Gijs Levelt Solo

Inspired by several of my trumpet heroes (Miles Davis, Nils Petter Molvaer, Nicholas Payton, Roy Hargrove, Maurice Brown, Cuong Vu, and Jon Hassell), in 2017 I decided to immerse myself in the wondrous world of effects pedals. After a period of research and experimentation, I used them for the occasional collaborative project and created live music for a play directed by my wife, the director Mariken Bijnen. After that, director Dick Hauser introduced me to visual artist Jola Hesselberth. In a collaborative effort under his artistic supervision, she created animations and I composed music, which I recorded in my home studio. Those recordings kept haunting me – they are laid-back, unique, intimate pieces with a strong personal touch – and I am pleased to release them in February 2021. I created these pieces using my trumpet and a select number of effects pedals (for those in the know: a Whammy Pitch Shifter, Echo 1 Delay, Ditto Looper, EHX Freeze, and on tracks #3 and #6 a Line 6 Filter Modeller). For each piece, I came up with an improvisation plan, consisting of sound, form, and content ideas. In my solo concerts I perform a selection of these pieces, full of spontaneity and life.