Taking Off: Kasper Rietkerk

There’s probably a better time to be a Netherlands-native living in London than when I speak to the young saxophonist-composer Kasper Rietkerk. It’s the eve of his home nation facing England in the Euro semis and as a football fan, Rietkerk says, he’s thinking about avoiding any problems by wearing something other than his usual orange colours while watching the game in the local pub.

But we’re here today to speak about another passion of his that’s also marked by its cohesive teamwork: the art of jazz. It’s the reason he moved to London in the first place, having joined the postgraduate course at the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in 2022.

“I think it was more for the scene than the course, and the city was appealing to me,” he says on a Zoom video call from his Islington home. “It looked like a really vibrant scene, just so much stuff going on at the same time which I was very up for. UK jazz has so many different influences. I was listening to lots of different music coming from here like Yussef Dayes, Jordan Rakei, Lianne La Havas and Jacob Collier who also went to the Royal Academy, and definitely Sons of Kemet and all those bands. For me it’s just there were so many colours in one city, so many different tastes. I just wanted to know where it came from and what they did to get to that point.”

Born and raised in Holland, Rietkerk at the age of eight took classical lessons on the saxophone but discovered his vocation in his early teens when a new sax teacher, into jazz, funk and soul, inspired him to start playing and composing for bands.

“I started listening a lot to Stevie Wonder ‘cause one of the bands was playing a lot of his songs and then I found out about Dizzy Gillespie and Herbie Hancock who were playing on one of the Stevie Wonder tunes,” he says. “So I fell into jazz music that way. Around that age I was also listening to Latin and really liked the Cannonball Adderley bossa record [Cannonball's Bossa Nova].”

Rietkerk went on to study jazz saxophone for four years as an undergraduate in Swollen, a small town in Holland; then in his final year transferred to the larger city of Utrecht. From that moment on the lure of life in the metropolis would prove irresistible and he recorded and played gigs for bands such as his hiphop/neo soul outfit Das Sound Kollektiv in and around Utrecht and Amsterdam.”

“But then during Covid I had a lot of time to think, maybe too much,” he says. “I was talking to some of my musician friends about doing a Masters but doing it somewhere abroad for a new experience. First place that popped in my mind was London because it’s such a big city and just so much stuff going on at the same time.”

Rietkerk says he loved the course and teachers at RAM, although he was initially surprised that, “if you want to make it happen and want to discover other sounds as well and be active in different kinds of scenes you just have to go out there yourself maybe more than I expected.”

“Making connections isn’t something maybe that the school provides for you. In the Netherlands (Rotterdam, say), there’s a really good scene but there’s lots of different kinds of music; there’s jazz but also funk, soul but everything goes hand-in-hand. Everything’s very much connected to the Conservatory. They have a world, indie, Brazilian music department so it’s more integrated than here. When I first moved here I was surprised at how it felt separate, but then if you live here a bit longer you just get to know.”

While at RAM, Rietkerk formed his ensemble KRSIX before recently releasing his debut recording as leader; The Island, with its sophisticated ear-worm originals mounted on a broad multi-coloured canvas played by an expanded set-up including string quartet, wordless vocal, trombone, alt-rock/jazz guitar and special guests including accordionist Anatole Muster and tenor starlet Emma Rawicz, in whose orchestra he currently tours.

“For me, it’s always nice if you know people care about the music and about you, and they put the time into the music themselves without you asking for it,” he says. “That’s the thing I’ve always liked about bands and writing music. I’d always dreamed of working with strings and I also like listening to Radiohead and indie bands. Being at the Royal Academy I thought, this is my chance to record with good string players. I had so many great teachers there I could bring in my writing and ask someone like Pete Churchill if it’s the right approach. Then I started rearranging some of the tunes I’d written, extending sections.”

In spite of coming across as an eloquent alto sax soloist, Rietkerk is as devoted to arranging as improvising.

“I’m not the next Charlie Parker,” he says, “and don’t want to be. In a ‘live’ gig I really like to stretch out the improvisation but on the album I felt I would like more studio values.”

Kasper Rietkerk’s KRSIX launches 'The Island' (Zennez Records) with a September UK tour: Jazz on the Broadwalk, London (14 Sep); Sound Cellar, Poole (19 Sep); Ropery hall, Barton-Upon-Humber (21 Sep); Northlight, Leeds (22 Sep); and Whiskey Blue, Southampton (29 Sep).

This article originally appeared in the September 2024 issue of Jazzwise. Whether you want to enjoy Jazzwise online, explore our Reviews Database or our huge archive of issues, or simply receive the magazine through your door every month, we've got the perfect subscription for you. Find out more at magsubscriptions.com