Take Five: Europe 2011

Take Five: Europe is a new version of the Take Five scheme in the UK designed for emerging jazz musicians who want to significantly develop their international careers. Participants are given the unique opportunity to take ‘time out’ to increase their profile, improve their performance skills and expand their professional networks.

Ten talented emerging artists (two per country per year – from France, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and the UK) take part in a specially devised programme of events, including an inspiring week-long residency where they can strengthen all aspects of their professional future. In addition to motivating creative and business sessions, the artists will take part in special showcases across  European jazz festivals.

Take Five Europe

The ten innovative musicians selected for 2011 Take Five: Europe are:


Benjamin Flament
Benjamin Flament is a French percussionist and vibraphonist. In 2001, he founded his first projects Un aller simple Quintet, which opened for the Mingus Orchestra, and Acousticks Quartet the year after to perform at Django d’or show. In 2005 he met bass player Joachim Florent, and began a prolific collaboration. In 2011, Flament founded We Are All Americans Quartet with Hasse Poulsen. He also performs with White Light Quartet and the electroacoustic improvisation group Les Bonbons Flingueurs.
 
Bram Stadhouders
Bram Stadhouders uses guitar and technology to create ambient sound worlds with an emotional focus. In 2008 he was elected Young VIP, which allowed him to perform on many important jazz stages in Holland, and in 2011 he was selected for the North Sea Jazz Composition Assignment. He has toured extensively in Europe and the USA, and has played as a guest-musician in international projects with some of the world’s most established improvisers.
 
Céline Bonacina
Céline Bonacina specialised in baritone saxophone in Paris big bands from 1996 to 1998, later moving to Reunion Island to teach at the regional music conservatoire as well as performing in many festivals, notably as support for the French National Jazz Orchestra. In 2005, she released her first album, Vue d’en haut and then Way of Life in 2010. She has performed across France and has won a number of awards including the 2009 Rezzo contest during Jazz à Vienne.

 Fraser Fifield
A piper, low whistle player and soprano saxophonist, Fraser Fifield has been a member of countless bands, ranging from folk rock legends Wolfstone to Irish/Scottish/Latin American outfit Salsa Celtica. He has collaborated with many artists – Afro Celt Sound System, Hidden Orchestra and Graeme Stephen Sextet, to name a few – and in 2010 he received a nomination for Composer of the Year in the 2010 Scots Trad Music Awards.

 Gard Nilssen
Since obtaining a masters degree in improvised music at the NTNU, Trondheim, drummer Gard Nilssen’s main projects include the free improvised trio Puma, who were awarded young jazz musicians of the year in 2006, and the freejazz/rock group Bushman's Revenge. Nilssen is now working on his first solo record, which will be released in the spring of 2012 on his own label; Gigafon!

 Maciej Garbowski
Educated at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music, Maciej Garbowski is the founder, organiser of the International Musical Project (IMP) – their first concert tour took place in January 2009. Throughout his career he has won a number of awards including first prize at the Bielska Zadymka Jazz Festival in 2007 and in 2011 he was awarded a scholarship by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage for the second edition of IMP.

 Maciej Obara
Maciej Obara’s career as a composer and alto saxophonist started after recording Message from Ohayo in 2006, with which he won the Bielska Zadymka Jazz Contest for young jazz bands. In the year 2008 he was recommended by Manfred Eicher to Tomasz Stanko, which resulted in their fruitful cooperation. During a winter workshop in Brooklyn Academy of Music, Obara recorded his second album Three and in 2011 he was invited to the project Free 4 Arts, resulting in numerous collaborative concerts around Europe.
 
Oene van Geel
Influenced by jazz, Indian music, chamber music and free improvisation, Oene van Geel has applied his virtuosic improvisation skills and his compositional talents to a wide scope of musical activities. He has toured in Europe, Asia, the USA and Canada and is currently active with Zapp 4, a string quartet specialising in collective improvisation. Van Geel has won a number of awards including the Kersjes Award in 2005 with Zapp 4, and the Deloitte Jazz Award in 2002.

 Ole Morten Vågan
Ole Morten Vågan studied at the well-known Jazzlinja, at Trondheim´s Conservatory. Upon his arrival in Oslo in the early 2000s, he joined Bugge Wesseltoft´s NCOJ, touring extensively for the next three years. A mainstay through his 10 year career is his role as bass player/composer in the ensemble MOTIF, which released their fifth recording Art Transplant in 2011.

 Tom Arthurs
A BBC New Generations artist, trumpeter, flugelhorn player and composer Tom Arthurs has released four albums and is a member of the F-IRE Collective. He has composed works for the City of London Festival and the BBC Proms, and he was commissioned to write Fire Paintings for Yves Klein, which was performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra in 2010.