AM.OK is the Amsterdams Modern Orkest, a reflection of the current Dutch sound of jazz and beyond. Their music fits no label; chunky grooves, captivating ballads, wild soloing and spacey soundscapes - everything is possible. Led by composer Tijn Wybenga, the orchestra was founded with the goal of combining the most exciting new players, and blend their signature sounds into something new. Music that reflects a generation and transcends the jazz idiom.
The widely acclaimed debut album Brainteaser (2021) was awarded ‘Best International Debut Album’ by the German Jazz Prize 2022. It contains five pieces that Wybenga and his thirteen-member orchestra recorded in the influential Amsterdam jazz venue Bimhuis. On the album, he worked with improvising musicians like Alistair Payne, Kika Sprangers, George Dumitriu and Jamie Peet. Wybenga re-used small, improvised pieces as the basis for newfound grooves, beats and melodies.
AM.OK does what it was set out to do; lead the way. Wybenga dares to be unapologetic, yet playful, with the orchestra showing great promise both as a group as with its members.
| Composer & conductor | Tijn Wybenga (AM.OK) |
| Violin | Pablo Rodriguez (AM.OK) |
| Viola | Yanna Pelser (AM.OK) |
| Viola | George Dumitriu (AM.OK) |
| Cello | Pau Sola (AM.OK) |
| Trumpet | Alistair Payne (AM.OK) |
| Trombone | Nabou Claerhout (AM.OK) |
| Bass clarinet | Federico Calcagno (AM.OK) |
| Composer, singer, spoken word | Vuma Levin (Vuma Levin Quartet) |
| Piano | Xavi Torres Vicente (Vuma Levin Quartet) |
| Bass | Marco Zenini (Vuma Levin Quartet) |
| Drums | Jeroen Batterink (Vuma Levin Quartet) |
| Tenor sax | Bernard van Rossum (Vuma Levin Quartet) |
A revised mix of South-African and Western music culture
In The Past Is Unpredictable, Only the Future is Certain Vuma Levin Quartet & AM.OK reflect on our shared history and collective memories, inspired by the events in Johannesburg during the first lockdown. Through his music, Levin references the influence of those in power on the writing of our shared stories. He concludes that it is only in interrogating these stories that we may begin to address imbalances in power.
Using traditional indigenous musical traditions as a starting point, Levin and Dutch composer Tijn Wybenga of AM.OK (Amsterdam Modern Orkest) explore these stories in a search for a new, equal working method. They fused the musical history of the North and South into new music for the quintet, joined by the AM.OK strings and horns.
Allow yourself to be taken on a journey through rural areas and hinterlands of the Eastern Cape and Kwazulu Natal, the townships of Soweto and Khayelitsha, accompanied by the sound of the modern Amsterdam jazz scene.
Korzo Zaal