Saxophonist Mete Erker and pianist Jeroen van Vliet have been partners in crime & music for 30 years. They celebrated this with the release the duo-album PLUIS on April 1st 2019. Mete Erker and Jeroen van Vliet play hyper-interactive, poetic music: exciting improvisations and beautiful songs.
It all started in 1989 with the Erker Kwartet. The only prove of this first musical encounter is an actual old-school demo tape. Since then they have been working together in an astounding amount of projects of great musical diversity: from the album Hommage of South African trumpeter Feya Faku, the modern dance choreography Sparring Partners of Holland’s great Connie Janssen, to the project Near East Up North, initiated by Mete Erker in 2015, with the renowned contemporary classical ensemble Asko Schönberg and kemençe virtusoso Derya Türkan. In all those years they also worked together as a duo on many occasions, with highlights such as a concert in Teatro Municipal in La Paz, Bolivia and the release of their duo-album Unseen Land, with compositions inspired by the work of artist Mattie Schilders.
In 2014 Jeroen van Vliet won the prestigious Boy Edgar Prijs.
In 2016 the duo released the album Linden with Swiss singer Kristina Fuchs.
In the same year they released the third album of hard-core impro group Estafest for the renowned Hungarian label BMC in Budapest.
On December 6th 2018, Mete Erker & Jeroen van Vliet recorded PLUIS with a live audience in former church: the Beauforthuis in Austerlitz, followed by an extensive tour in 2019. In the summer of 2021 they recorded their new album ‘in’ at the Bimhuis in Amsterdam, to be released Februari 13th 2022.
‘.. improvised music at its fullest potential….a symphony for two….’
JazzNu
‘ .. Erker and van Vliet are among the finset improvising duo’s of the Netherlands ..’
Volkskrant
‘Tagträumereien schaffen sich während des Zuhörens Raum. Gedanken fliegen dahin, grenzen verschwimmen.’
JazzHalo
‘.. both are poets on their instruments..’
JazzEnzo
Mete Erker – saxofoon
Jeroen van Vliet – piano
Jeroen van Vliet, born 1965, is known for his lyrical style and clear sound at the piano.
He is a composer, pianist and keyboardplayer in a wide variety of groups.
In 1985 and 1988 he won both first- and soloist prizes at the main contests of the Netherlands.
Between 1989 and 2007 he was the pianist in the groups of alto-player Paul van Kemenade and of bassplayer Eric van der Westen.
Throughout the years he worked with international artists as (a.o.) Bob Malach, Kenny Wheeler, John Zorn, Norma Winstone, Charly Mariano and Erkan Ogur, Jakob Bro.
His cooperation with trumpeter Eric Vloeimans resulted in a number of albums and concerts, both as a duo as well as in the group Gatecrash (Edison Award in 2007).
As a sideman van Vliet recorded about 50 albums, as a leader 9. Among his groups are the Jeroen van Vliet Trio and the Jeroen van Vliet Electric Trio.
In 2008 the new group Estafest started: energetic, exciting and adventurous.
After receiving the Composition Assignment of the North Sea Jazzfestival 2008, van Vliet invited his group – called Sikeda – that performed his music, to record and tour in 2010.
In 2013 he worked in South Africa with bass-legend Carlo Mombelli. He travelled to Australia, India, China, South-Korea with Gatecrash and the Yuri Honing quartet.
Currently Jeroen van Vliet works with German-Afghan singer Simin Tander, Jeroen van Vliet’s OGU, solo, Estafest, Eric Vloeimans’ Gatecrash, and the Udo Pannekeet 4tet.
In 2014 he released 2 albums, the solo-album ‘Wait’ and the trio-cd OGU.
The new album ‘Eno Supo’ by Estafest, as well as the albums ‘Where water travels home’ by Simin Tander 4tet and ‘On’ by Udo Pannekeet were released. All got great reviews.
In 2014 Jeroen van Vliet was awarded the most important prize in the Netherlands for jazz and improvised music, The Boy Edgar Prijs.
Dutch saxophone player Mete Erker is renowned for his rich and warm sound, strong drive, and his very personal style and expressive way of playing: a combination of raw energy and lyricism, at times reminiscent of the great jazz tenors of the ’60’s.
Throughout the years he’s worked with music masters like Peter Erskine, David Liebman, senegalese master drummer Doudou N’Diaye Rose, southafrican jazz legend Winston Mankunku, and russian piano virtuoso Simon Nabatov.
He released 50+ albums and toured the world in a variety of settings, ranging from a modern dance choreography by the hungarian Reka Szabo to popular dutch crossover acts like New Cool Collective and Zuco 103.
Currently Mete Erker is working with his own Mete Erker Trio +1 and his duo with pianist Jeroen van Vliet and Artvark Saxophone Quartet.