Here is a video of a new composition of mine ‘Wiv’.
The main thing about ‘DVS Jazz’ is that it’s about my own compositions. This means the musicians I play the music with are often changing. Last August I played with DVS Jazz during ‘Jazz Is Back’. We played in trio formation with Frank Wintermans on Drums and Stef Joosten on bass. Here are some songs of DVS Jazz in trio formation.
Catch me: The title refers to the catchiness of the theme.
-Here is a compilation of the songs Maarten Augustijn and I recorded in my home studio sometime ago.
Here is the tracklist of the home recording with a short explanation of the title.
Tri-Cycle
The core of this piece is a cycle of triads. These structures move over the keyboard. I really focussed on the sound of the piano. A certain chord inversion in a certain key creates a particular sound. The resonance of the piano helps to achieve a full sound.
Wiv
This piece isn’t build around a thematic melody. Instead, a groove is the base for this composition. I wrote this song especially for a piano and bass ensemble. That’s why the bass plays a bigger role in terms of thematic melody.
Tricky
This is a tricky song to play. The composition is build around a continously repeating note. This note doesn’t change in tempo although because of all the ritmical things that change around this note, sometimes it feels like it does. Because of the difficulty of the song, both the players and listeners feel a certain tension/excitement when this song is performed. This results in a different outcome of the song everytime it’s played.
The Student
Everything around us can function as a source of inspiration. I think I wrote this song with the music of one of my students in my mind. I don’t teach him in a traditional way but help him with his produced compositions. He writes a kind of drum and bass music with a big sound. Even though there is no drummer, I think you can still hear this style in this compostion. The tempo is high and the repetitive bassline plays an important role throughout the piece.
Hangover
Sometimes a different state of mind raises new musical melodies. A vast amount of this piece was written after a good night of drinking. I think you can actually hear the hangover in the thematic material.
During live performances, I notice that people tend to connect better to the music we play if they have an idea of how the composition was created or what it means.
-In december, Maarten Augustijn and I played at the session opening in Nijmegen at ‘De Lindenberg’.
-In October, I opened the Paradox jazz session with ‘DVS Jazz’ ft. Pascal Vermeer on drums and Lennart van Dijk on double bass. It was really interesting to hear how these other great musicians interpret my music!
-I’m pretty honoured to let you know that my own compostions will be played at the final exam of Maarten Augustijn. This will be on the 2nd of June at the Codarts WMDC, Rotterdam. The exam will start at 21h. One of the compositions we will play is ‘Hangover’. Check out that awesome bassguitar solo of Maarten Augustijn!
-This is the group that I started and where I am in charge of a lot of things. We play my own compositions and arrangements. On this page you can find some video material that was shot during my final exam for the Bachelor of Music at the Fontys conservatory of Tilburg. The teachers graded the exam with an 8!
This is the video for DVS Jazz in different formations. Check it out!
Full version of Ami – Daan van Schaik
-Here are some pictures of some of the performances we did.
In March we played at Jazzcafe De Twee Spieghels, Leiden. The stage was very small. The Fender rhodes Mark 1 sounded very good!
-In February we had a performance in ‘t Koffiehuys in Uden. Here are Gijs, Maarten and Mitchell waiting for the finest coffee during our break.
-In October we played in Cafe Joris, Tilburg. This is a nice small bar were we could also try out some new compositions I wrote!
-I was very pleased with the performance at Jazz in Duketown 2014. It was a great location and we had a very attentive audience who were listening really well to what we were playing.
-We also played in Eindhoven at Cafe Wilhelmina. It was nice to perform in a bar like this. You can really connect with the audience because they are very close to the stage and also with the other musicians. It was a small stage so you can hear and see very well what everyone is playing.
-This is a picture taken at my final exam. The stage lights added an extra dimension to my compositions as you can see in the video of ‘Ami’.
Daan van Schaik 