Written by Dutch composer, producer and keyboard player Edgar van Asselt released his latest album “The Gentle Insult” last Friday. Featuring Jeroen Vierdag on bass and Jorge Rossy on drums and vibes, this album contains nine tracks, all composed by the trio’s leader Edgar van Asselt, and will be available on CD and LP (Via Bandcamp) and all of the major streaming and download platforms.
Asselt describes ‘The Gentle Insult’ as a thought provoking title that is colorful, high-energy and features nine brand new compositions fusing jazz, latin, pop and classical music into a warm sounding record. “I’m thrilled to produce this album together with Jeroen Vierdag on bass and Jorge Rossy on drums and vibes” stated Asselt. He continued, I like to think that the album is influenced by absurdism, surrealism and the use of ‘rogue semantics”.
Van Asselt considers his album ‘an outside-the-box, and a musical response in confusing times’. A colorful variety of things inspired him to the song titles. Such as the stellar quote ‘I Love it When a Plan Comes Together’ from the epic 80’s series ‘the A-team’. The viral media presence of billionaire tycoon Bill Gates made him ponder what the sound would be of ‘Bill at the Gates’. And when taking a break he laid on his back and observed the ‘Madness of the Clouds’.
Van Asselt wanted to combine the spontaneity of a live studio session with a contemporary sound. To achieve that he added VST’s (Virtual Studio Technology, aka samples) to the live recordings. By using this technology the album sounds more orchestral than a traditional jazz trio while the fun and interaction stay at the heart of it. The mixing and mastering blended those two influences into an open and warm sounding album.
As mentioned above, for this project Van Asselt teamed up with drummer Jorge Rossy and bassist Jeroen Vierdag. Rossy’s impressive resume includes collaborations with Brad Mehldau, Paquito D’Rivera and Kurt Rosenwinkel. Vierdag is a versatile bass player who has worked with pop giants such as Caro Emerald and Ilse DeLange as well with renowned jazz musicians as Anton Goudsmit. Van Asselt’s tunes have a musical blueprint and leave space for many spontaneous musical contributions. The fun the trio has is right there from the start and makes the music come alive.
Being a versatile pianist, teacher, composer and producer, Van Asselt worked with David Schnitter, Lucy Woodward and Jorge Vistel, among others. Besides that, Van Asselt also led community building projects and is the artistic director of Stichting World Town Music, organizing a diversity of musical events and educational projects.
The album is now available on CD via Bandcamp and all of the usual streaming platforms. The release date of the LP version of the album will be announced shortly.
To stream the album click below:
You can buy the physical CD and LP at Bandcamp.
Last modified: March 2, 2023
