In 2007, when he was 18, Ben van Gelder won the Deloitte Jazz Award. After studying at the Amsterdam conservatory, the alto saxophonist and bass clarinetist moved to New York to study at the New School of Jazz. It was there, in 2016, that he recorded the phenomenal album Among Verticals which received great critical acclaim. For that album he let himself be inspired by a painting: a famous work by the Czech artist František Kupka, Mme Kukpa Dans Les Verticales. Van Gelder used it as a metaphor for how he felt in the big city of New York. He composed fourteen connected pieces that arose from a composition assignment. Van Gelder's music expresses what he saw in the painting: mystery, surrealism, melancholy and a story. Van Gelder will be playing with the New Yorkers with whom he recorded the album: pianist Sam Harris, vibraphonist Peter Schlamb, bassist Rick Rosato and drummer Craig Weinrib.
