Jazz at JAKI: Caspar van Meel Quartet | Satie - A Time Remembered

Bassist and bandleader Caspar van Meel presents his personal interpretation of the music of impressionist composer Erik Satie. He brings together an outstanding international combo for the project, which interprets van Meel's refined, original arrangements with energy and intuitive interplay. Van Meel focuses on the Gnossiennes - a series of works for piano written by Satie at the end of the 19th century. Although many jazz musicians were influenced by impressionist composers like Satie, the scales that Satie used are still not frequently employed. Van Meel makes Satie's harmonic innovations clear and introduces them into an improvised musical context.

The title of this project, "Time Remembered", was derived from the famous composition by jazz pianist Bill Evans. Van Meel deliberately chose to juxtapose his version of this piece with Satie's music. It is a good example of how impressionist composers like Satie influenced jazz musicians.

When Satie wrote his famous piano works, Europe was in a turbulent period. The feeling of tremendous political, technological and social change must have been quite similar to the mood of the times we live in today. The Gnossienne seem to reflect this zeitgeist.

The press writes:

A successful recourse to an important chapter of early 20th century European art music. Caspar van Meel' continues Erik Satie's achievements in an extremely creative and captivating way, giving them a very individual and contemporary side. A highly recommended listening experience.' - Thomas Loewner / WDR3 Jazz (30.11.2023)

'A wonderful album with poetry, unobtrusive melancholy and a gloomy gloom' by the 'Dutch master bassist Caspar van Meel' with an 'excellent sextet' of 'brilliant bandmates. - Ernst Weiss / Concerto (12.2023)

'Van Meel allows us to re-experience Satie's music from a jazz perspective, exploring the unique harmonies and imagining new rhythmic possibilities for the melodies. Excellent arrangements, his bass solos are mesmerizing, Von Chossy's piano ideas are great, and the horns are all inspired and creative in their solos. If you like Satie's music and jazz arrangements, you should definitely not miss this recording.' - Adult Music Podcast (12.2023)