Totally At Ease

Interview with Femke Mooren

Let’s start with inJazz, last year. After your performance there, things really started rolling. On top of your Quartet work, you toured with the NJJO (National Youth Jazz Orchestra) and its successful mambo program – both in the Netherlands and abroad. You’ve been visible in many ways this year.

“I’m honestly just so grateful for everything that has come my way. I could never have imagined it. It really started when I won the Princess Christina Concours at the end of 2023. Then came inJazz. And then all these amazing festivals over the summer. Meanwhile, we played incredible shows with NJJO. I felt like I was already at a peak, and sometimes I’d think: how can this go even higher? So yes, it’s been overwhelming, but I’m very grateful.”

Have you been able to start planning your next steps?

“This past fall, I recorded an album with my Quartet, and we just finished the mastering. I’m working on the album cover now. It will be released on Maxanter Records, Alexander Beets’ label, probably in early 2026. My hope is to follow it up with a tour. There’s still a lot of work to be done. Unfortunately, a few band members will be moving on. Kasyfi (Kalyasyena, piano) is from Indonesia and won’t be able to stay much longer. Eva (Serrano Alarcon, double bass) is heading to Basel for a year. But the recordings we’ll release are with this current lineup. Before they leave, I want to do a few more shows with them. And then write new material, possibly for a different setup. Although I’d love to continue the Quartet if I can.”

So the album features the material we got to know from inJazz and beyond?

“Yes, that’s right. The idea for the recordings came quite quickly. After every show, people would ask if we had anything recorded. I figured: I need to get into the studio now. I also used the prize money from the Princess Christina Concours to fund the sessions.”

How do you see your playing and composing evolving with all these opportunities? Do you notice you are going in a certain direction?

“The more I perform live, the better I feel, both about myself and the musicians surrounding me. I draw a lot of inspiration from them. I’m not focusing on a specific direction, but my experience with NJJO made me interested in Latin jazz. If I’m writing now, I get some influence from that style. I think you can still hear it’s my compositions, it stays close to me, but it’s going in all kinds of directions. And I like that.”

“It’s going in all kinds of directions. And I like that.”

You’ve already performed internationally quite a bit. With NJJO in Indonesia, Germany, France…

“And Sicily, not to forget. It’s all been beautiful. Thanks to Alexander Beets and the World Jazz Network, I recently toured India and Thailand. I was there for three weeks with my quintet in slightly different setup, which included Charlie Philips on trumpet. She also played with NJJO. We played some truly incredible venues.”

You are meeting all kinds of people in the business. Do you find space, mentally but also literally, to advocate for your own career?

“This past year, when everything was taking off, I did feel overwhelmed at times. I was suddenly visible, but hadn’t really prepared for that. I think I can handle myself when it comes to interacting with people. If I make a connection, I usually stay in touch, sometimes through an organisation. That goes pretty well. From there, I try to map out plans. It’s going okay, though I’m still figuring it all out.”

As a young female bandleader and composer, is that something you’re consciously aware of or does it not really cross your mind?

“When I’m working on my own, or just working with my Quartet, I don’t think about it. It just is what it is, it feels natural. I’ve got amazing people around me — truly great musicians — and I feel completely at ease. But then there are moments… In India, for example, I noticed a family with their young daughter in the audience at two different shows, and it turned out they had seen me perform the year before. Their daughter came back to see me, also because she thought it was so cool to see a woman in the band, and now leading it, playing my own music. In that kinds of moments, you can really mean something to someone.”

Website: femkemooren.com

Text and photos by Mark van Schaick