Angelo Verploegen, Ed Verhoeff, Eric van der Westen - The Sweetest Sound (2018) Hi-Res

Over the last decade or so I find myself leaving the tempting and obvious juvenile trumpeting bravura more behind me and returning to my musical starting point: the flugelhorn. Although the instrument is a trumpet with a ’softer’ sound, and all too often treated like that by many trumpeters, the flugelhorn stands firmly by itself with all its own characteristics and specifications.

Literally being brought up with the flugelhorn, I feel at ease with the way the horn requires its own approach of phrasing and articulation. This enables me to reach the level of lyricism and intimacy I’m looking for in my playing.

So when Just Listen Records invited me to do a recording for the label at their specific terms (play live, in balance, no mixing, no editing, just capturing the live music as it is with the best possible equipment at the best suitable venue) it was obvious for me to return once more to my first love – the flugelhorn.

Having done numerous (sometimes over-organized) recording sessions with mostly originally composed and arranged repertoire I now felt the need for a lusher approach. More like a gathering of old friends, sharing each other’s life stories and experiences. That led me automatically to my old-time soulmate’s guitar player Ed Verhoeff and bassist Eric van der Westen. 17 years ago, we started off as Verploegen, Verhoeff & van der Westen, performing a lot and recording our critically acclaimed debut album The Night And The Daydreamer. Later, we changed the name into Amsterdam Jazz Trio for a Japan tour and released another album For The Time Being. And then, what often happens after several years of extensive work, we went our own ways… To be reunited for this unique recording project!

As for the repertoire, I simply picked ‘standard’ tunes I grew fond of over the years, looking for a certain degree of variety in melody, harmony, formal structure, keeping the drum-less trio sound in mind, allowing it to flourish, creating a casual, lush and intimate atmosphere.