Singer Fay Claassen (1969) is seriously considered to be the successor of the legendary Rita Reys by those in the know. In 2014 Claassen paid tribute to her idol with a performance in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw together with the Peter Beets Trio. This was made into a CD, Live At The Concertgebouw, for which she received a prestigious German award in February 2016. According to the jury she had sung ‘with a full, rounded voice, stable intonation and sharp elegance.’ But accompanying pianist Beets (1971) was also given credits: “He can swing so contagiously, one can hardly keep one's feet still.” This makes sense; for many years Beets had been accompanying Rita Reys. Of course veteran bassist Ruud Jacobs (1938) and guitarist Martijn van Iterson (1970) also played prominent roles. The synergy between the band members could be called unique. And their music always swings your socks off.
