The Subterraneans - 2010 "The Subterraneans"

The initial concept of blending jazz and rock some 42 years ago was inspired, but the fusion was soon hijacked by the come-upstairs-and-see-my-technique brigade, and bombast came to replace groove and imagination.

James Ryan's "Subterraneans" - the name of both the band and album - actually fulfils the concept's original promise, with sophisticated improvising and lithe melodies harnessed to raw power and savage riffs. The band is one of Sydney's strongest live acts, and this brilliant studio debut catches all that excitement, and delivers it with a mighty sonic punch.

  Ryan's tenor saxophone is burly, coarse-grained and bullying (in the instrument's best tradition!), with a sweeter temper periodically glimpsed through the pugnacity. He needs all those qualities to share his music's foreground with James Muller, one of the finest electric guitarists alive.

Unleashing his most stunning recorded work to date, Muller's every solo is an explosion of ideas, realised with the sinuousness of jazz and the muscle of hard rock.

The rhythm section echoes those qualities. Bassist Steve Hunter is all suppleness as he rounds the music's edges and adds delicious little counterpoints. Drummer James Hauptmann ensures the grooves crunch with enough power to satisfy a strident rock audience, without forsaking a more pliable sense of groove.

This sensational CD is launched at the Basement on June 30.

John Shand Sydney Morning Herald June 2010 

Track listing:

01 The Rush

02 Portobello Road

03 Jackie Dragons

04 The Journey

05 So to Speak

06 The Subterraneans

07 Currumbin Sun

08 Zing Zing Zing

09 Kid Shuffle

10 Them's the Brakes

Personnel:

Baritone Saxophone – James Ryan 

Drums – James Hauptmann

Electric Bass – Steve Hunter 

Electric Guitar – James Muller

Tenor Saxophone – James Ryan 

Teus Nobel Liquid Music Quintet - 2012 "Flow"

Teus Nobel is a Dutch jazz trumpet player and flugelhorn player. He performs with different bands and is a teacher at Fontys Hogeschool. In 2020 he won an Edison Award for the album Saudade.

Teus Nobel studied classical music and jazz at the Codarts University for the Arts in Rotterdam. Here he obtained a bachelor's (2006) and a master's degree, with a research project on the intellectual legacy of jazz trumpeter Woody Shaw.

He has played and toured with the Rotterdam Ska Jazz Foundation, Caro Emerald, The Kyteman Orchestra and Frank McComb. With his own Liberty Group he performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival.

Nobel has released several albums, with Liberty Group and collaborated with Jef Neve and Roeland Jacobs/Radio Filharmonisch Orkest. With Jacobs he won an Edison Award in 2020 for their Saudade album.

He has been a teacher at Fontys Academy of Music & Performing Arts since 2020.

In 2012, Teus released his first solo album, an album called “Flow”. The album featured several dutch artists, including alto star Ben van Gelder. The band was welcomed as a ‘fresh and wayward quintet’ (newspaper Parool) and an ‘interesting new group’ (magazine Jazzism) and Teus was called out “Soul & Jazz Talent” bij Radio 6. The album single “Shifting Expectations” was #1 in the iTunes jazz charts for over a week and Teus’ Liquid Music Quintet made their appearance in multiple radioshows, introduced as the ‘new kid on the block’.

Dutch trumpet player Teus Nobel presents his first solo album Flow! This cd features his Liquid Music Quintet with their own compositions. These songs were created when Teus melted the music of the great trumpeters Roy Hargrove, Christian Scott, Eric Vloeimans and Woody Shaw together with the music of Pat Metheny and Herbie Hancock.

The result is Liquid jazz: a style balancing on the flow-motion between comfort zone and the unknown which sounds like groovy, contemporary jazz dipped into a little fusion.

Track listing:

1 Intro 0:49

2 Shifting Expectations 3:51

3 Gut Feeling 8:10

4 Water Resist (Feat. Tom Beek) 5:45

5 Believe 5:42

6 Escape From All I Know (Feat. Ben van Gelder) 6:51

7 Big Four 5:08

8 Inner Depth (Feat. Qeaux Qeaux Joans) 6:32

9 Brain Storm 6:27

Personnel:

Teus Nobel (trumpet/fluegelhorn)

Jerome Hol (guitar)

Daan Herweg (keys)

Hugo Den Oudsten (bass)

Salle de Jonge (drums)

Ben van Gelder (alto saxophone)

Tom Beek (tenor saxophone)

Qeaux Qeaux Jones (vocal)