He was driving in Germany when he heard the news and nearly drove off the road: he had won the 2018 Buma Boy Edgar Prize. Success at last! The jury report said that Van ’t Hof moves “between a wide variety of styles, ranging from free bop to jazz rock, free jazz and fusion, and refuses to be hemmed in even today, more than fifty years after he first took to the stage”. Keyboardist Jasper van ‘t Hof (Enschede, 1947) is one of the few Dutch musicians who are esteemed elsewhere in the world. His album No Hard Shoulder (2016) was well received and he recently released the album Our Man In Havana. He is currently touring with the Jasper van ’t Hof B.E. Trio, celebrating last year’s prize, in the company of bassist and steel guitarist Stefan Lievestro, drummer Jamie Peet and a long-time friend: saxophonist Tony Lakatos (Budapest, 1958). Lakatos, the son of a gypsy violinist, played in Van ‘t Hof’s successful Pili-Pili Band back in 1985.
