Ruben Hein – Hopscotch ‘Jump out, you’re in the grave In the boxes and you are safe but never saved’ (Hopscotch) Hopscotch is a children’s game with consequences. If you step on a line, your turn ends. Stay inside the line and you are safe. And if you want to progress, you need to take risks. What Ruben Hein (Nijmegen, 1982) is trying to say is that he has skipped a square further. Loose Fit, which debuting on Blue Note, has already been around for two years. The pianist, who at the insistence of Benjamin Herman could also sing, has learned a lot. He has played together with various artists, from Hans Teeuwen to Oleta Adams and from Het Metropole Orkest to more recently, the Amsterdam Sinfonietta. He has performed at festivals such as Noorderslag and North Sea Jazz. And if that doesn’t underline his versatility enough, he was nominated for two 3FM Awards, the Edison People’s Choice Award and he won the Radio 6 Award for Best Soul Artist. Hopscotch is neither a jazz album nor a pop album, nor Ruben’s view of funky afropop. It is a bit of everything and well thought out. The sound, the role of the musicians; Ruben got down to business. In an e-mail to the musicians on the album, guitarist Paul Willemsen (also the producer of Hopscotch), drummer Bram Hakkens, bassist Hugo den Oudsten and guitarist Jesse van Ruller, Ruben expressed his ideas for the record. Keywords: warm, groovy and spacey. “My voice is smooth enough, so everything around could stand to be more raunch