Trumpet player Eric Vloeimans performs with Studentproof Bigband

Gin & Jazz is the summer version of Whiskey & Jazz, a recurring festival organized by Studentproof Jazz. The rapidly growing student music association won’t just be offering a podium to its own combos during Gin & Jazz, but it also managed, with some help from Studium Generale, to coax legendary trumpet player Eric Vloeimans into giving a performance. He will play with the Studentproof Bigband in the Corona Room on Wednesday, June the 1st.

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image SG / Volle Kracht

“We used to organize Whiskey & Jazz in November, but we wanted a summer drink for a festival in June. That is why we came up with Gin & Jazz.” Merel van Lieshout, student of Industrial Design and activity commissioner at ESMG Studentproof Jazz, is one of the event’s co-organizers.

The event will take place in and around Hubble and the Corona Room on June 1, starting at 7PM. Admission is free of charge, Van Lieshout underlines. There will be special bars for those who wish to taste four gin cocktails for sixteen euros from a unique Gin & Jazz glass, which people can take home for free afterwards. “We like to create a classy atmosphere – a bit more stylish than guzzling beer. That goes better with jazz.”

New Orleans

Studentproof, incidentally, doesn’t just perform jazz, but soul, funk and blues as well. “Every music style that comes out of New Orleans,” Van Lieshout says. The association has nine combos – ranging from small to a big band of twenty-five musicians –, all of which will be performing on June 1.

One of the newest music groups is named The Swifterbant, “after the village in Flevoland.” Van Lieshout, who plays piano and saxophone, is part of the group. “We will give our first performance during Gin & Jazz.”

The evening’s headliner, however, is trumpet virtuoso Eric Vloeimans, who will be playing a couple of songs with the Studentproof Bigband. The association has Studium Generale to thank for this upgrade of their program.

Improvise

By the way, you can listen to jazz every first Wednesday of the month in Hubble. And you can play jazz there as well, because that’s when Studentproof Jazz organizes its jam sessions. The association also organizes workshops for those who would like to join these improvisations, but are a bit hesitant to do so.

Many students like the fact that those jam sessions are easy to join, also, for example, by people with a background in classical music, Van Lieshout says. This is also reflected in the association’s steadily growing membership numbers since the Intro. “We started with sixty members this academic year, and now we have close to a hundred.”

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