A singer with an enchanting voice and an inspired composer, Natashia Kelly is unclassifiable, but from the very first note, her music touches and charms us deeply…

She surrounds herself with eclectic and sensitive musicians who support and accompany her with great talent:

guitarists Tim Finoulst  and Willem Heylen , and double bassist Yannick Peeters.

 

Natashia Kelly, singer and composer

https://www.natashiakelly.com/bio/

   

“ With her unique voice, Natashia Kelly sings in a totally personal and inhabited register, revealing various and intertwined sound palettes ,

which would probably be wrong to reduce to the four letters of the word jazz.”

(Yann Viseur, live concert L’Aéronef, France).

 

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPnGctmmSVM  

 

Natashia, born in Belgium but with Irish roots, is a singer and composer. The Sean-Nòs singing (Irish a capella) inspirers the way she approches a song.

Her Jazz-background gives her freedom to be adventurous, to improvise over pieces, to explore the nuances in her voice and to blend with each instrument.

The way she composes and writes the lyrics is with great care for “the content of the story”. Harmony and lyrics will evoque a visual world of our contemporary times.

 

Ecoutez sur : https://www.youtube.com/@natashiakelly340

 

Tim Finoulst, guitar

https://www.timfinoulst.com/

   

 

Tim Finoulst (1986) graduated summa cum laude from the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp in 2010 with Hendrik Braeckman and Martijn van Iterson. He has taken master classes with Julian Lage, John Scofield, Serge Lazarevitch, Jonathan Kreisberg, Hilmar Jensson, Nelson Veras, Philip Catherine, Wayne Krantz, Ari Hoenig, Charlie Haden, Anders Jormin, and many others. He has won several prestigious awards:

• In 2011, he finished fourth with the Sullivan Street Trio at the Jazz Hoeilaart International Jazz Competition.
• In 2013, he won the Dinant Leffe Jazz Contest with Kim Versteynen.
• In 2017, he won the Maastricht Jazz Awards with his trio.

His current projects include: Tim Finoulst Trio + Bert Joris, Nicolas Thys & the Sound Circus, Trio in Bocca Al Lupo, Triology, Anything Goes, and Tim Finoulst solo. In the past, he has collaborated with many musicians from the jazz, pop, and classical scenes: Tutu Puoane, Bert Joris, Bart Defoort, Daniel Romeo, Jelle Van Giel, Toni Vitacolonna, Philippe Aerts, Janos Bruneel, Nicolas Thys, Ewout Pierreux, Mark Turner, Mimi Verderame, Kristen Cornwell, Boris Van Overschee, Ack Van Rooijen, Elise Caluwaerts, Benjamin Glorieux, Hrachya Avanesyan, Martijn Vanbuel, Daniel Jonkers, Nico Schepers, Bart De Nolf, Bert Cools, Dick Van Der Harst, Rick De Leeuw, Patrick Steenaerts. As a teacher, he is affiliated with the Musart! Art Academy of Hasselt and the Hasselt Music School.  

Yannick Peeters, double bass

https://jazzmania.be/yannick-peeters-gingerblackginger/

 

« In jazz, and to a lesser extent in rock, there persists an old, stubborn idea that the bass is merely an accompaniment instrument.

History has long since dispelled this prejudice. Yannick Peeters adds to this refutation… »

 

« In search of a new, more spiritual sound that can take different forms and contain strong contrasts, with elements of jazz, rock, avant-garde and impro, Yannick Peeters formed GingerBlackGinger, in which rawness, fragility, lyricism, originality and integrity coexist. »

  https://www.insidejazz.be/portfolio_page/gingerblackginger/ « Yannick Peeters was a laureate of Jazzlab Impuls. However, while she used to immerse herself in others’ projects, she now focuses on her own creations. This is why she has gathered around her a dream team consisting of soprano Claron McFadden, guitarist Frederik Leroux, saxophonist and clarinetist Frans Van Isacker, and percussionist Jim Black. Together, they explore music that is as bold as it is authentic, where jazz, rock, and avant-garde blend with improvisation. » « Yannick Peeters a été lauréate de Jazzlab Impuls. Mais si, à l’époque, elle s’immergeait dans les projets des autres, elle se concentre désormais sur ses propres réalisations. C’est pourquoi elle a rassemblé autour d’elle une dreamteam composée de la soprano Claron McFadden, du guitariste Frederik Leroux, du saxophoniste et clarinettiste Frans Van Isacker et du percussioniste Jim Black. En leur compagnie, elle explore une musique tout aussi audacieuse qu’authentique, où jazz, rock, et avant-garde se mêlent à l’improvisation. » Flagey, JazzLab

 

Willem Heylen, guitar

​https://www.willemheylen.com/bio

 

 

« Willem Heylen is a guitarist and producer based in Mechelen. As an artist he is mostly characterized by his diversity. His broad interest in musical genres, performing arts, music theatre, dance and beyond has led to his presence in a big scala of projects. Multidisciplinarity and collaboration are a central element in many of those projects. 

As a composer and producer he has written music for several of the projects he is part of. For the past couple of years he has also been exploring solo work. Mostly experimental ambient music. This is a source of meditative and sonic exploration in which he finds a lot of inspiration as an artist. In the season 2022-2023 he is artist in resident in RATAPLAN where he has the opportunity to develop a couple of projects throughout the artistic season.

Some of his recent artistic collaborations include : Eric Thielemans, Kurt Van Herck, Jozef Dumoulin, Joachim Badenhorst, Mark Giuliana, Stef Kamil Carlens, LEKI and many more. He has performed at a diversity of clubs and festivals in Belgium and across the world

Currently he is most active in the projects AKI, Cinema Paradiso, LEKI, SARGAM, Claroscuro, and KRANKK. Projects that range from world music to atmospheric jazz and electronic music. »