contact : bovanderwerf@gmail.com
current projects i lead or co-lead:
‘mantra magnets’
bo van der werf : baritone sax
nelson veras : guitar
bram de looze : piano
jozef dumoulin : keyboards
cyrille obermuller : bass
sam ber : drums
jozef dumoulin/bo van der werf duo
jozef dumoulin : keyboards and misc
bo van der werf : baritone sax and misc
octurn
bo van der werf : baritone sax
jozef dumoulin : keyboards
fabian fiorini : piano
dré pallemaerts : drums
and if you really don’t have something more interesting to do, here you can read a more detailed CV :saxophonist and composer, Bo van der Werf (1969) is graduated from the Amsterdams Conservatory ( master degree ) He leads, writes and arranges for Octurn : this contemporary jazz ensemble is an exciting laboratory involving some of the most creative Belgian-French improvising musicians. Octurn has released 13 albums so far and is going to record its 14th album in april 2021 / Octurn has played at all major festivals worldwide: Toronto Jazz Festival, Festival de Jazz de Montréal, Calgary Jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz Festival, Ottawa Jazz Festival, Jazz Middelheim, Texaco Jazz Festival of New York, Audi Jazz Festival, Jazz XL Paris, Jazz à Junas, Jazz à Vannes, Trytone Jazz Festival Amsterdam/Rotterdam, Jazz in Duketown Den Bosch, Flemish Jazz Meeting, Jazz Brugge, Jazz in’t Park Gent, Girona Jazz Festival, Jazz à la Villette Paris, F-IRE festival London, Budapest Jazz Festival, , Festival de l’Atlantique (Brest), Festival de jazz de Prague, Les Détours de Babel (Grenoble), November Music Festival (NL), Festival Onzeheuresonze Paris,…all info here : www.octurn.com
He is founding member of the Brussels Jazz Orchestra and plays with this internationally acclaimed big band since its very first concert / all info here : www.brusselsjazzorchestra.com
He leads his own smaller ensembles and plays free-lance with different groups /all info here : LIDLBOJ:www.jozefdumoulin.comTHE WORKSHOP: www.stephanepayen.com YUN ( Lynn Cassiers ): https://lynncassiers.com Sylvain Cathala septet : www.sylvaincathala.bandcamp.com, Jozef Dumoulin-Bo van der Werf duo,…
Besides writing for his band Octurn, Bo also composes music for films (“J’aime regarder les filles”, in collaboration with Jozef Dumoulin, ‘Les Films de Pierre’, distribution BAC FILMS), for dance performances (‘Eva Millenium’ Vicente Saez company, Valencia ), for theatre performances ( ‘Le soleil même pleut’, La Cerisaiecompany/Françoise Berlanger, for multimedia projects ( (‘Devotion’, in collaboration with legendary experimental american videast Nathaniel Dorsky, ‘Melodies from my mother’s knees’, in collaboration with videast Boris Van der Avoort and electro wizard Mira Calix-WARP, and for contemporary classical ensembles ( ‘Gamelan’, in collaboration with contemporary ensemble Ictus, Festival Ars Musica, ‘ Sphères croisées’, in collaboration with Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles, Festival Ars Musica ), …
As a filmmaker, he directed the documentary ‘ Satyajit Ray negatives’ which was shown at many major film festivals ( Teheran film festival, Buenos Aires film festival, Bombay international film festival, festival du documentaire de Paris, Tiburon film festival California, Mediawave Budapest , Kolkata Film Festival, … ) / all info here : www.manikda.space
he teaches at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp and at Luca School of Arts ( Leuven )
he currently works on a doctorate research at the University of Leuven ( KUL ) entitled ‘ ideas, methods and tools for using Messiaen’s harmonic, melodic and rhythmic systems within ‘jazz’ context(s)’ http://bovanderwerf.be/research / jazz is a many-faceted continuum, rooted in its own rich past and regenerating itself by integrating distillations of diverse languages, textures, colours, concepts and structures from different musical traditions and sources. Bo works on developing logical and intuitive methods for integrating Messiaen’s compositional systems into specific harmonic and melodic vocabularies (based mostly on the modes of limited transposition) that can be assimilated and used by an improviser in a wide range of (organized) musical systems /
selected discography
as artistic director:
Octurn ‘Songbook of changes’ ( De Werf )
Octurn + the Tibetan monks of Gyuto ‘Tantric College’ (onzeheuresonze)
Octurn + the Tibetan monks of Gyuto ‘live recordings’ (octurn004)
Octurn + Ictus ‘Gamelan’ (octurn003)
Octurn + the Tibetan monks of Gyuto ‘ Kailash’ (52 creations )
Octurn ‘7eyes’ (octurn002)
Octurn ‘XPs live’ (octurn001)
Octurn ‘North Country Suite’ ( De Werf )
Octurn ‘21.emanations’ (Yolk records )
Octurn ‘Dimensions’ ( De Werf )
Octurn ‘Round’ ( De Werf )
Octurn ‘Ocean’ ( De Werf )
Octurn ‘Chromatic History’ ( De Werf )
as sidemen:
Lynn cassiers ‘YUN’ ( Clean Feed records )
Bram De Looze ‘Septych’ ( Clean Feed records )
The Workshop ‘ more conversation with the drum’ ( onzeheuresonze )
Brussels Jazz Orchestra ‘Two places’
Sylvain Cathala Septet ‘Hope’ (connexe records )
Sylvain Cathala Septet ‘Cullinan’ (connexe records )
Brussels Jazz Orchestra with David Linx ‘Brel’
Brussels Jazz Orchestra ‘We have a dream’ ( Safrane records )
Magic Malik Orchestra ‘XP2’ ( Label bleu )
MikMaak ‘ live at De Werf’ ( De Werf )
Aka Moon ‘Ganesh’ ( Carbon 7 )
Aka Moon ‘Invisible Sun’ ( Carbon 7 )
Lidlboj ‘ trees are always right’
Brussels Jazz Orchestra/ Joe Lovano (Half Note)
Brussels Jazz Orchestra/Kenny Werner ’Institute of Higher learning’ (Half Note )
Brussels Jazz Orchestra ‘Countermove’ ( De Werf )
Brussels Jazz Orchestra ‘Dangerous Liaison’ ( Harmonia Mundi )
Brussels Jazz Orchestra/David Linx: ‘Changing faces’
Brussels Jazz Orchestra / David Linx / Maria Joao : ‘a different Porgy, another Bess’
Philip Catherine Brussels Jazz Orchestra ‘Meeting colours’ ( Dreyfus Jazz )
Patrick Zimmerli / Octurn ‘The Book Of Hours’ ( Songlines )
Kenny Werner / Brussels Jazz Orchestra ‘Naked In The Cosmos’ ( Jazz’n’puls)
Brussels Jazz Orchestra ‘The Music of Bert Joris’ ( De Werf )
Pierre Van Dormael ‘Vivaces’ ( Igloo )
Tribu ‘Tribu’ ( Musivi )
Deep In The Deep ‘Snake Ear’ ( J.A.S )
The Brussels Jazz Orchestra ‘The September Sessions’ ( de Werf )
Aka Moon ‘Elohim’ ( Carbon 7 )
The Brussels Jazz Orchestra ‘Live’ ( BRTN radio 3 )
Félix Simtaine ‘Intensive Act’ ( Igloo )