Creative Differences Update

From Baltimore’s Creative Differences:

Trio Vloeimans/Azmeh/Weber
plus
Lafayette Gilchrist

Thursday December 20 @ 7.30pm
@2640 Space.
2640 St Paul St,Baltimore MD 21201

Eric Vloeimans plays trumpet with such a warm, smooth tone that when he begins a piece in the horn’s lower register, it almost sounds more like a flute than a brass instrument. “Smooth,” in this case, isn’t synonymous with “slick” or “commercial” — instead, Vloeimans plays with tranquility and calm in his music.

A native of Holland, Vloeimans has garnered a reputation in both Europe and the United States for his work. Originally a classical trumpeter, he made the switch to jazz while studying at the Rotterdam School of Music, later coming to the U.S. to study with jazz trumpet player Donald Byrd. While he spends most of his time on the Continent, he has performed in America more frequently in the past few years.

Of the trumpeter’s two associates on this tour, pianist Florian Weber can lay claim to a wide range of projects. He recently released Biosphere, an album under his own name in which he straddled his own progressive originals with interpretations of modern rock and pop songs. Frequently playing both acoustic and electric pianos simultaneously, Weber gave the pop tunes as much weight as his originals. Written in the insane meter of 25/16, Biosphere’s title trackproved to be the album’s intense centerpiece. Weber also plays in the trio Minsarah, who received a major boost when playing with veteran saxophonist Lee Konitz on his 2010 Live at the Village Vanguard session. Konitz, whose career dates back to Miles Davis’ Birth of the Cool, has a reputation for revisiting standards like “All the Things You Are” on a regular basis, finding some new music direction each time. Weber and his crew were an ideal support system.

In Baltimore, the duo will be joined by Kinan Azmeh, a clarinetist from Syria. Much like Vloeimans, he straddles the classical and jazz worlds, having worked with his own group HEWAR, members of the Berlin Philharmonic and percussionist Zakir Hussain.

Doors at 7:30,concert will start at 8 PM. $10 donation requested. This concert will be in the sanctuary space, so please come to the 27th St. entrance.

Related articles

• Trumpeter Russ Johnson raises his Chicago profile (chicagoreader.com)
• Trumpeter Eric Vloimans has learned ‘to let it all go’ (triblive.com)