June - July 2025
Album release ´Dedicated to You´
Last month we celebrated the release of our album ´Dedicated to You, Live @ Open Air Theatre Valkenburg'. An album with vocalist Huub Claessens , saxophonist Leo Janssen and myself at the piano. 'Dedicated to you' is inspired bij the 1963 Coltrane/Hartman album. Including our versions of all the songs Coltrane & Hartman played on that album and some extra music, like our take on Purcell's 'When I am laid in earth'. A big thank you to Jo Smeets and L1 for making this recording possible.
Gardens of Abundance II now also online!
This duo album I made with Eric Vloeimans in 2024 is the follow up to our first album 'Gardens of Abundance' and can now also be listened to on the streaming platforms.
Concerts at Kasteeltuinen Arcen in July
In July I will play three concerts at the Kasteeltuinen in Arcen. On July 5 th and 6 th I will play my German songcycle 'Wandern at the 'Klassiek in de Tuinen' festival. On the 5 th with bariton Sef Thissen and on the 6 th with bass Huub Claessens, who'll also be playing saxophone and flügelhorn. On July 10 th singer Marion Vervoort and I will play there to celebrate the week of the Limburg popmusic. Songs from her albums 'Nachtvogel' & 'Het echte spel' and some new music.
Planet Marzipan
I was a guest at this Marillion & Fish podcast. Talking about my music activities and my work with Marillion and Fish.
May 2025
Album by John Helliwell & Egbert Derix quartet
Supertramp saxplayer John Helliwell and I released our live album 'If We'd known' on May first.
The album features some jazz standards, original compositions and a new version of the Supertramp classic 'The Logical Song' in an arrangement of my own.
New PENSIONADO album
Finally the follow up to the 2021 Pensionado album Passive Harvest is here! It is called Laudatio and was released on April 16th. Again I did the synthesizer programming and playing.
Laudatio is a tribute to three great synth pioneers: Klaus Schulze, Jean Michel Jarre and Herbie Hancock. Hence the title 'laudatio'.
Interview soundtrack Ant Keeper
You can read an interview with me talking about making the analogue synth soundtrack for Daan Kmiecik's documentary on the musicophelia website.
Podcast 80Years of Liberty
Together with Marion Vervoort & Geert van den Munckhof , I made a podcast series about Hanna van de Voort.
Hanna was an important person in the Dutch resistance during World War II and saved together with Nico Dohmen over 100 hundred children from deportation by the nazi occupiers. Marion, Geert and I spoke a.o. with family members of Hanna and Nico and with survivors. The podcast is in Dutch and you can listen to it on Spotify.
March 2025
Ant Keeper
I just finished the soundtrack for ´Ant Keeper´ a documentary by Dutch filmmaker Daan Kmiecik.
It is the first soundtrack on which I played my new (and first) Oberheim synthesizer, the OBX8.
The documentary raises important questions about environmental issues and the way we are dealing with our planet. It shows us we can learn a lot from the way ants work together without losing sight of individual autonomy.
Boddicker Laudatio at Kasteeltuinen Arcen
My synth improvisation 'Boddicker Laudatio' from my album 'Being Time' can be heard walking through the Kasteeltuinen in Arcen (Netherlands). The title refers to Michael Boddicker , one of my all time favourite keyboardplayers and synthesists.
Passive Harvest
My synth track 'Passive Harvest' that I made with Pensionado is finally getting some airplay and reaching a broader audience. Some people call it 'deep house'.
I had a lot of fun working with Pensionado and there will be a follow up album this year. You can listen to the album on Spotify.
Gardens of Abundance II
Eric Vloeimans and I released our album 'Gardens of Abundance' part two. In March we played at the Transition Kids Festivals at Tivoli Vredenburg in Utrecht and did a couple of other concerts. On May 29 th we will play in Valkenburg (Netherlands) in the Openluchttheater.