Michael Brecker passed away last Saturday

Michael Brecker passed away last Saturday. One of my biggest heroes. He struggled with his leukemia for some time now and finally had to give in. Apparantly a compatible donor for bonne marrow was never found. Michael Brecker was one of my childhood heroes. Some people were into Madonna, Michael Jackson. I was into Brecker. He could do anything on his instrument. And he was always looking for new ways. On his EWI, saxophone, as a composer. Students around the world tried to imitate his sound, even more than Coltrane (Brecker's biggest influence). We lost a great musician.

Michael Brecker passed away Saturday. Michaelbrecker.com posted this message: JANUARY 13, 2007 - Following a two and a half year battle with MDS and then leukemia, Michael passed away. A memorial service is now being planned and details regarding the same will be posted here this coming Wednesday or Thursday. In lieu of flowers, we ask that donations be made to The Marrow Foundation's TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE FUND. Many lives have been saved as a result of those who joined the National Marrow Donor Program at donor drives on behalf of Michael---and who were perfectly matching donors for others in need.  There is much work to do, and we ask you to please join us in this effort.  Thank you for all of your support.

We premiered out new programme Ghosts of the Amstel this weekend in De...

We premiered out new programme Ghosts of the Amstel this weekend in Den Bosch and Maastricht. lots of travel but very rewarding! We had two full houses and the crowd was very enthusiatic. I felt very good about the two concerts. it was an exciting project to invent. The programmers themselves like it too. If you have tha chance, check us out in the Noorderkerk in Amsterdam on March 3rd (view agenda).
I listened to Maisky and Rostropovitsj playing Arpeggione on my iPod in the car. (plenty of time!) Wijnand and me are going to play it as well, so I needed some inspiration.

Oh, and, the site you are viewing right now is ONLINE!!!

Ties Mellema Management opened a myspace.com page for saxophonist Ties Mellema: http://myspace.com/tiesmellema. Here you can download mp3's from his latest Cd's and read more about Ties Mellema and his music.

Today another session with my personal coach

Today another session with my personal coach. The sessions always make me think about what I do and stimulate me to take life in my own hand and not let life live me. It works very well, I work more efficient, I think more about what I want and act like it. We will see where it takes me. In the end, my career is not important but to be happy in my live in general is what really matters. However cheesy it may sound!

Trying to find a book on Glazunov to get more inspiration about this c...

Trying to find a book on Glazunov to get more inspiration about this composer when playing and rehearsing the quartet. I didnt find it... there's a book with ISBN# 0963545108.... The Glazunov quartet is so hard to grasp that maybe when I get to know the composer better I will have more insight in the piece. Besides that, I am making a brief analysis (harmonic) of the peice to see and hear (!) where the harmonic line takes us.

Normal life started again

Normal life started again. We had rehearsals with the quartet and Rene (Ailed's cousin) left. Everything is back to 'normal'. We cleaned the house tonight. These two months will be relatively quiet and I will have some time to study and think about how I want to sound. I am inspired again. That always happens when I didn't play for some time. It's a great feeling!