January 19, 2019 In ChocoJazz

ChocoJazz on National Japanese Television NHK

We were ready for Christmas when we got a message from Shiho; ‘NHK, Japanese Television wants do to a mini-documentary about ChocoJazz, do you have any events coming up?’ Obviously, her deadline was approaching and the holidays were approaching, but we said: “yes, we love to be featured!”

And there we went,.. filmed while going to the galleries, enjoying some art, at the Market in the Bronx, picking up some microgreens from Koppert Cress, in our home on the big blue couch and yes, during the ChocoJazz show at Der Pioneer in Brooklyn. The feature became a 6-minute Japanese introduction of our project, and here you can see it!

We want to thank all our friends as well as Bjorn and Greg from Der Pioneer, Original Beans, Le Nouveau Chef, Koppert Cress, and Catalonia Plates and of course Shiho from NHK – catch.

https://youtu.be/xoIR6cJ-GMY

November 10, 2018 In Uncategorized

Speaking at the National Fulbright Conference in Mexico

Here are a few pictures of my trip to Puebla, Mexico for the National Fulbright Conference. There were around 400 super inspiring people from all over the world, specializing in different fields of work. I did a 10-minute plenary talk about the synergy of chocolate and jazz.

My talk contained different listening examples of my improvisations and I made the audience guess within different categories what the sound example represented. “What color is this sound-bite“, or “what texture“, or “what would be the weather“, or “what is the emotion“, or what is the”flavor of this sound-bite“. It was remarkable to see that in almost all the examples was a unanimous answer in the audience. I really loved it because I felt it really described the process I go through when I’m live, improvising and composing while in the moment. Many things can inspire me to make certain sounds, or use certain apps or chors, rhythms and obviously, there are always different versions possible. Take for example the different shades of colors, like purple, which might be very close to what blue would sound like. Better said, in a 15-minute composition that is supposed to sound blue, there might be moments that might sound purple. Anyway, it was very fun to explain what we are doing with ChocoJazz; exploring new ways to express our art and even discovering a new genre in performance arts.

Puebla was a wonderful city and it was also very fun to be there for the ‘day of the dead’ celebration. After the conference – since Teddy was able to tag along – we decided to explore Mexico City for a couple of days and had an awesome touristy time before going back to New York.

October 4, 2018 In ChocoJazz

Worlds biggest musical pastry painting

The days before…

After a long trip to the Netherlands, we arrived at Schiphol Amsterdam. Although it is always nice to spend some time in my home country and see friends and family, our trip had a different purpose this time. And so, we drove to Düsseldorf. So why to Düsseldorf? Well, first of all, because it’s such a nice city with a lot of great restaurants and nice people!

But we were there for something else: Teddy was asked to invent a signature tartelette: a one-person cake, with cool flavors (in this case a ‘Manhattan Cocktail’ tartelette), that will be sold in the coming 3 months in the Original beans flagship store in “Zurheide im Crown”. When we arrived at Zurheide, Pastry chef Tjorven Jenkins finished a couple Manhattan Tartelettes. Teddy presented the small cake with the pastry team to the press, as it will be covered in German food magazines.

Sundays are for giant edible musical paintings.

On September 16th we made the enormous ChocoJazz painting at the Zur Heide Gourmet Festival in Dusseldorf. We teamed up with German piano player Florian Weber for a show of 1,5 hours to create a 40 square meter painting with haute cuisine ingredients, while Florian and Vivienne worked together improvising a musical soundscape to Teddy’s pastry brush strokes. The canvas was filled with Chocolate from Original Beans, cake, cream, gel, flowers from Keltenhof, Microgreens from Koppert Cress and was accompanied by sounds from Viv’s voice, iPad App, loop station and Florian on samples and Steinway piano. When we finished the painting was consumed by 1500 people.

Even though the Guinness Book of Records didn’t show up, we can officially say that we made the largest pastry painting in the world!!

We really want to thank everybody that helped us. Original Beans, Patrick, Nina, Marloes, Katrin, Phillip, ZurHeide, Tjorven and her pastry team, Jörg and Michaela, Keltenhof, Koppert Cress, LeNouveau Chef, Florian Weber, and of course, our parents. (My dad Peter made some amazing pictures!)

The Menu:

Lemongrass Crème Patissier
, Crème au Beurre Pâte a Bombe with St. Germain Elderflower Liquor, 
Meringue of Vodka & Yuzu
, Meringue of Lemongrass & Obstwasser
, White Chocolate Ganache with Roasted Almonds & Thyme
, Kletskop with Lemonsezte, 
Limoncello Cream with Roasted Lemonsezte, 
Chocolate Ganache of Original Beans Cusco Chunco, 
Chocolate Ganache of Original Beans Grand Cru Blend, 
White Glaçage, 
Black Glaçage, Gluten-free Chocolate Cake, 
Bergamot Glass, 
Original Beans Femmes de Virunga Glass
, Original beans Edel Weiss Mousse with Champagne
, Roasted Macadamia Nuts

Elements powered by Koppert Cress

Sechuan Cress
, Zorri Cress
, Vene Cress, 
Apple Blossom
, Citra Leaves, 
Dushi Buttons, 
Gangnam Tops, 
Sechuan Buttons
, Yka Leaves
, Venus Vase

Elements powered by KeltenHof Flowers

Kornblume
, Löwenmäulchen, 
Veilchen
, Ringelblume

 

robin koerts collab
November 2, 2017 In Uncategorized

Robin Koerts Electronic collaboration – Video!

Let me tell you a little bit about my collaboration with Robin Koerts. You might have seen some clips or pics on the internet of us performing at various shows, but it’s pretty hard to get what we actually do on stage. And It’s actually one of the most inspiring things I do musically!

Koerts, Robin Koerts

My collaboration with Robin Koerts is a very diverse one. Every time I try to explain what we’re doing I come to the same conclusion: you have to see and hear it, to get it. First of, you need to know that Robin Koerts is one of best bass players in the Netherlands, and definitely one of the best bass players I know. Being a huge Jaco Pastorius fan, he has this groove over him, which trickles down in everything he does. Second of all, he watches a lot of movies, like a lot. The funny thing is, in these movies he hears or sees something that has a groove or a rhythm.

And then he tends to implements that in his music. Third, he makes short musical clips for one of the best watched talkshows of The Netherlands (De Wereld Draait Door) and they’re called ‘Soundbites’. In these soundbites clips he takes a small snippet of video material of something that he recently saw in the news. It could be a politician saying a sentence or a word, a host that is sighing, piece of the news where something went wrong. He loops these snippets and lays them over each other, making a groovy, looping song out of it.

So back to the part where Robin watches a lot of movies. In these movies he hears something that he could turn into a groove. It could be a guy from ‘King of the Hill’ that says:”I don’t know if we can save this engine” or he puts all the moments when people slap each other in the face in a loop so that I becomes a drumkick. Think the same with 150 snippets of car-doors closing. The guy is a walking drum computer.

In the shows that Robin and I do, we mix his and my creations up. I sing parts of my songs and he puts parts of his songs in his loop-pedal so he can start a video of his own made face-slapping, digeredoo playing, trumpet buzzing or car-door slamming groove, whenever he wants, whatever he wants. Sometimes the base for our songs is one of his originals, and sometimes it’s one of mine. But we always leave space for improvisation. A song that starts of as one of my originals, mixed up with his “I don’t know if we can save this engine” can turn into a snippet with the Beastie Boys, me playing my Korg R3 synthesizer and looping my voice at the same time, while Robin is grooving on his electric bass guitar..

Below is a video compilation of one my shows in the Netherlands with Robin Koerts which includes a lot of cool parts that show. But it’s best to just come to one of our shows and enjoy this cool collaboration between us! See you there!

November 2, 2017 In ChocoJazz

ChocoJazz Meets De Stijl – Live at the Netherlands Club of New York

Coming back from Zutphen to New York felt a bit like coming home. But no time to sit down and relax, because we had another ChocoJazz show coming up! Since this year is the year of De Stijl – the art group De Stijl was founded in Leiden 100 years ago – The Netherlands Club of New York wanted to celebrate this by throwing a party. And since the mayor of The Hague, Pauline Krikke, was in town they wanted to commemorate the influence of Mondrian and De Stijl by giving the owner of the building where Mondrian found the ‘Boogie Woogie’ a memorial plaque. Since we are talking about Jazz and art anyways, it would only be appropriate to perform at the The Netherlands Club with our ‘ChocoJazz Meets De Stijl’ show, which we performed earlier this year in Leiden.

Sold out!

And… the tickets were sold out within an hour! A hundred people came that night to The Warwick Hotel to celebrate De Stijl, meet the mayor and of course see what ChocoJazz is all about. I asked my longtime Berklee friend and bass player Max Ridley to come join us at this show, and having played lots of free jazz with him at the Lilypad in Boston before, I knew he would be a natural. We performed four paintings with the colors Yellow, Blue, Red and Black & White and played to these colors. Max’ bass filled up the room as my sounds inspired Teddy to create his edible paintings, which everybody -kinda hesitant at first- got to eat afterwards. It was a great night we got to inspire a lot of people and of course met the mayor!

Thank you Mayor of The Hague Pauline Krikke for attending our show and thank you Netherland Club of New York for hosting. I would also like to thank Koppert Cress USA at Long Island for arranging the beautiful edible flowers and cresses, Le Nouveau Chef for Teddy’s Chefs clothing and Original Beans for providing the most stunning chocolate were everybody got crazy over! And of course my dear friend Max Ridley for coming over to New York, blowing everybody including me away, having a few laughs and then grabbing a 4AM bus back to Boston..Musicians life..

Oh, and you can read Pauline Krikke’s Blog here.

Photo credit by Colin Faber.

November 2, 2017 In Uncategorized

Sony Rooftop Performance

This was something very special. There is a Youtube channel that’s called BalconyTV and the concept of the show is to let musicians play on a balcony or rooftop or anything high above the city. So I got a call from Balcony TV if I was able to perform for the show’s Manhattan Chapter. Of course I don’t mind that!

Balcony TV

BalconyTV Manhattan arranged their usual rooftop which is on top of the Metropolitan Life North Building, better known as ‘The Sony Rooftop’. This rooftop, which gives you a 360 degrees view over Manhattan from it’s place at 25th street and Madison Avenue, really makes you feel like you’re on top of the world. ‘I can see the Empire State Building from here’ was not an unheard sentence. Recently redecorated, it’s a luxury quiet haven high above the hustle and bustle of the city, and with clear blue skies and 24 celsius on the thermometer, I actually got a bit of a tan! After a short interview I performed ‘Why wouldn’t you’ with my iPad music apps like Loopy.
After some time the final video came out which you can check right here! Shoot me a note and let me know what you think! My photographer friend Karen van Gilst, specializing in photography of jazz musicians, got the chance to shoot beautiful pictures which visualize the grandeur of the place and the fun that I had to perform at one of the most special places I’ve performed thus far..
Thank you Balcony TV for this opportunity and thank you Karen van Gilst for the beautiful pictures!

November 2, 2017 In ChocoJazz

ChocoJazz at the Zutphen Chocolade Festival

It has only been a year ago since Teddy and I started our ChocoJazz shows but it has taken a huge flight. Each painting is different and musically it differs what I’m playing and who is playing. It could be a brass quartet to duet or just me and an Ipad. Every time it’s different but every time our audience gets to listen, watch and taste our combination of Jazz, food and art.

Having played in the romantic small city of Zutphen in the east of the Netherlands before, we got in touch with Chocolatier and Chocolate-festival-organizer Huub Janson and his daughter Rineke Janson-Flapper. Their enthusiasm eventually lead to asking to perform at the Zutphen Chocolate festival.

From NY to Zutphen

It felt like a dream: flying to your gig back in Europe, staying in a beautiful hotel (Inntel Hotels Resort Zutphen) with the boss of the hotel treating us like a guest of honor and, most important, performing in the Old St. Walburgis Church. Performing in a church is always special because you feel the history behind it. The way the sun falls through the windows, the acoustics of the high ceiling: It all makes you feel insignificant to the whole setting.

We did two shows in the afternoon where the guests were greeted with a glass of champagne provided by Schulten Hues – Peter Gast restaurant and got to watch Teddy and me perform and create a soundscape and a huge 3 x 2 meter painting. It’s always a treat for me to see people enjoy free jazz, because they can not only listen, but see and taste it too!

I want to thank everybody who came out to our wonderful shows in the St. Walburgis church in Zutphen, the church management, Huub Janson, Rineke Janson-Flapper, Henk Holster of Inntel hotels resort Zutphen, Koppert Cress for the beautiful diverse cress, Le Nouveau Chef for Teddy’s Chef’s clothing and last but not least Schulten Hues – Peter Gast for making use of your kitchen, the champagne and the wonderful dinner afterwards we can recommend to everybody who visits Zutphen! Thank you so much!

Thank you Zutphen, You’re awesome!

February 1, 2017 In Uncategorized

ChocoJazz winter ’17

While traveling between New York City and the Netherlands, Pastry Chef ChocoTed and Jazz singer Vivienne Aerts will invite you in a beautiful venue and present amazing new dishes, tickling flavors and swinging music. An event full of Jazz and Chocolate. Submerge yourself in the experience of cool jazzclubs and the hottest restaurants.

All culinary one-bites are based on art, emotions and music and are driven by haute cuisine techniques. Don’t expect only chocolate, but also cake, coffee foam, kardemom gel, infused rosewater, amarena-cherries blanched in port wine, hibiscus crumbles and other explosions in your mouth. And, while Ted is filling the evening with his goodies, Vivienne mixes her original compositions with the electronic inventiveness from Dutch bass player Robin Koerts. Together they are combining jazz, live loops, visuals and soundbites. The efforts of Robin, who is also known from the video-samples of the Wereld Draait Door (a Dutch tv-show), and Vivienne’s vocal jazz songs (with voice, loops, ipad apps and synthesizer) blend together in this new musical concept. Video fragments like youtube drummers, tennis players, didgeridoos, the Simpsons and Wally, with their visuals ánd their sounds, are all part of the compositions.

See here the aftermovie:

November 1, 2016 In Uncategorized

ChocoJazz June ’16

This summer Teddy and I decided to collaborate in this experimental event called : ChocoJazz!

1 night, 10 courses, 10 songs, 100 guests: It was a huge success. The NieuwPlaatz was packed with amazing people, enjoying amazing food, drinks, art and of course: jazz! We could not have been more happy with the result and to see so many people enjoying themselves with some quality food and music in a loose, unpretentious vibe.

See here the aftermovie!

More info on : www.chocojazz.com