Masha Bijlsma Quartet Feat. Martin Sasse & Martin Gjakonovski at Jazz In Concert Series at Pantheon Theater

The Dutch jazz singer Masha Bijlsma has long been one of the most prominent voices on the old continent.

Perhaps the greatest asset in Masha Bijlsma’s singing is her ability to change and the wide range of styles and expressions that she so confidently possesses.

Whether she develops great chanson feeling with a velvety tender voice in Edith Piaf’s “La vie en rose” or whether she ennobles pop songs like “The man with the child in his eyes” with balladesque jazz feeling, Masha Bijlsma always remains vocally self-deprecable. It all sounds wonderfully stylish, coherent, high-calibreconclusive what she sings. In addition to the occasional excursions into the melodious world of chansons and pop, jazz standards and their own compositions make up the bulk of their repertoire. Masha Bijlsma integrates the most diverse musical spheres into her personal style, she absorbs heterogeneous worlds of expression with her warm velvet voice and lets her gain her own distinctive tone....

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The Dutch jazz singer Masha Bijlsma has long been one of the most prominent voices on the old continent.

Perhaps the greatest asset in Masha Bijlsma’s singing is her ability to change and the wide range of styles and expressions that she so confidently possesses.

Whether she develops great chanson feeling with a velvety tender voice in Edith Piaf’s “La vie en rose” or whether she ennobles pop songs like “The man with the child in his eyes” with balladesque jazz feeling, Masha Bijlsma always remains vocally self-deprecable. It all sounds wonderfully stylish, coherent, high-calibreconclusive what she sings. In addition to the occasional excursions into the melodious world of chansons and pop, jazz standards and their own compositions make up the bulk of their repertoire. Masha Bijlsma integrates the most diverse musical spheres into her personal style, she absorbs heterogeneous worlds of expression with her warm velvet voice and lets her gain her own distinctive tone.

Whether it’s Nat Adderley’s good old “Work Song”, Coltrane’s “Africa”, Monk’s “Suddenly” or her own elegant melodic songs: bluesy colour and juicy sensuality always flows from the Dutch singer’s throat. And this can always gain powerful drive when she starts to scatt imaginatively.

Masha Bijlsma has excellent accompanists in her current band: Martin Sasse at the piano, one of the great Espressivo players. The drummer Dries Bijlsma and the bassist Martin Gjakonovski complete the band.

Solid jazz, tradition-conscious and yet absolutely contemporary!

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