Episode #13: Boris van der Lek. A podcast about Jazz with colorful guests and swinging music by Ben van den Dungen
Boris van der Lek
Art Blakey once said: “jazz has to be danceable and has to have the blues”. Dancing and the blues is a podcast about jazz. Jazzmusicians Ben van den Dungen, Tom Ridderbeekx and Thijs Nissen receive colourful guests with strong stories, probing conversations and a large dose of swinging music. A look behind the scenes of the fine fleur of the (inter)national jazz top, with live performances from our studio!
In 1980, Boris van der Lek (1965, The Hague) was taken by his parents to the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague. When Boris witnessed the Tenorbattle between saxophonists Arnett Cobb, Buddy Tate, Illinois Jacquet, Billy Mitchell and Buddy Johnson, he knew that that was what he wanted: to become a tenorsaxophonist.
His innate talent and the intense feeling for his instrument made Boris into a much sought-after session and studio musician in no time; at the age of 18 (1983) he was on stage with his heroes Buddy Tate and Arnett Cobb as a fully-fledged professional musician. Since then, he has also been a welcome guest at the North Sea Jazz Festival. Moving to Leiden, above Jazzcafe The Duke, Boris met many musicians between 1983 and 1986, including Jaap Dekker (who is responsible for the nickname The Breeze), Aad van Pijlen, Frits Kaatee, Christian Willisohn and Torsten Zwingenberger, which resulted in many sessions and recordings, as well as the formation of all kinds of bands, such as THE Boris van der Lek Quartet and The Gangbusters.
In 1987 he toured Europe and Canada with The Boulevard of Broken Dreams Orchestra; in 1988 he performed with The Newport Allstars, The Benny Goodman Allstars and The Millers, and after performing with Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison, Butch Miles and Joe Pass his name was established forever. During the tour in Canada with the orchestra of the Boulevard of Broken Dreams the jazz formation The Houdini’s was formed in 1987, and he laid the foundation for the friendship with Jules Deelder. With The Houdini’s Boris recorded three CD’s, two of them in New York, in the studios of the famous Rudy van Gelder
From 1994 onwards, he and Tough Tenors again achieved success on the big stages: Parkpop in The Hague and Pinkpop, but also in Japan, China, Austria, Switzerland, France (Montreux Jazz Festival), Hungary and Denmark (Roskilde Festival) and in England. And now Livin’ Blues and the Golden Earring to finally promote his angels…
In short, an unrivalled tenor saxophonist.
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