Louk Boudesteijn (Steinheim 1977)
(trombonist/multi-instrumentalist/composer)
After hearing old (jazz) records from his mother’s collection as a young kid, Louk
got totally hooked on music and started playing the trombone at the age of only
five years old, switching to guitar and piano as a teenager. In his teenage years
he started ‘Black Jack’, a 4 piece rockband for which Louk, now playing guitar,
wrote the music. He later returned to his first instrument and as a self-taught
musician with little technical and formal skills started to study jazz trombone at
the conservatory in Tilburg where het met trumpet player Rob van de Wouw and
started a band named 2hip2bjazz. With this band Louk won a small compostion
price for his piece Joshua. He left Tilburg (Together with Rob) two years later to
study with Bart van Lier in Rotterdam. Louk graduated from the Rotterdam
conservatory in 2002 with great honours. In 2001 he won the Erasmus jazz-prize
and took part in the first prestigious Carnegie Hall Jazz Training Programm (NY)
with his B&W quintet. Together with trumpetplayer Rob van de Wouw, Louk
started the B&W quintet (2 releases: It’s About Time 2005 and Force of Habits
2008) and in 2003 Louk and Rob founded the Rotterdam Jazz Orchestra. A year
later arranger/conductor/bassplayer Johan Plomp joined the group. Louk, Rob
and Johan still form a rock solid team as artistic directors of the band. The RJO
evolved into the New Rotterdam Jazz Orchestra by the end of 2012 with a new
line up in a different setting in order to accomplish their artistic goals and focusing
more on their own original written material. Louk is a fanatical writer for this
group. The RJO has been playing with the likes of Carla Bley, Steve Swallow,
Frank Lacy, Jason Lindner, Frank Moebus, Nicholas Payton, Mark de Clive
Lowe, Benjamin Herman, Eric Vloeimans, Ernst Reijseger, Anton Goudsmit,
Andreas Schaerer, Joshua Redman, piano trio Phronesis, street poet Derek Otte and so on.
Louk has been collaborating with Paul van Kemenade’s groups starting in 2002 and powerhouse Van Kemenade has been a steady factor ever since. The Paul van Kemenade Quintet (since 1982!) toures internationally, often joined by guest musicians such as “les freres Guisse” from Senegal, and because of Paul’s longtime connection with South Africa with people like Feya Faku, Sidney Mnisi, Bheki Khoza and Sonti Mndebele. There also have been collaborations with singer David Lynx. Another Van Kemenade band is “Three Horns and a bass” with alongside Van Kemenade and Boudesteijn also Flugelhornplayer Angelo Verploegen and bassist Wiro Mahieu.
In 2003 he is asked (together with Jan van Duikeren and Benjamin Herman) to
join Paul Weller’s band for a couple of big European tours as well as recording
the cd’s Studio 150 and As is Now.
Together with fellow horn players Jan van Duikeren and Guido Nijs he forms The Special Request Horns, playing with
Dutch pop/reggae stars BEEF! and releasing their own funk/jazz album Volume 1. The Special Request Horns since then have been touring and recording with
the likes of Lionel Richie, Diana Ross, Candy Dulfer, Caro Emerald, Racoon,
Bløf, Di-rect and many others. Currently they play in the band of singer Marco
Borsato and with Dutch rockband Di-rect.
In 2010 he launched his very own eletrofunkjazzrock-band FULLDUPLEXX with
their debut album F.FWD on Embrace Recordings and played a.o. at the North
Sea Jazz Festival 2011. Their 2nd album Modern People was released on
January 17th 2014 also on Embrace Recordings.
Together with guitarist Anton Goudsmit and saxophone player Nils van Haften he
formed the trio EINZELGÄNGER in 2015. The group mainly perform Louk’s original compositions and released their debut album MUSICA
GYMNASTICA in 2016 and played a.o. at North Sea Jazz Festival 2018.
Since December 2011 the Rotterdam Jazz Orchestra has changed to New
Rotterdam Jazz Orchestra. Louk is the co-artistic director of this orchestra.
In 2019 Louk started collaborating with young guitar powerhouse and fellow composing-fanatic Jelle
Roozenburg on a new project called Bonsai Panda. Jimmi Hueting,
Romain Bly and David Kweksilber complete the line up. Their twin LP’s “SHORT TERM
MEMORY MUSIC 1 & 2” are released in 2020..
Besides all this Louk is also a much in demand sideman playing through the years with: Metropole Orkest, Cubop City Bigband, Nueva Manteca, New Cool Collective Bigband, Panchito, NDR bigband, WDR bigband, Anouk, Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw, Martin Fondse’s Groove Troopers ,Erik van de Westen’s Quadrant extended, Monsieur Dubois, Raise the Roof, Gijs Hendriks Nonet, Stephan Geuzebroek band,State of Monc, Mieke Stiemerdink, Pierre Courbois, Waterland ensemble, Palinkx, Ineke van Doorn en Marc van Vught’s Big Bizar Habit,Freek de Jonge, Beets Brothers Orchestra, Seven Eleven, en tal van musici waaronder o.a. Benny Bailey,Benjamin Herman, Eric Vloeimans,Yuri Honing, Ack van Rooyen, Piet Noordijk, Bart van Lier and many others.