Ellister van der Molen (The Hague, 1977) is a trumpet player who is highly appreciated by her jazz colleagues. This is because she can play everything (such as with her own group Triplicate, as well as with Alice in Dixieland and El Combo Mundial) but also because she has such control over the idiom of the icons of hard-bop. “Actually, I play it by ear, whether I work with Corrie van Binsbergen or Rein de Graaff,” she explains. Recently her album Smalls NYC was released, with the same lineup that will accompany her at North Sea Jazz. The title refers to the jazz club in New York that impressed her with its special atmosphere in 2011. For this Smalls project, Van der Molen has reacquainted herself with former fellow student, American pianist Jeremy Manasia. The quartet, that maneuvers from tradition to trend and timelessness, is complemented by bassist Jos Machtel and drummer Matthias de Waele.
