DUTCH TRUMPET SENSATION ERIC VLOEIMANS RETURNS TO US + CANADA February 20 – March 8, 2010 with his trio FUGIMUNDI

* New Challenge Records CD "Heavensabove!" with his quartet "Gatecrash" has US release in February 2010 *

“One of the great surprises of the entire weekend was the performance by trumpeter Eric Vloeimans' group Fugimundi…They played with a high-wire sense of adventure and such an infectious spirit of joy that it made the 21-piece Columbian salsa orchestra that followed them seem anti-climactic.” — Larry Appelbaum, JazzTimes

“5-stars. The sheer authority of trumpeter Eric Vloeimans’s exceptional trio with Harmen Franje (piano) and Anton Goudsmit (guitar) is one of the defining characteristics…there’s a shared sense of adventure and discovery.” — Ray Comiskey, Irish Times about Live at Yoshi’s

Holland’s award-winning trumpet sensation Eric Vloeimans (pronounced Louie-mans) brings his joyous and compelling music to the US with his FUGIMUNDI band featuring Vloeimans with guitarist Anton Goudsmit and pianist Harmen Fraanje.

FUGIMUNDI will perform:

• Sat. Feb. 20 Coastal Jazz Winterruption Festival on Granville Island Vancouver, B.C.

12:30 p.m. Free 604.872.5200

• Mon. Feb. 22 Yoshi’s, 510 Embarcadero West Oakland, CA

8 p.m. $12 (510) 238-9200 www.yoshis.com/

• Thurs. Feb. 25 Athenaeum, 1008 Wall Street La Jolla, CA

7:30 p.m. $19 members; $24 non-members (858) 454-5872 www.ljathenaeum.org

• Sat. Feb. 27 Kerrytown Concert House, 415 North Forth Avenue Ann Arbor, MI

8 p.m. $10 - $25; $5 for students 734-769-2999
kerrytownconcerthouse.com

• Sun. Feb. 28 Chicago Cultural Center, Claudia Cassidy Theater Chicago, IL

6 p.m. Free 312.744.6630 http://www.explorechicago.org/city/en/supporting_narrative/attractions/dca_tourism/Chicago_Cultural_Center.htm

• Tues. Wed., March 2 & 3 Caspe Terrace Des Moines, IA

• Thurs. March 4 Twins Jazz, 1344 U Street Northwest Washington, DC

8 p.m. (202) 234-0072, www.twinsjazz.com/

• Sun. March 7 Casa del Popolo, 4848 boul. St.-Laurent Montreal, Canada

8:30 p.m. 514-284-0122 www.casadelpopolo.com

• Mon. March 8 Ottawa Jazz Festival, National Arts Centre, Fourth Stage Ottawa, Canada

7 p.m. $22 Single Tickets; $15 Student Tickets. 613.241.2633 www.ottawajazzfestival.com

Eric Vloeimans was born in 1963 in Huizen, The Netherlands, and grew up in Den Bosch. He quickly gained attention, first as an honors student at the Rotterdam Conservatory, then at the New School in NYC where he picked up gigs with the Frank Foster Big Band and a US tour with the Duke Ellington Band conducted by Mercer Ellington. Since 1989 he has been active in a wide variety of ensembles and as a group leader and is now widely regarded as one of Europe's best performers.

Vloeimans has won numerous awards including the Dutch Edison Award four times, the Elly Ameling Prize of the City of Rotterdam, the prestigious Bird Award at the North Sea Jazz Festival, and the most important jazz prize in The Netherlands - The Boy Edgar Prize. He has toured worldwide and performed at festivals including those of Rotterdam, Sibiu, Athens, Dansko, Oslo, Paris, Budapest, Viersen, Frankfurt, Roma, Montpellier, St. Petersburg, Budapest, Essen, Wien, Kosice, Berlin, Johannesburg, North Sea, New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangkok, among others.

Vloeimans’ compositions are fresh, expressive and powerful, not restricted to one particular style, and he has created an evocative, harmonic language of his own. In addition, he has mastered the complete range of the trumpet, from the energy laden high notes to the soft, velvety, almost wooden sounds, and he does not shy away from playing beautifully.

His trio "Fugimundi" be likened to chamber music of an adventurous kind - jazz, lounge, pop. Vloeimans is featured on a total of 14 CDs as a leader and numerous others as a sideman. His new CD "Heavensabove!" with his quartet "Gatecrash" will be released in the US in February on Challenge Records.

Guitarist Anton Goudsmit is a much sought-after player who does amazing things with whatever music he is presented with or writes. In 2001 Anton formed the Ploctones to perform a series of his compositions commissioned by Dutch NPS Radio.
In 2004 a Goudsmit organized a live CD recording of the Ploctones at the Jazz op het Dak festival which was featured on VPRO television. Since then the Ploctones have emerged as a very creative and innovative group, capable of combining grooves and improvisation.

Pianist Harmen Fraanje, born in 1976 in Roosendaal, The Netherlands, is active in the international jazz scene, playing with some of the finest musicians in Europe. On a tireless quest for creativity, new collaborations and new horizons, he has developed an authentic voice, a very honest personal approach towards music. Open to all kinds of music - from classical music, to improvisation, from centuries-old Pygmy chants to Duke Ellington with John Coltrane - he is always trying to embody the music, to be able to speak in his own unique language.

Eric Vloeimans — In the News

“Creative and refreshing.” — Bill Milkowski, JazzTimes about Live at Yoshi’s

4-stars. AMG Album pick “This is polished, sophisticated, under-the-radar music, exceptionally conceived and played, that exemplifies what contemporary continental jazz...” — Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide about Live at Yoshi’s

“Mr. Vloeimans, a Dutch trumpeter with a melodic style evocative of late-period Miles Davis.” — Nate Chinen, New York Times

“Hyper presents one of the freshest takes on electronic jazz in some time. From its enthusiastic reaction, the audience it was recorded in front of apparently agrees.” — Ross Boissoneau, Jazziz

“It is little wonder why Dutch-born Eric Vloeimans is considered one of the most influential trumpet players of his generation. An accomplished storyteller, Vloeimans refuses to restrict himself to any particular melodic format or sonic texture.” — Ernest Barteldes, Miami New Times

“Trumpeter Eric Vloeimans is ranked as one of the undisputed giants within the Dutch jazz establishment…. beautiful sonority and controlled musical dynamics, his open and crystal-clear phrasings…” —
Luc Baets, Het Nieuwsblad

“Vloeimans sparkles.”
— Jeroen van de Valk, The Parool

“Disarming beauty by the Eric Vloeimans Quartet.” — 
Rinus van der Heyden, Brabants Daily

“Eric Vloeimans is a talent to cherish. His ability on the trumpet and the place of his rhythm section withstands the comparison with the young American lions gloriously, and because of his fresh ideas and catching performance he often even exceeds their standards.”
— Volkskrant

“Beautiful technique, sublime formation of tone and not only that, Eric Vloeimans also possesses good feeling of style, good taste and an excellent talent for composition.” —
Hifi Video Test magazine

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www.ericvloeimans.com/