Ramón Valle & Jesse Van Ruller
Biography Ramón Valle & Jesse Van Ruller
Ramón Valle
was born in 1964 and has been living in Holland since 1998. He is not just a brilliant technician with a direct attack and the ability to create the finest nuances of sound, but also is a full-blooded musician who understands how to open his heart and soul through the use of the keyboards. It requires extraordinary musicianship to be able to play in this way: his sound is never sickly or too thick. Seldom has the jazz piano sounded so warm and thus so free from frippery. Valle’s piano style can be considered particularly “authentic”. He has a well-developed approach which could be no-one else’s, which comes from having a great self-awareness. And he treads a narrow path, never straying into excess with his musical beauty. Or at least: he knows how to play “beautifully” because he knows how to avoid making his music sound kitsch. Valle himself has confirmed that despite his background as a Cuban musician, he doesn’t want to sound 100% typically Cuban but 100% typically Valle. Latin jazz which doesn’t descend into cliché is his aim. It’s most apparent in his piano solo pieces: no sweet playing around with his right hand and no excessive of rhythmic trumps. Valle shows his Cuban identity between the lines of his musical style. His piano approach is technically brilliant with a lyrical and melodic litheness. A rhythmic subtlety forms an implicit foundation – but that comes from the inner elements of his compact, personal approach, and not from its external effects.
Jesse van Ruller
is known to be one of the best contemporary jazz guitarists on the scene today. His unique sound, virtuoso technique and beautiful compositions are praised around the globe.
In 1995 he won the prestigious Thelonious Monk Award in Washington . The jury, consisting of Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Jim Hall, Pat Martino and Mark Whitfield, was of the opinion that Jesse is one of the most promising talents of his time.
In the same year he graduated summa cum laude from the Hilversum Conservatory, where he studied with Wim Overgaauw. Since then he has collaborated with many of the worlds leading musicians. He was nominated for the Dutch Bird and Edison Awards several times and to date has released 11 albums as a leader or co-leader.
Jesse leads his own trio in which he continues to display his impressive talents as a jazz guitarist as well as a composer. In this classic guitar-bass-drums setting he unerringly combines all chords and melodies on his semi-acoustic jazz guitar; tradition, expertise and innovation un-insistently go hand in hand.
After some occasional drumming on various items, Clemens (1980) began singing and playing bass in the band of his older brothers (the Feenbrothers) at the age of eleven. Later on, he studied jazz and classical bass at the Conservatories of Amsterdam and Detmold (Germany) and received his Master Degree in both fields with honors.After playing with orchestras like the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, his main focus became jazz and improvised music. He lived in New York for a while to take lessons with Ben Street, among others. Returning to the Netherlands, he grew out to be one of the most sought-after bass players around. In 2010 Clemens started the Clemens van der Feen Band, resulting in an album called “High Places” (2011), with as special guest the great Toots Thielemans! The year 2013 saw the birth of yet a new band, the Clemens van der Feen 4tet, and a new album: “14PM” which was called “ one of the highlights of Dutch contemporary jazz…” by Jazzism Magazine. In 2022 he released a singer-songwriter album called ‘Pop into Being’ under the name Clemens Zebulon. The album was reviewed by Music Maker Magazine:
“…megatalent….lovely album…beautiful record with great songs”
Clemens is currently working with Tutu Puoane (SA/BE), the Paul Lay Trio (FR) and the Harmen Fraanje Trio. In 2021, Clemens was invited to play in theBrad Mehldau Quartet at the Transmission-Transition Festival. Clemens has performed with many other great musicians such as the late Toots Thielemans, Jesse van Ruller, Tony Malaby, Pablo Held, Chris Potter, Nelson Veras, Fred Hersch, Becca Stevens, Jorge Rossy, Greg Osby, Marc Copland, Lionel loueke, Jeff Ballard, Ben Monder and Billy Hart. Clemens has been playing all over the world, from jazz clubs in Paris and Tokyo to the Musikverein in Vienna and Carnegie Hall in New York. Clemens plays on a double bass by Daniël Royé from the collection of the NMF.
With professional musicians as parents, Wouter Kühne grew up in a musical environment. Already up at a very young age, he performed with them in different formations, and at the age of 7, he got his first drum lessons from Gerben Wester and René Smit. Because of his father’s passion for Jazz, he came into contact with old Jazz recordings and quickly developed a great interest in this music. This led to his being admitted to the Junior Jazz College at the age of 13, part of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where he received lessons from Gerhard Jeltes. In addition, he started playing in various Big Bands under the direction of Peter Guidi, and he made it at the age of 16 his debut at the North Sea Jazz Festival.
In 2014 he started his bachelor’s at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, where he was taught by Marcel Serierse, Martijn Vink, Lucas van Merwijk and Haye Jellema. In the same period he also had lessons and masterclasses from drummers like Peter Erskine, Willie Jones III, John Riley, Greg Hutchinson, Dennis Mackrel, and Billy Hart, and he got the chance to share the stage with musicians like Dick Oatts, Terrel Stafford, Aaron Parks, Joe Cohn, Bob Mintzer, Jason Marsalis, Benjamin Herman, Jasper Blom, Simon Rigter, Peter Beets, Henk Meutgeert, Jesse van Ruller, Martijn van Iterson, Bart van Lier, Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw, Ben van Gelder, Joris Roelofs, Reinier Baas and Maarten Hogenhuis.
In 2015 and 2017, he went to Senegal to take traditional percussion instrument Sabar lessons. He followed these lessons with Maguette Gueye.
In 2017 he won the Sena Performers “Gouden Slifje”, a prize for the most promising young jazz drummer of the moment, set up by drummer Joost Patocka. In 2018 he graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Conservatory of Amsterdam. In 2019 he started his Master’s study in Jazz Drum Set at Manhattan School Of Music in New York. There he was taught by Kendrick Scott, John Riley, Marc Carey and Phil Markowitz, among others.
Omar Rodriguez Calvo
was born in Matanzas, Cuba in 1973. He began his music studies (classical music, double bass) at the conservatory in Matanzas in 1984 and then studied double bass, electric bass, classical music, jazz and popular music at the School of Music (E.N.A - Escuela Nacional de Arte) and the I.S.A (Instituto Superior de Arte) in Havana from 1988 - 1992. He began playing with Argelia Fragoso at the age of 17 and later with Carlos Maza and Ramon Valle.
He moved to Hamburg in 1994 and has since played with artists such as Ramon Valle, the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, the NDR Bigband, Joe Gallardo, Matthias Höfs, Jenaer Philharmonie, Tingvall trío, Kurt Elling, Orlando "Maraca" Valle, Nils Landgren, Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, Perico Sambeat, Ernesto Simpson, Roy Hargrove, Mike Stern, Omar Sosa, Jesse van Ruller, Gerardo Núñez, Chano Dominguez, Ulf Wakenius, Orange Blue, Anette Maiburg, the formation Classica Cubana, the hr-Bigband (Parcifal Goes Habana)
In addition to three ECHO Jazz and five Gold Jazz Awards with the Tingvall Trio and the HANS for Production of the Year 2011, he received an ECHO Klassik with the formation Classica Cubana.
Further nominations: ECHO Jazz 2015 and 2016 as instrumentalist of the year national in the category double bass/e-bass[:en]1984 began to study classical music in Matanzas Cuba (E. V. A.) from 1988-1994 in La Habana (E. N. A.) and (I. S. A.) acoustic bass, electric bass, classic, and jazz. He has played with, Ramon Valle, Hamburger Symphoniker, NDR Bigband, Joe Gallardo, Matthias Höfs, Jenae Philharmonie, Tingvall-trio, Kurt Elling, Orlando "Maraca" Valle, Nils Landgren, Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, Perico Sambeat, Ernesto Simpson, Roy Hargrove, Mike Stern, Omar Sosa, Jesse van Ruller, Gerardo Núñez, Chano Dominguez, Ulf Wakenius, Orange Blue, Anette Maiburg, the Formation Classica Cubana, hr-Bigband (Parcifal Goes Habanna).
