Anyone looking for an international breakthrough is better off calling themselves John Ghost than Jo De Geest – at least that's what the guitarist from Ghent must have thought when he founded his sextet. Whatever the case, the international media soon picked up on him in a major way, with the second album Airships Are Organisms being awarded four-star reviews in The Guardian and The Financial Times, as well as airplay on BBC Radio 1 and Worldwide FM. The press closer to his native Belgium certainly appreciate John Ghost as well though, with De Volkskrant calling them ‘one of the better jazz bands from Belgium’ and their third album Thin Air . Mirror Land was one of the musical highlights of 2023, according to Jazzism music mag. With influences from jazz, rock and contemporary classical, this instrumental band is highly versatile. The mixture of minimalism, electronica and cinematic sounds transports the listener to a world of intimate and ominous atmospheres. Live, the six musicians perform their ingenious compositions with intense precision.
