The Buma Boy Edgar Prize 2019 goes to Jasper Blom
28 June 2019The Buma Boy Edgar Prize, the most prestigious award for jazz and improvised music in the Netherlands, has been awarded to saxophonist and composer Jasper Blom. The news was announced at the conference of inJazz at LantarenVenster. Jasper Blom (Geldrop, 1965) is regarded as one of the most pivotal tenor and soprano saxophonists in the Dutch jazz scene and is renowned for his compositional synthesis of jazz, pop, classical and improvised music.
Jasper Blom
Blom graduated cum laude from the Rotterdam Conservatory in 1991, leaving shortly thereafter for New York for six months to continue his studies under the tutelage of a number of jazz masters. Upon his return, he began exploring ways to break new ground by ignoring the boundary lines between genres.
Jasper Blom is a highly sought-after sideman in pop, jazz and improvised music, and has performed with international jazz greats such as Randy Crawford, George Duke, Chet Baker, Lee Konitz and Nat Adderley. He is also a regular guest performer in studio and live sessions with leading ensembles like the Metropole Orkest and the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw. In 2006, Blom formed the Jasper Blom Quartet, a vehicle that allowed him to accommodate his wide range of stylistic influences. The band have played major venues at home and abroad, and have also released a new album every other year since 2008, each defined by highly eclectic and extraordinarily original compositions.
In addition to his teaching position at the Amsterdam Conservatory, Blom is also helping to shape the next generation of jazz musicians by facilitating improvisation sessions with them and overseeing the annual Rough Diamonds festival at the BIMHUIS. Blom seeks the full realization of his potential as a musician not only as an experimenting jazz artist but also by serving as an unorthodox instructor and organiser in the jazz community.
Buma Boy Edgar Prize
The Buma Boy Edgar Prize is awarded each year to a musician who has long distinguished himself or herself creatively, and in so doing has made or is making a valuable contribution to the Dutch jazz and improvised music scene. As part of the award, the winner is invited to curate a concert evening at the BIMHUIS, during which he or she is presented with the award, which consists of a cash prize of €12,500 and a bronze sculpture by Jan Wolkers. Jasper Blom’s concert evening takes place on 4 December 2019.
Excerpts from the jury report
“He never does anything for the sake of effect and has been ploughing his own furrow with unwavering integrity in various movements within the jazz idiom for thirty years. His tone is never harsh, but always brims with suspense and excitement, like a warm whirlwind stirring up things that the listener cannot predict.”
“Jasper Blom has long demonstrated the depths of his creativity through his telepathic connection with the fellow members of his superb quartet, the jazz heavyweights Jesse van Ruller, Frans van der Hoeven and Martijn Vink.”