Here is a short interview of Joachim Badenhorst, clarinet and saxophone player that I invite you to discover:

Nath: Joachim, what are your current projects ? (bands, concerts, album,…).

Joachim: with Red Rocket; a trio with Irishmen Simon Jermyn (guitar) and Sean Carpio (drums) we have just released our debut album 'Mitten' on Rat Records. The album was recorded quite some time ago, but when Teun Verbruggen heard it, he liked it so much that he decided to release it on his label Rat-records.

With Singer/piano player Kaat Hellings and drummer Yves Peeters we also released our debut album this year: 'Wide and low and swallow' on the Warrelwind label. All songs are written by Kaat and its very special, personal music, somewhere inbetween singer-songwriter, jazz and contemporary music.

With Rawfishboys, a duo with French doublebass player Brice Soniano we released a short album last year on our own, its called 'War'. With Brice I've been working together for many years, it is always quite an intense workingprogress working with Brice, lately we haven't been playing a lot together because Brice sort of disapeared from the planet for some time, but hopefully we'll be able to play more in the near future.

There are a couple of albums coming out soon where I'm playing on: Simon Jermyns trot a mouse (with Chris Speed, Loren Stillman, Sean Carpio), recorded in new york last January; Marc Demuth quartet feat. Sophia Ribeiro, recorded live in Luxemburg last April, Rebecca Collins group ( a wonderfull singer-songwriter from Dublin) also recorded in NY last January. Just a few weeks ago i was involved in a wonderfull project in Denmark: Ubertalented pianist Simon Toldham Rosengren wrote music for four basclarinets (!!!), piano and drums. The band and the music was incredible, we recorded the concerts and spent a day in the studio so that should come out at some point.

Then plenty of more recording in the next two months: back to Copenhagen to record in trio with Norwegian singer/saxophone player Sissel Vera Pettersen and Danish guitar player Mikkel Plough; a demo with Teun Verbruggen quartet; a cd for de Werf with Waso Decauters Radio Lume project and then to Iceland to record with Sjan Aron: a very special project which combines early classical music with contemporary improvisations. The band consits of the Icelanders Heida Arnadottir and Hilmar Jensson and the Belgians Ananta Roosens and me.

Nath: Could you describe a little bit your musical evolution ? How and when did you start music ?

Joachim: I started playing clarinet when I was around 7 years old. I didn’ really choose the instrument but started playing it because my dad had played it when he was a kid and he gave me his old horn. I guess if he would have given me a noseflute or moutharp then, I would have been playing that today instead of clarinet, so I guess im sort of lucky he played clarinet when he was a kid and not the noseflute. From then on I always followed classical clarinet lessons, I hated the obligatory theory lessons but I liked the playing. I first got in contact with jazz music in music school and then a bit later I enrolled in the pop/jazz direction in de Kunsthumaniora in Antwerp for my last two years of highschool. Right after that I started at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague, I was pretty young and unexperienced, also being the only clarinet player in the jazz department made me feel like a nerd and an outkast so I started doubling on tenorsax and bassclarinet quite soon in order to be able to go to jams or play in the bigband. I studied 6 years in that school and learned a lot during that time, from lessons but -maybe more so- from meeting, playing and hanging out with my wonderfull fellow students, who came from all over the globe.

Nath: What are your influences ?

Joachim: obviously I'im influenced by my teachers. I was very lucky to have had very good teachers right from the start: I studied 5 years with John Ruocco, who is one of the most amazing clarinet players on earth.

Then in the end of my studies I studied a bit with Michael Moore, again, one of the most amazing clarinet players on earth. They were somewhat the complete opposite of eachother in approaching music, but I am very happy to have studied with both of them. Furthermore my main influences are or were: Lee Konitz, Ned Rothenberg, Chris Speed, John Surman, Louis Sclavis, Tim Berne, Dave Douglas, Eric Dolphy, Dino Saluzzi, Tony Malabi, Charlie Parker, Ellery Eskelin, Misha Mengelberg, Magic Malik, Greg Osby, Gabrielle Mirabassi, Brad Mehldau, David Krakauer, Arve Henriksen, Giora Feidman, Don Byron, Thelonious Monk.

Nath: I have seen you playing live and was impressed by the freedom you took during the improvisation even though it was nevertheless structured. Since then I have been wondering something, which could be asked to many jazzmen : to what extent does the freedom go, I mean do you pay attention to a kind of a rhythmical rigour when you are improvising or is it automatically rigorous because your ear is sharp enough not to have to think about it anymore or do you just go for it, giving the floor to creativity ?

Joachim: There are billions of different ways of playing or improvising music. Much depends on the context, the band, the music, what you just ate etc. If there is a form with difficult chord changes, those chord changes dictate somewhat what is possible or what not, but still a lot is possible, it depends on the choices of the player, basically you can make any note sound good or bad. When the chords are easier or when there are no given changes at all, then it's easier to depend only on your ear and imagine what notes or rhythms would be good to play. I try to do this when i improvise (free, on changes, forms): while your improvising trying to hear what happens around you and using some of that material in your own solo in some way or another. Thats what makes it fun to play with other people, otherwise you can lock yourself in your room and marry your Aebersold cassette.

Nath: What are your goals as a musician ?

Joachim: my goal is to travel lots around the world and meeting and playing with wonderfull people and musicians everywhere. And to enjoy life.

Thank's a lot Joachim for your time.

=> his myspace