Eric Vloeimans

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Trumpet player Eric Vloeimans (b. 1963) initially studied classical music at the Rotterdam Academy of Music. He got interested in jazz after meeting musicians from that department and switched - graduating with distinction in 1988 and continuing his studies in New York, studying with Donald Byrd and gaining experience playing in the big bands of Frank Foster and Mercer Ellington. He practises classical studies to keep his technique up to scratch; enabling him to shape his improvisational ideas; putting classical music at the service of jazz.

However, "technique isn't everything", according to Vloeimans. Don Cherry is one of his favourite players, though technically limited. But, according to Vloeimans, he spills over with ideas; remembering seeing Cherry play with academy players in the front row; who came to see what Cherry would do wrong so they could get back to the bar. But after a few hours they were still listening breathlessly. To Vloeimans, this is much more important than a 'show-off' like Maynard Ferguson, whom he says only plays high and hard. He rather hears Miles Davis or Booker Little.

Besides being active with major Dutch jazz figures (including pianist Michiel Borstlap and cellist Ernst Reijseger) since 1989, Vloeimans has been involved in numerous international projects, most notably in his recording with US drummer Joey Baron, bassist Marc Johnson and pianist John Taylor, resulting in an Edison award for the album Bitches and Fairy Tales in 1999. Other collaborations include those with French/Vietnamese guitarist Nguyên Lê, German clarinetist Theo Jörgensmann, Swedish bassist/cellist Lars Danielsson and Finnish drummer/percussionist Markku Ounaskari, US bassist Jimmy Haslip, as well as projects with Norwegian composer Erik Lars Gudim and nu jazz pioneer Bugge Wesseltoft. In 2002 he received the most prestigious Dutch jazz award, the Boy Edgar Prijs.

According to JazzTimes magazine, Vloeimans plays crisp and selfassured, embodying the articulate medolism of Clifford Brown plus many shades of Miles, without being imitative.