Eric Van Der Westen - The Crown & Lobster Trilogy Part III: New Quadrant (2021)

Eric van der Westen’s The Crown & Lobster Trilogy Part III: New Quadrant was supposed to be recorded during May and June 2020 but due to the Corona Crisis it’s been impossible to be together in the recording studio without violating the strict regulations. This causes the date for the album presentation concert to be switched to October 1st 2021. The concert will take place in Paradox Tilburg The Netherlands.

The album contains mostly Van Der Westen originals plus a cover of one of his favorite J.J. Cale tracks: Magnolia and a reworked version of Charles Mingus ” Goodbye Pork Pie Hat. Being a sucker for a touch of melancholy and pretty melodies there’ll be plenty of music to dream away with since the absence of drums will give the band a very open musical character. The album was recorded in the spring of 2021 and contains the music exactly as the way it was recorded: no dubs. The initial plan was to release it as a vinyl but the length of the pieces made that impossible. The amount of editing is absolutely minimal contrary to general contemporary custom. Yannick Hiwat is his violinist virtuosos who brings a great depth and ease to the music , Efe Erdem his trombonist with his legacy of Turkish background makes his mark, well known from his work with Private Time Machine as is Joël Botma; the trumpet player who counts for a tremendous sound and very sensitive musical input. Last but not least his good old friend and co-Pastis- lover Homey guitarist Aron Raams who combines his incredible bluesy jazz chops with his taste of country & americana.

The Crown & Lobster Trilogy is a work that combines several aspects of Van Der Westen’s music. Part I: Private Time Machine (XS) “Modus Operandi” is to be released on November 27th at the “Warm Up” mini Better Get Hit Festival in Paradox Tilburg. That album contains originals recorded in the fall of 2020 when Corona locked down all concerts and festivals. Van Der Westen had written a number of Kruaghbin & The Meters inspired electric funk-jazz impro sketches to be recorded without rehearsals or preparation like the great jazz masters did in the early days. The result is a joyous highly positive groovy type of music that shows an aspect of Van Der Westen’s music not heard so often yet. With Jeroen van Vliet on keys, Aron Raams on Guitars and Dirk Peter Kölsch on drums the quality of musicianship and finesse is staggering.