DJ GRAZZHOPPA’S DJ BIGBAND SIZE # 1
As a first step to a 12 headed DJ Bigband DJ Grazzhoppa founded a smaller band with 6 dj’s to start with. He gathered Mixmonster Menno, Smimooz, XXL, Lamont and Yzerbeat around him and together they composed and played music.
In this first stage Grazzhoppa together with producer kc nOna want to look into a number of artistic questions. Can several DJ’s play together in a bigband formation? Is it necessary to involve Fabrizio Cassol as a coach/composer and as a guard of the musical structures
What are the possibilities of Grazzhoppa as a real bandleader? Can one reach an audience with such a project?
The working method in this phase is as follows: one of six DJ’s plays two turntables, the other five play one each. All turntable constellations are supplied with the necessary mixers. From this constellation and in close cooperation with the sound engineer the compositions are created, involving in rich musical masterpieces.
DJ GRAZZHOPPA’S DJ BIGBAND & VISUAL VECTORZ PROJECT
As the experiment turned out to be an artistic and public success, Grazzhoppa and ac nOna proceeded and put together a real ‘Big’band. Twelve DJ’s –Grazzhoppa, Lamont, Mixmonster Menno, Smimooz, XXL, Yzerbeat, BoulaOne, Courtasock, Iron, J to the C, Optimus, Vindictiv - now appear as DJ Grazzhoppa’s DJ Bigband. Sax player/ composer Fabrizio Cassol and vocalist Monique Harcum join the band. Together this band of musicians compose a variety of songs from nitty gritty scratch music over trip hop to experimental jazz.
Three VJ’s make this musical trip even more intense. On a huge screen above the DJ’s heads they project a wide range of images. Sometimes live shots of the vibrating scratches bring the art of turntablism closer to the attention of the audience; other times the visuals reflect on the art of scratching, visual culture and youth culture… This Visual Vectorz Part was hosted by Zumos del Scumos a audiovisual collective from Ghent. From 2006 on DJ Grazzhoppa’s DJ Bigband will work together with a new audiovisual collective: Fisfheye. They will experiment with different techniques to zoom even deeper in on the choreography of the fingers of the DJ’s. So the audience gets to know more of the complexity of the art of turntablism.
DJ GRAZZHOPPA’S DJ BIGBAND versus AKA MOON
On special request of the Jazz Middelheim festival the DJ Bigband worked together with Aka Moon on a renewed set of songs. The link with Aka Moon was easily made, as Fabrizio Cassol, founding member of Aka Moon, was already involved in the DJ Bigband. So Stephane Galland on drums and Michel Hatzegiorgiou on bass joined the Big Band and in their presence old songs were reworked and new songs were created.
The concert at Jazz Middelheim was an absolute success. This will be performed for the second time at the Banlieues Bleues Festival in Paris on March 26th 2006.
DJAMSESSIONS
To investigate the possibilities of the turntable in dialogue with other instruments DJ Bigband organizes several so-called DJamsessions at Vooruit (Ghent), kc nOna (Mechelen) and De Pianofabriek (Brussels). Improvisation lays at the basis of this experiment. Throughout the search for new rhythms, funky melodies and groovy sounds the dynamic between musicians with different backgrounds is the oxygen of these experimental set- ups.
Three DJ’s inviting two or three musicians ready to let loose of all boundaries and get down to the bare essence of live improvisation. A challenge a lot of musicians are willing to face.
With these DJamsessions the DJ Bigband is focusing on the smaller venues, to find it’s way in the club circuit.