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Review Regentenkamer, 22 June 2003 the Hague, the Netherlands

Robert Rook Quartet
Robert Rook - piano, Ernst Glerum - bass, Dick Verbeeck - drums, Rob Armus - tenor saxophone


Jules Deelder (a famous Dutch poet) wrote a poem about what is jazz. He can now add two sentences:
Jazz is to write a review on Sunday:
Jazz is Robert Rook.

About six or seven years ago, Robert was active on the The Hague jazzpodia. Then you could already hear that this was a musician who definitely didn't see bebop as the alpha and omega of jazz. On 22 June he captured the jazz lovers with a concert that was the best of a year of jazz concerts in the Regentenkamer. He clearly put his mark on the other bandmembers and pushed them to great inventivity. Well known compositions like for example a Night in Tunesia were ripped apart, newly arranged, ending up having more power than the original tune. The Canadian tenor saxophonist Rob Armus, fond of the 'heavy tenor' thing, played with surprising turns, overtones en juicy swing. It was definitely not an evening of lyricism and fine melodic jazz.

So the Regentenkamer is a bit of a jazz temple of Rob van Kreeveld. In his composition, Girls of Thirteen, Robert Rook proved that also lyricism isn't strange territory for him, but that it doesn't have to sound soft en romantic. In this composition bass player Ernst Glerum excelled in an intro with a lot of fantasy.

The Robert Rook Quartet has to come back next season for the visitors who missed this top jazz of international level.

Huub van Dijk

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