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JooZz

Growing up in the harbour city of Rotterdam, JooZz developed an ‘international’ taste for life at an early age. The mixture of different cultures, races and their visible footprint gave him his first inspiration for loving all facets of rhythm, rhyme and music. From his teens he played in a number of bands, mostly performing with his friends from school to create a new musical experience to inspire the world. After graduating from high school, he was admitted to the Rotterdam School of Arts, where his musical talents and experience would be further developed. Adding a classical education to his self-learned abilities, he rapidly developed a never ending taste for Jazz. His main inspiration came from the likes of Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Carlos Santana, Steely Dan, Jaco Pastorius and many, many other highlights of the musical arena. As a composer, writer, piano artist and sound innovator, JooZz still manages to captivate his world-wide audience with his creative compositions and never ending enthusiasm for playing the right ‘tune’ at the right time.

Gear

Yamaha P250

Take Five With JooZz

by AAJ Staff
June 10, 2009

Meet JooZz:The music of JooZz is best described as “coming from nowhere, going places." Starting from scratch, JooZz takes you along to many exciting musical destinations, transferring breathtaking vistas into jewels of brilliant sound. Sometimes danceable, always rich, spiked with healthy doses of melancholy and lessons of life. Using the piano as a base point of reference, JooZz's compositions, independent of any music style, keep your mind in motion until the next time you hit the play button.

'The three greatest musical influences in JooZz’s piano playing are Santana, Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock, all very melodic performers who reach out to their audiences, “It’s real music, real emotions. That is irresistible for me.” One of the earliest and strongest memories he can recall is hearing a Santana album called ‘Swing of Delight’. “This was not a ‘regular’ group album, he picked some of his favourite musicians to play with, like Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter. It’s simply magical, hearing musicians who could ‘talk’ through their instruments. It totally blew me away! ” Another strong influence on JooZz’s piano playing is Miles Davis, whose “Kind of Blue” album holds special memories, “ It is a milestone, I’d never heard music played like that.” The Miles Davis influence is unmistakable in his ‘Blois Blues’, written after a longroad trip through France with a Miles CD for company.' - Angharad Catteneo , JooZz : THE MAN BEHIND THE MAGIC (Apr 29, 2010)