Witmer Trio ft. Jan-Luc van Eendenburg - Cuban Fantasy
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"If something grooves and you like the sound, then that's all you need."
- Ry Cooder
“Creative ideas often happen when people combine two dissimilar concepts, and that’s the same line of thought nostalgia inspires: It makes us contemplate past experiences in the context of today.”
- J. Plucker
Cajan Witmer - acoustic piano
Han Slinger - double bass
Maarten Kruijswijk - drums and percussion
Jan-Luc van Eendenburg - congas and percussion
Total time: 45:17
Original recording format: DXD 352kHz. All other formats are converted versions of the original.
This album features the Witmer Trio in a Latin mood. We decided to invite percussionist Jan-Luc van Eendenburg, a specialist in Afro-Cuban rhythms, to join the trio for this session. The choice of material and arrangements are centered around the idea of creating a jazz trio album where the percussion is an integrated voice, not just an effect or overdub.
This album marks a return to the origins of Witmer Trio, delving into the salsa, cha-cha, bolero, bachata, and cumbia traditions - the music of Latin America. The Trio is joined by special guest Jan-Luc van Eendenburg on congas and bongos, completing the Latin flavor.
I have had the privilege of witnessing the Trio’s development since its inception. This album pays homage to their origins and showcases the Trio’s collective life experience, enhancing the artists’ individual craftsmanship. In Cajan Witmer's cantabile interpretation, the melody emerges stronger and more mature than ever. One can clearly see these qualities are also true for bass player Han Slinger and drummer Maarten Kruijswijk. After more than 25 years of close collaboration, their rhythmic foundation has become even more robust, creating a superb basis for Witmer’s refined melodic improvisations. I deeply admire Cajan Witmer’s arrangements, as they breathe new life into classics while maintaining a clear respect for the original compositions. Listeners will sense Witmer’s appreciation for the original pieces, as the music remains genuine and undistorted. In this new album, Witmer Trio skillfully weaves together the past and present in a most satisfying manner.
When creating the soundstage, we devoted significant time to achieving an ideal balance. We placed a pair of Josephson C700S in the ''sweet spot'' in MCO Studios’ Studio 2 before incorporating spot microphones.
Our goal was to create a sound field that felt intimate yet retained sufficient depth to evoke a visual representation of the instruments. In this respect, we embraced a philosophy similar to Cajan Witmer in his arrangements: we aimed for the piano’s melodic component to be prominent without overshadowing the ensemble. In this recording, the piano and the drums have been given a prime position on the sound stage, rather than being spread out from left to right as is typical in commercial recordings.
The advantage of this approach is the ability to visualize the quartet in front of you, arranged from left to right between the speakers, as opposed to the more prevalent (and radio-friendly) format where the instruments are piled on top of each other.
In some ways, we are old-fashioned. We may have listened to too many old jazz recordings, but as Louis Armstrong once said, ''The memory of things gone is important to a jazz musician. Things like old folks singing in the moonlight in the backyard on a hot night or something said long ago."
- Peter Bjørnild
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Frans de Rond
Produced by Peter Bjørnild
Recorded at: MCO Studio 2, Hilversum, The Netherlands, on March 18, 2023
Used equipment:
Microphones:
Main 'One Mic': Josephson C700S
Spot mics:
Piano - Josephson C617
Bass - DPA 4011
Drums - Josephson C42 overheads, Audio Technica ATM25 kick
Congas - Coles 4038
Micpre's: Merging Horus
Microphone cables: AudioQuest
Speakers: TAD Compact Evolution
Poweramp: Moon 760A
Mixing headphones: Hifiman HE1000 / Sennheiser HD800S
Power cables & conditioners: AudioQuest
Network switch: SOtM
Cover design: Gonny van Oudenallen
Photos: Govert Driessen
Catalog Number: SL-1061A