Levanter is yet another highlight in the oeuvre of trumpeter Eric Vloeimans. In this latest project, Vloeimans, Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh and pianist Jeroen van Vliet push music across the boundaries that separate jazz from classical and world music, reaching a level where all that matters is lyrical depth. Vloeimans and the highly acclaimed Azmeh met in 2011 at an event themed around the economic and cultural future of Europe. Pianist Jeroen van Vliet and Vloeimans have worked together for twenty years. Levanter is the name of the strong, warm, easterly wind that blows from northern Africa across the western Mediterranean, and each of the musicians composed several pieces for the project. The remarkable dynamic of the acoustic trio leaves audiences regularly gasping for breath – especially when the three masters of sound drop the volume of their playing to the level of a whisper.
