Holland Festival Presents: Kapok, The Mirabel Sessions at Bimhuis

Brand new work by an unusual indie jazz trio: Morris Kliphuis on French horn, Timon Koomen on guitar and Remco Menting on percussion and drums.

They call themselves an unusual jazz trio, but Kapok is more than that. It is one of the most prominent bands in the contemporary Dutch indie music scene. Just take their instrumentation – there is no bass. Remco Menting sounds unlike any other drummer on his self-designed drum kit. Timon Koomen's guitar brings strange soundscapes to life. But the trio's most unexpected member is the french horn. Morris Kliphuis, a Save the French Horn ambassador, is one of the world's few jazz French horn players. He sings, tears and plays offbeat on his horn, as if it has been especially made for Kapok. The band, making its debut at the Holland Festival, presents new work which includes electronics for the first time....

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Brand new work by an unusual indie jazz trio: Morris Kliphuis on French horn, Timon Koomen on guitar and Remco Menting on percussion and drums.

They call themselves an unusual jazz trio, but Kapok is more than that. It is one of the most prominent bands in the contemporary Dutch indie music scene. Just take their instrumentation – there is no bass. Remco Menting sounds unlike any other drummer on his self-designed drum kit. Timon Koomen's guitar brings strange soundscapes to life. But the trio's most unexpected member is the french horn. Morris Kliphuis, a Save the French Horn ambassador, is one of the world's few jazz French horn players. He sings, tears and plays offbeat on his horn, as if it has been especially made for Kapok. The band, making its debut at the Holland Festival, presents new work which includes electronics for the first time.

Kapok is a Dutch jazz trio made up of Morris Kliphuis (French horn), Timon Koomen (guitar) and Remco Menting (drums). Just as striking as their set-up – without a bass and with the a-typical French horn as their melody instrument – is the stylistic versatility of the trio. Kapok takes improvised jazz as its starting point but segues effortlessly into indie, metal, hip hop, Americana and African sounds. Their underlying chemistry and adventurous choices have established Kapok as one of the most original and exciting live bands in the Netherlands. Kapok also regularly performs internationally.

Kapok released their debut album, Flatlands, on which the trio collaborates with guests such as contra bassist Ernst Glerum, percussionist Joshua Samson and the Raggazze String Quartet, in 2012. Their second album, Kapok, followed in 2014 and won an Edison (the Dutch equivalent of an Emmy). Critics praised the album for its eclecticism, the way in which the trio interacts and the improvised but nevertheless tight character of the music. Their third album, Glass to Sand, on which their sound grew darker and the stylistic palette of the band broadened even further followed in 2015. In 2016 Kapok recorded a CD of compositions by Terry Riley with Percussion Den Haag (Slagwerk Den Haag) and the Ragazze Quartet.

Last year, after five years of playing together, the band went on retreat to Mirabel-aux-Baronnies in the South of France. During this retreat the band shifted focus to long, mesmerising lines, unusual sound combinations and the use of electronica, something new for Kapok. The results of these Mirabel Sessions will be heard for the first time at the Holland Festival 2017.

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