Of the Dutch trumpeters who have created furore the
past decade Eric Vloeimans is musically one of the most eloquent. He
has firmly established himself as an international musician and
performs in various formations where most settings are of great demand.
Just as a good orator, he continuously holds the attention of the
listener. His musical argument is clear, varied, visual, sensitive,
sometimes humurous and always well structured. The press calls
Vloeimans a trumpet player who always puts emotion above technical
virtuosity. With playful ease he changes from a quiet sonoroous tone
to a skillful powerful play, however never losing sight of the
structure of his performance and the emotion in the music.
As a teacher and musician he has achieved a level of reputation where
he is able to share the stage with "big" names and wasn't the sideman
anymore. Parallel to this development, Eric Vloeimans has developed
himself as a composer. Eric's need to not tie himself down
dogmatically to a certain style is also self-evident in his writing.
Fresh and original but with a great feeling and respect for the
tradition, and maybe the most important thing, a great portion of
self-knowledge and through that never aimed too high. At the moment,
Eric finds himself in a turbulent period. He recorded in September
1998 the album "Bitches and Fairy Tales" in New York for Challenge
Records in co-operation with De Wereldomroep with an All Star cast;
John Taylor, Marc Johnson and Joey Baron. The album is distinguished
with an Edison Award at the North Sea Jazzfestival 1999. The "Transatlantic
Quartet" tour in March and April 2000 is a continuation of "Bitches
and Fairy Tales". Once More an international cast with John Taylor on
the piano, Furio di Castri on the bass and Joe LaBarbera on drums.
Eric Vloeimans specially wrote for this cast a new repertoire which is
recorded for the new CD "Umai". From the NPS he got this fall a
composition assignment for the Groningen Marathon with Lars Danielsson
on the bass and Markku Ounaskari on drums and percussion.
