Jazz vocalist Fay Claassen and trombonist Ilja Reijngoud have found each other in beautiful interplay for some time now. Like no other, Claassen knows how to blend her voice with instruments, and most of all wind instruments. Her special tribute to the legendary trumpeter/singer Chet Baker was a fine example of that. Reijngoud, making a name for himself as one of Holland's best jazz trombonists, Claassen examines a program full of beautiful songs and sonnets set to contemporary jazz and world music. Reijngoud, who received the International Thelonious Monk Award in 2003, composes and arranges for various line-ups. He plays in numerous groups including the Bart van Lier/Ilja Reijngoud Quintet, The Houdini's and the Cubop City Big Band. He also teaches at the Rotterdam Conservatory. In his Ilja Reijngoud Quartet his trombone functions as a modern jazz solo instrument, accompanied by the skilled guitarist Martijn van Iterson and the solid rhythm tandem Marius Beets (bass) and Marcel Serierse (drums).
