Biography
-
Years Active
1996 – present (28 years)
-
Founded In
Brussels, Belgium
-
Members
- Dirk Schreurs
- Henk de Laat
- Ron van Stratum
A SUPERB ARTIST
If you seek a romantic and sensual voice, your search has ended. Henk de Laat is that voice.
Who's Henk de Laat?
He is simply one of the most dazzling young vocalist in European jazz scene. And one of the best bassists, too.
Mr. DeLaat is a jazz & bossa nova artist with a singular style, as well as the technical equipment to suport it, a level of musical imagination rarely meet in the work of a single artist.
Vocalist with a voice reminiscent of Chet Baker,but with a indisputable sense of musical personality, DeLaat combines the lyrical style of a Nat King Cole with a modern contemporary feel. Some vocalists merely sing the lyrics of a song. Not Henk de Laat. He delivers a song with heartfelt emotion. When he sings the heart of listener seems to beat a a little faster. He captures all the nuances of the songs. He knows how to interprete great lyrics.
And the bassist Henk de Laat?
What can I say?
First of all, he is a superb bass player, with an innate sense of timing, wit and energy. I describe his fresh sound as exciting. He plays in the bossa nova style (and others Brazilian styles) with influences of jazz. De Laat loves Brazilian music. João Bosco and Ivan Lins are his favorite Brazilian composers.
Henk's debut CD, "But Beautiful",was released in 1996. This album the lover of good music can leave in the player and listen to over and over again. Among the songs are such classics of jazz and bossa nova as "Beautiful love" (a moving interpretation; Henk has a lovely way with romantic songs) and "O Pato" (sung in Portuguese;a fabulous swing!). I feel in love with this album. The more I listen to it, the more deligthed I am.
Henk's second CD, "Breaking Through the Shadows", was released in 2005. Almost songs composed by Henk de Laat with partners, except "Paciência" (by Lenine) and "Cravo e Canela" (by Milton Nascimento). Once again Henk delivers to the listeners a gift for the lovers of good music.Once again he proves that is natural wether playing, singing or both. Henk and his band. His bandmates: Sam Vloemans ( trumpet), Frank Peeters (eletric guitar) and Ron van Stratum (percussion). His musicians provide nice support. The instrumental solos from his sidemen are superb.
"Breaking Through the Shadows" is a beautiful and brilliant record that marks another step for this amazing artist and his band. Henk de Laat is very well on his way to becoming one of the most accomplished singers & bassists of modern musical scene.
João da Penha is a Brazilian journalist and music critic, philosophy scholar, author of "O que é Existencialismo", "Períodos Filosóficos", "Wittgenstein" and others books, contributors to various Brazilian cultural publications. He is currently completing a book on the art of vocal jazz.
Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
