Music is the landscape of the soul

That's just why the Dumée & Dijkgraaf Quinteto is such a wonderful combination of musicians.

A formation brought together by the Dutch guitar player and composer Jan Dumée with whom I already played many times in Europe for the past 5 years.

Jan Dumée is that typical kind of composer and improviser who turns his daily life into highly personal, romantic music with a well balanced intellectuality. Both Jan and I are not so much interested in performing a specific jazz or brazilian style; we are seeking for the right notes to reflect the essence and basic idea of the composition we play.

The rhythm section of this group is Brazilian rooted so our music has that steady Brazilian pulse that associates with feminine sensuality but also has that strong male sense of drive that constantly pushes the music forward. What I like so much about this rhythm section is it's adventurous attitude; never locked into a specific brazilian rhythm nor style, they are always seeking for just the right way of supporting the melody and the soloist by creating landscape like atmospheres that are so typical for the music of Minas Gerais (Brasil).

This week I'll be finishing a solo and some editing of my harmonica tracks. Can't wait to travel to Holland to mix and master the album to make it available as soon as possible as a nice present for the rest of world ... ;-)

Will be continued soon.

Abraços,

Wim

Recording in Belo Horizonte was fantastic!!!

Belo Horizonte was fantastic. We recorded a great album for those who love Brazilian music, American jazz and European classical music. This is an amazing band and within a couple of days in the studio all of us became amazing friends.

The album is a wonderful mixture of Brazilian, American and European influences with that expressive "talking" bass of Paulo Russo, amazing comping and unique personal way of soloing by Kiko Continentino, the amazing Brazilian drive of Marcio Bahia's rhythms (also check out his playing with Hermeto Pascoal!), the wonderful impressionistic compositions by Jan Dumée all finished with an delicate and often "landscape like" harmonica sound of mine.

The album will be available by the end of March!!!!!!

Soon, I'll publish some demo tracks at http://www.reverbnation.com/wimdijkgraaf

Abraços,

Wim

Will be recording a new album this week.

This will be my home in Belo Horizonte - Brazil this week ...

http://www.acusticoestudio.com.br/

.. recording a new album with Jan Dumee, Kiko Continentino, Paulo Russo and Marcio Bahia. With only original compositions by Jan, it is a wonderful start in 2011.

Will keep you informed!


Abraços,

Wim Dijkgraaf
jazz harmonica & composition

Blog re-opened - it's a lot more fun now!

Hi all,

One year ago I stopped blogging. In the mean time with new software on iPhone blogging has become easier and more fun to do so I'm ready to start again!

January will be mainly about recording a new album with my Dumee & Dijkgraaf formation that started in 2010. We'll record with some of the finest musicians in Brazil. This dream product will start january the 5th with a 3 days recording session in Belo Horizonte - Brasil.

Will keep you informed with interesting details.

Have fun reading this blog and wish you all a great and inspiring 2011,

Wim

Dear readers,

I've decided to stop with this blog. For some reasons, it just doesn't fit with my way of living. It seems like the digital expossure distracts to much from what I really want to do; composing and recording music besides having a simple and relaxed life.

So it was a nice experiment and wish you all a nice december and a great 2010.

Abraços,

Wim Dijkgraaf
jazz harmonica & composition

e-mail: info@wimdijkgraaf.com
website: www.wimdijkgraaf.com
watch: www.youtube.com/wimdijkgraaf
listen: www.myspace.com/wimdijkgraaf

OURO - introduction

Dear subscribers,

I'm working on the OURO project on a daily basis. Had to do a lot of experiments to find the right production process. It seems that using the sequencer program (Logic Studio 9) too early in the process was a big mistake. It just makes it too hard to make compositional changes. So, the last two weeks I experimented with all the humanize functionality in Sibelius (music notation sofware) with wonderfull results. Actually, the music from "OURO - introduction" is the output from Sibelius, mixed with my harmonica playing. More on my studio setup in another article.

Listen for free
So, from a musical point of view, what's going on in "OURO - introduction" (version 0.5); you can listen to it for free at:
listen: www.myspace.com/wimdijkgraaf

inspirational context
The album OURO will be a very personal reflection of my life in Brasil since june 2008 (after visiting Brasil for about 8 years I decided to move to Ceará, the North East part of Brasil).

As I wrote in a previous article, the melodies and harmonies are based on the text "ordem e progresso" (just like the Miles Daves album "AURA" is based on the the name "Miles Davis"). "ordem e progresso" (order and progress) is the national motto of Brazil as written in it's flag. The motto Ordem e Progresso ("Order and Progress") is inspired by Auguste Comte's motto of positivism: L’amour pour principe et l’ordre pour base; le progrès pour but ("Love as a principle and order as the basis; progress as the goal"). It was inserted because several of the people involved in the military coup that deposed the monarchy and proclaimed Brazil a republic were followers of the ideas of Comte's thought.

How I transformed "ordem e progresso" into music?
There are many ways to transform words into musical elements. For the introduction, I used the circle of perfect fourth as a bases. There are actually 4 ways to organize the western 12 tone system with a 12 hour clock. 1) minor seconds, 2) major seventh (inversion of minor 2nd), 3) perfect fourths and 4) perfect fifths (inversion of perfect fourths).

I decided to start the album using the 3rd version; perfect fourths. So, the next step was to decide what alphabet to use. The Portugees alfabet doesn't include the letters "k", "w" and "y"; making it a 23 letter alphabet. Because the western tone systems concists of 12 notes, ideal would be to have a 24 letter alphabet; each tone representing 2 letters from the alphabet.

So, I decided to add the letter "w", to be able to use my first name in one of the other compositions for the album ... ;-)

In the included picture, you'll find the drawing I made as a result of these decisions.


In the next article, I'll explain how I distributed this material over the 6 minutes lasting composition "introduction".

Abraços,

Wim Dijkgraaf
composition & harmonica

e-mail: info@wimdijkgraaf.com
website: www.wimdijkgraaf.com
watch: www.youtube.com/wimdijkgraaf
listen: www.myspace.com/wimdijkgraaf

Follow the "OURO" project here!!!

Yes, the "OURO" project is my current dream project. I was able to setup my small studio in Brazil, invested in a couple of computers with enough "horse power" to function as a symphonic orchestra at my finger tips. A dream that has come true.

The name "OURO" means "gold" in Portugees and is derived from the 1998 Miles Davis album "AURA". For now, it's only a project title; I expect the album will be named different.

Here a quote from www.allmusic.com about the album "AURA":

"iles' last recording for the Columbia label before heading for the financial allure of Warner Bros. in the mid-'80s was not released until 1989. This critic's guess is because largely they had no idea what to do with it. Unlike anything else in his catalog, Aura is a ten-part suite composed by Danish flügelhornist Palle Mikkelbourg as a tribute. Influenced deeply by serialism and the inspiration of Gil Evans, Mikkelbourg composed a theme from ten notes based on the letters of Davis' first and last names. The notes yielded a chord, which led him through the work. Employing a full orchestra and the guitar talents of former Davis collaborator John McLaughlin and famed European bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pederson, Aura's sections are named for the color spectrum, with the addition of white and "electric red." The music is an amalgam of classical impressionism, European new music, jazz, rock, electronic, and other genres. As a tribute and separate orchestral work, it's quite moving and beautiful, full of moody interludes and evocations of nuance, color, texture, and dynamic. With Davis added, soloing in his trademark muted, rounded warmth, the music becomes almost breathtaking."

So, in the next message on this block I'll explain the similarities between AURA and my OURO project.

Thanks for your interest in this unique dream poject where all of my 20 years experience in playing and composing seems to come together.

Abraços,

Wim Dijkgraaf
jazz harmonica & composition

e-mail: info@wimdijkgraaf.com
website: www.wimdijkgraaf.com
watch: www.youtube.com/wimdijkgraaf
listen: www.myspace.com/wimdijkgraaf
news: wimdijkgraaf.blogspot.com