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HELP US RELEASE EDSON ENSEMBLE’S DEBUT ALBUM

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INTRODUCTION

My name is Remi J. Edson. I am a jazz flutist, composer, arranger, and the creative director of the Amsterdam-based chamber jazz group EDSON ENSEMBLE. The ensemble recorded our debut album at Wisseloord Studios (Hilversum, NL) in September, with financial support from the Sena Performers Foundation, the Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, and the Canada Council for the Arts. However, in order for us to proceed and bring this album to life, we would like to ask for your support. It would help us to continue with further steps in producing the album and pressing the vinyl.

ABOUT THE ALBUM

For this project we collaborated extensively with Toronto-based composer Quinn Jacobs, who I met in 2013 while we were both studying in Utrecht. In March 2021, when looking for new repertoire for my nascent drummer-less chamber jazz ensemble, I commissioned Quinn to write us a “short piece”, which ended up evolving into the slithering 7-minute title track of Edson Ensemble’s debut album. After hearing the piece, I knew that it represented a future direction for my ensemble that aligned with my own vision of a flexible, multi-faceted jazz group. So I promptly asked Quinn to write us four more pieces to go alongside three of my own works on our album!

The album will also feature an all-star collective of artists already well-versed in the Dutch jazz scene, playing in ensembles such as Mudita, Paradox Jazz Orchestra, Zapp4, Estafest, AM.OK, North Sea String Quartet, Chieko Donker Duyvis Ensemble, and many others. The album would not have been possible without these wonderful musicians, friends, and true carriers of creativity:

Koen Smits — trumpet / flugelhorn; Anton Jakimenko — bass clarinet; Oene van Geel — viola; Pablo Rodriguez — violin; César Puente — double bass.

By receiving some support from the Sena Performers Foundation, the Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, and the Canada Council for the Arts, we were able to start realising this project. Over a period of a year-and-a-half we managed to achieve great results and cover many costs during pre-production, including composition, rental of rehearsal space, rental of recording studio, and fees for musicians, sound engineer, photographer, videographer, and travel. We have now reached the halfway point of our project, where in order to continue we require additional recourses. Finalisation of this album is within reach, although at this time we are not able to reach it by ourselves! Working on a project-to-project basis, the ensemble does not have a multi-year operating budget which would allows us to cover all related costs independently. Therefore, we are taking this opportunity to ask for your help!

BUDGET

With your support we are aiming to collect €8.000. This amount would help us cover many important elements of our album’s production, including editing, mixing and mastering of the recordings, album cover design, additional artwork, pressing of the vinyl, paying fees for Voordekunst, and auxiliary costs like postal services. Furthermore, your support would allow us to proceed with editing our album video trailer; we captured a lot of footage during our recording sessions which we plan to use as promotional material. In the scenario in which we collect more money than initially planned, we would dedicate these extra funds to higher fees for performers, and creating more video content (hiring a videographer to film one of our live shows during our planned fall tour in 2023).

ABOUT REMI

My real name is Remigijus Kazukauskas (a.k.a. Remi J. Edson); I am a freelance musician currently living and working in The Netherlands, originally from Lithuania. In 2011 I moved to The Netherlands in pursuit of a Bachelor degree from the Utrecht Conservatory, and after graduation in 2015 I decided to extend my stay to permanent living. Ever since, I’ve been performing in the Dutch music scene, with wonderful opportunities to work with well-known musicians and ensembles such as Young Metropole Orchestra, jazz fusion group Tyranni Flock, Netherlands Flute Academy’s orchestra, Ronald Snijders, Jeroen Pek, Gerardo Rosales, Lilian Vieira, André Groen, Juan Martinez, Kika Sprangers Large Ensemble, and many others. Since 2019 I have been a member of The Netherlands Flute Octet “BlowUp!”, and recently I’ve worked on projects with Lucy Woodward, Marmoucha Orchestra, and Team Orkesterra.

EDSON ENSEMBLE

In search of my own sound in 2019 I founded the Edson Ensemble. As a jazz flutist I wanted to create a new environment for the flute in jazz, and it came naturally to show the versatility of this instrument within the newly formed sound of my mixed chamber ensemble — a unique sound that emerged from the combination of classical woodwinds and strings (a somewhat unusual instrumentation in jazz) with harmonies and rhythms from the jazz tradition. After a few years of experimenting and exploring the boundaries of this group, we have reached the milestone of recording our original music on a full-length album. With our release we hope to draw more attention to chamber jazz music, showcase our musical ideas, and expand ensemble performance possibilities in the Dutch jazz scene and beyond.

Sponsor:
Alto flute, bass clarinet and double bass are rented from The Dutch Musical Instruments Foundation.

More about Edson Ensemble:
WEBSITE / INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK

More about Quinn Jacobs:
www.quinnjacobs.com

THANK YOU NOTE

Any kind of support would help us greatly. Contributing to our production, coming to our concerts, or even sharing this crowdfunding campaign with your friends and relatives would mean a lot to us. We appreciate your interest, consideration, and belief in our project!

As a thank you for your donations we would like to give you something in return. You’ll be able to select digital downloads of our music, tickets to our release show, signed vinyls, and more!

THANK YOU ALL in advance for supporting us.

Remi