Growing Up: Simon Rigter Plays Ballads is Saxophone Player Simon Rigter’s second album from Sound Liaison at NativeDSD. It follows his earlier Jazz Quintet recording of Wild Man Blues – a Live Recording with a Studio Audience of the Music of Louis Armstrong.

On the new album titled Growing Up, Rigter and his Jazz Quintet changes their focus to familiar ballads. Including Things We Did Last Summer by Sammy Cahn & Jule Styne, People Time by Benny Carter, Angel Eyes (from the film Jennifer) by Matt Dennis & Earl Brent, Growing Up by Cees Slinger and Chelsea Bridge by Billy Strayhorn.

From the opening of ‘Things We Did Last Summer‘ to the closing ‘Chelsea Bridge‘ the sound of Simon Rigter’s tenor saxophone on these carefully selected compositions, awakes a wealth of feelings; melancholy, tenderness, compassion and warmth. It’s passion with controlled emotion, it’s a sound somewhere between a smile and a tear, a sound that touches your heart.

The amiable comping of Vincent Koning, Karel Boehlee’s superb interplay, Cas Jiskoot and Joost van Schaik’s compassionate rhythmic foundation, makes the required arch form; solo-duo-quartet-duo-solo, feel like a spontaneous ballad suite.

“Since I was a child music has been fascinating to me. I’m on a never-ending quest searching for the essence. I have realized that you don’t have to come up with something new all the time. What’s important is that you play spontaneously. I prefer playing in small clubs where I can seek freedom and take risks, where music can be spontaneous and intimate at the same time. Jazz is ‘up close & personal’ music. In that respect, Studio 2 is ideal for recording. The hall’s warm and intimate sound as well as its special historic vibe practically compels spontaneous creation.” — Simon Rigter

Simon Rigter – Tenor Saxophone
Vincent Koning – Guitar (Tracks 2,6)
Karel Boehlee – Piano (Tracks 3,4,5)
Cas Jiskoot – Double Bass (Tracks 3,4)
Joost van Schaik – Drums (Tracks 3,4)

The Arch Manifesto

Each recording starts and ends with the main artist alone in the hall, the only interplay being the acoustics of the hall and his mind. No audience is present except the ghosts from the past. The music must create an Arch, going from the single-instrument performance to the more complex band performance and back to the last solo performance. The same principle goes for the engineering; each recording starts out with only one Josephson C700S 3-channel stereo microphone. As the music gains in complexity more microphones may be deployed, the only limit being the imagination and technical skills of the recording engineer. The producer and engineer must aim to make the album have a unifying sound, despite the different recording techniques employed.