JOSÉ LENCASTRE : alto sax
DIRK SERRIES : guitar
MARTINA VERHOEVEN : crumar piano
LEMADI TRIO
Tryptophan Suite represents the very first notes this new trio played together. Stars were aligned and the music flowed effortlessly in a profound conversation where each personality and instrument matters. Fresh music is rooted in ancient principles that is uplifting and deep and also nostalgic and beautiful as only life can be. Portuguese saxophonist José Lencastre’s first encounter with Belgian guitarist Dirk Serries and pianist Martina Verhoeven resulted in exquisite musical storytelling. Unique in its line-up each instrument, with each musician behind it, has room to excel and brings a beautiful melange of (free) jazz, improvisation, and avant-garde to life that is clearly their own.
JOSÉ LENCASTRE
José Lencastre is a creative improviser, composer and saxophonist from Lisbon, Portugal. He’s known for his versatility in playing different musical genres over the years and has been a part of the vibrant Portuguese improvised scene sharing the stage and recording with Carlos Zingaro, Sei Miguel, Rodrigo Amado, Ernesto Rodrigues, Gonçalo Almeida to name just a few, as well as collaborating with international performing artists from all over the world. Between 2012 and 2016 he lived in Brazil where he developed his interest in the rich rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic musical culture of Choro, Frevo, Ciranda, etc. While in Pernambuco he put together Inconsciente Coletivo, a trio of sax, keyboard, and drums that played mostly his own compositions. Back in Lisbon, together with Rodrigo Pinheiro, Hernâni Faustino, and João Lencastre, José formed Nau Quartet. The group has released four records so far that have been highly acclaimed both in Portugal and abroad. Lencastre has toured different countries such as France, Germany, England, Slovenia, Serbia, Russia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Morocco, and Spain. José Lencastre is co-founder of the label Phonogram Unit. This project was born during the 2020 pandemic and it aims to release free and contemporary music from the musicians that are part of it.
DIRK SERRIES
Dirk Serries – curator of the A New Wave of Jazz label – is hardly your average improvising musician. Even though the man has a fondness for the classic free jazz of the sixties and seventies and the current updates, his own talents lie elsewhere. As a master of texture, a skill which he’s been able to forge and refine for close to 40 years (as vidnaObmana, Fear Falls Burning, Microphonics, with collaborative projects and, more recently, under his own name), he has always been involved in the more abstract, or sound-oriented wing of
experimental music. Serries is now less reliant on his trademark effects and loops. A new ‘naked’ language that veers from gentle strumming to scribbling, pointillism, and occasional outbursts of disjointed howls. Pulling from his great experience in the worlds of ambient and industrial music, as well as from masters like Derek Bailey, Serries’ approach is improvisation that relies purely on his relationship with his electric guitar, prepared or not.
MARTINA VERHOEVEN
Apart from a number of portraits of musicians taken, Martina has mainly received critical acclaim worldwide for her photography shown on CD covers. Martina Verhoeven has been working on the development of her own abstract photographic style for more than 15 years now. Musically she has been active as an electric bass player in the acclaimed 3 Seconds Of Air when in 2014 she switched over to double bass. Now she’s fully dedicated to the piano, establishing herself as a unique and fierce performer on the keys. She works/worked together with key players in the free impro scene like Kodian Trio, Colin Webster, Onno Govaert, John Dikeman, Benedict Taylor, Anton Mobin, Patrick De Groote, etc. GRATITUDE is her first photo book accompanied by her debut solo piano album. She is also part of the TONUS ensemble. Her influences: Salvador Dali, and Morton Feldman.
The Martina Verhoeven Quintet made its debut at the impressive ROADBURN Festival 2022. In front of a full house, at jazz club Paradox (Tilburg, NL), this quintet, built around the piano virtuosity of polymath and multi-instrumentalist, Martina Verhoeven, was an instant success. Hailed by a super excited audience, Martina Verhoeven Quintet with assembled musicians – Gonçalo Almeida on double bass, Onno Govaert on drums, Dirk Serries on guitar, and Colin Webster on saxophone created a high tension, free improvisation performance led by Martina’s energetic and unique piano playing as if the band already existed for several years. Martina is also a graduated mindfulness coach.
http://www.martinaverhoeven.com
LEMADI TRIO – bio download here
LEMADI TRIO – TRYPTOPHAN SUITE press sheet download here
LEMADI TRIO – tech rider & input list download here
A New Wave Of Jazz 
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