News
Update 28-02-2024
– I am very happy to announce that ‘Do Something Now’, the Album of the Job Chajes Sextet is released on cd and all streaming services like Spotify, Deezer and so on…
– All music that I wrote for, has been recorded and ‘scored’ upon the featurefilm A Ringing In The Ears. Now it is waiting until the movie will appear for the first time on the big silver screen!
– Next show of the Job Chajes Sextet will take place in the hystorical Portugese synagogue in Amsterdam on june 17th 2024.
Update 17-06-2023
– First of all I have bad, very bad news. Felix Hildenbrand, the doublebassist of the Job Chajes Sextet has passed away in the end of april. He was struggling with too many things within himself and decided to leave this beautiful earthly life. We will miss him as a person, he was warm hearted, interested in everybody’s life, and of course a beautiful and inspiring bass player. Rest in peace Felix.
– Tomorrow, 18th of june that is, I will play together with percussionist Sjahin During as accompanying band for the performance Pieces of a Man by the talented Englishman David Labi from Brussels. Looking forward to do that one!
Today it is national composer’s day in the Netherlands!!! A good initiative of the Dutch Composer’s Union and associatives…
Update 23-02-2023
– Since my last update I had some good stuff going. The recording of Oma Jannie Opus 1 and Opus 2 were made, mixed and mastered. Now the turn is to my cousin, conceptual and cinematic artist Gabriël Lester to make image to the music. I am very excited to at one point see the result of the whole project.
But first, this year I will compose the music for Gabriël’s first feature film. I cannot tell anything about the movie but the emphasis in my compositions will lie on the clarinet and contra alto clarinet and will build soundscapes and songs around those instruments.
Meanwhile I have composed and written songs for the Amsterdam Klezmer Band and for my Brazilian Choro quartet Grey Flamingo’s.
Update 31-05-2022
– The concerts with the Sextet in januari have been sweet and well visited. It was a treat to be playing the pieces I had written in several lockdowns, now finally for a live audience. The Sextet is ready for more gigs, shows, tour!
– I wrote and produced two songs for the storytelling/stand up ‘Pieces of a Man’ by David Labi in Brussels. A very nice collaboration that put me in a direction of ladino and chassidic melodies. I recorded the compositions on Eb clarinet and sopraninosaxophone. Now after this exploration I decided that a Bb clarinet couldn’t stay out of my instruments collection and I found a beautiful Buffet B20 horn. Also David Labi urged me to move away from traditional sounding Chassidic vibes. I remixed and came on to a drum & bass version which sticks to me so I am now looking for a way to enhance the track and release it as a single. The song is called ‘Chassidic Toast’.
– 9 compositions by the Job Chajes Sextet are now mixed and ready for mastering, looking for a label to be released on in the near future.
– Presently I am working on the composition about my grandmother Oma Jannie. The recording session is due in mid-juli so I am working hard on finishing all melodies and arrangements.
Update 05-11-2021
– Recorded all tracks for the short animation movie “Varken”. Next step is the mix and then the animation team can put it on the images.
– Almost all recorded songs for the Job Chajes Sextet have been mixed and I have taken first steps to find a safe haven for the release of 9 tracks. Cd, online, vinyl, cassette? Let’s see what will come out.
– I composed two new songs for my choro quartet Grey Flamingo’s.
– Next up will be new recordings and 3 concerts with my compositions in januari hosted in the beautiful Roode Bioscoop theater in Amsterdam.
Update 18-06-2021
– After some good rehearsals we will hit the studio this week. The Sextet comes together to record 5 songs. 3 pieces for the whole group and 2 pieces for just the strings. I am happy to be able to produce material for a string trio like there is in the Sextet. Rewarding and also challenging to write a balanced composition for strings.
The 3 songs that we play with the whole group are very valuable to me. There is the composition Lanzarote that stood as model for the birth and instrumentation of the Job Chajes Sextet as it is.
Update :18-05-2021
– Currently I am composing the Suite for Contra alto clarinet for my Job Chajes Sextet. It is one of the pieces that will be recorded when we hit the studio in june.
– The piece for Ze Radcliffe fanfare is almost finished and I am very happy with the direction I took it to. Straight up Ukranian klezmer style. Lots of trials and errors brought me to beautiful balanced dancing music. Will play it myself aswell in the Amsterdam Klezmer Band.
– The video of Do Something Now is online! Check it out on the Sextet page on this website or on my Vimeo page.
Update :22-12-2020
– The recording session was a treat! We did all three pieces: Do Something Now, House Call and Hush Kitty! With Emma Breedveld on violin, Kyra Phillipi on viola, Frank Jonas on guitar, Felix Hildenbrand on upright bass and Greg Smith on drums. And the great thing is that I got supported by the Dutch government for this promotional project.
– The next great thing that happened this week is that I got a commission by the Performing Arts Fund NL to write another three pieces the upcoming months. one piece I will write for the Canadian group Ze Radcliffe Fanfare, one piece I will write for my own Sextet: A piece dedicated to the contra alto clarinet and one piece whith which I will challenge my cousin Gabriël Lester (conceptual/visual artist) to add his ideas and inspiration to my music so it will become a multidisciplinary piece of art.
update : 22-11-2020
At the moment (end of november 2020) I am composing three new pieces for an upcoming recording session: the 12th of december with my Job Chajes Sextet. The date is set at the Wedgeview Studio’s near Amsterdam. Writing new music excites me a lot and you can hear a bit on my vlog #15 which was put online recently. The vlog is to be found on this website…
In october I worked on a project for my wife Claartje Chajes. Claartje wrote 21 poëms about the North side of Amsterdam, the borough where we live. I recorded the voices of Claartje and actor/vocal artist Hamda Belgaroui and have supplied the soundfiles with my personal musical decorum. Listen to all 21 poëms at www.poetischebuurtatlas.amsterdam
I applied for a writer’s subsidy at the Dutch Performing Arts in april. Shamefully after a positive judgement, I wasn’t chosen to get the subsidy because a lack of budget. Now this fall, I got a second chance to apply and hope to get funding anyway starting januari.
– I am planning a studio recording in december 2020. It will be for promotional purpose only, but it promises to be a lot of fun because the recording will be in the Electric Monkey Studio in Amsterdam and filmed for video.
– Composing the music for a Dutch short animation movie is finished. Together with Bram Meindersma from Audiobrand I will be working on the recording for “Varken”. The movie is about 6 minutes long, directed by Jorn Leeuwerink and supported by the Dutch Film Fund and Pupil Productions.
– The release februari 2020 of the 15th Amsterdam Klezmer Band album “Fortuna” marks another milestone in my composing career as 3 new Job Chajes compositions are published.
– In the summer of 2019 I made 5 compositions for the houseroom “Verhalenfestival Jordaan” in Amsterdam. The Lyrics about overheated Amsterdam in touristic tension and crave for building new appartments were written by my dear partner Claartje Chajes. The songs were performed by Rebecca Lobry on vocals and HenkJan Van Minnen on accordion. A cd was recorded and is now available.
– Diffirent songs that I wrote the last period are up for listening on Vimeo