Jef Neve - Soul power
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Tipped as one of the new rising stars on the European jazz circuit Belgian pianist Jef Neve returns this month with a follow-up to his critically acclaimed trio outing from last year. On the new record, Soul in a Picture, he manages to mould jazz, rock and classical influences into a flexible improvising vehicle along with drummer Teun Verbruggen and bassist Piet Verbist. Stuart Nicholson talks to Neve about his inspirations, his classical and jazz influences, and how he manages to develop his own identity.
Jef Neve must be getting used to standing ovations. The modest young Belgian piano virtuoso doesn’t say as much, but since the release of his major label debut Nobody Is Illegal in 2006, he’s been moving out of small jazz clubs and into large halls as he wins over bigger and bigger audiences across Europe. When he played three nights in Lisbon, for example, crowds were queuing around the block every night and the event was covered by TV and radio. But all he’ll say on the matter of ovations is that he is pleased, no flattered, that his music is making him so many friends.
Well, chances are that a few more friends will be coming his way in the coming weeks with the release of Soul in a Picture. On it he reveals a mellower, deeper side to his musical personality than he showed on its often exuberant and at times inspirational predecessor Nobody Is Illegal.
The theme of quiet reflection that surfaces and re-surfaces throughout Soul in a Picture was prompted by one of life’s rites of passages – his thirtieth birthday. “I wanted to re-define my life,” he explains in perfect English, one of five languages in which he’s fluent. “A lot of stuff happened in the last 10 years and I wanted to see if I could find my way now I’m in my thirties. It’s totally different – I’m not eighteen any more – so I don’t have the urge to produce explosive songs all the time. On this album I have preferred to have more lyrical, intimate songs – small details, a few notes – and I tried to find the power of more is less, that’s what I wanted to do on this album.”
Soul in a Picture is the fourth in a continuum of albums that have charted the artistic growth of the Neve trio since their self-produced debut Blue Saga in 2003. It was followed by It’s Gone (2004) which won the prestigious Belgian Radio Klara prize for Best International Jazz Album 2005 and Nobody Is Illegal (2006) which was released in over 20 countries and received the “CHOC” award from the French magazine Jazzman and was among the Guardian Monthly’s five best new albums.
Taken together, these albums show the refining and maturing of a musical vision and style that’s wholly his own. “At the end of my studies at the conservatory, I was 21 and I realised that playing standards was not really the thing I wanted to do,” explains Neve.
This is an extract from Jazzwise Issue #122 to read the full feature and receive a Free CD Subscribe Here ...