPS to make a radical break with his musical past, but a change of stylistic direction was certainly on the cards. After van‘t Hof‘s twenty years with the successful ethno line-up PILI PILI, his new sextet promised a stronger focus on jazz and fusion formats. The band does not copy historic jazz styles, however, preferring a far more contemporary fusion sound. Combining jazz with rock does go back three decades now, but the potential still seems to be far from exhausted. Jasper van‘t Hof brings all of the experience he has gained during the course of his musical career to his arrangements, combining the jazz idiom with minimalist repetition and harmonious recurring melodies reminiscent of Erik Satie; indeed, some of the phrases he has composed for the winds sound almost baroque. To this he adds his own excellent fusion keyboard, indulging in the pleasantly rich rhythmical force of Funk Rock, introducing much of the versatility of his ethno-jazz experience, but also allowing his musicians plenty of elbow room for brilliant excursions into improvisation. Otherwise van‘t Hof is distinctive for his sheer love of performance, which always inspires him to produce all kinds of keyboard surprises. All in all, a fabulous concert by a fabulous band!