School of Rock
Random article All articles A–Z
2 languages

New Cool Collective

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

New Cool Collective is a Dutch group founded in 1993. The core consists of the saxophonist Benjamin Herman, the drummer Joost Kroon, the percussionists Frank van Dok and Jos de Haas, the keyboardist and arranger Willem Friede, the bassist Leslie Lopez and the trumpeter David Rockefeller. In addition there is a big band of nineteen musicians, with an extensive horn section of saxophones, trumpets and trombones, plus guitar, Fender Rhodes, percussion and vocals. The group has performed in many countries, from Hungary and Russia to Uganda and Japan, and was often seen on Dutch television.

Music and breakthrough

The first records, More! and Soul Jazz Latin, appeared in 1997. In 2000 the band won the Edison Jazz Award, and in 2018 it received another for New Cool Collective Big Band, on which the Senegalese saxophonist Thierno Koité can also be heard. For the music for the film Toegetakeld door de liefde the group won a Golden Calf in 2013. That music is on the album Chin Chin. They also made Hollandse Meesters (2014), with arrangements of Dutch evergreens, together with Guus Meeuwis.

Influence

The name indicates what the band plays: jazz that draws directly on soul, Latin and Afrobeat. In 2006 it travelled the club circuit with the drummer Tony Allen and the kora player Ali Boulo Santo for an Afrobeat tour. For Dutch pop history the group is important because it shows that jazz in the Netherlands can also have a danceable, broad side. In School of Rock it appears with Scuzzy Skank from 2008.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Scuzzy Skank. Try to follow the horns, the percussion and the bass separately and notice how together they form a danceable whole.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

Mentioned in other articles

Categories: ArtistsJazz in the Netherlands