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Artist
The Keyboard Circle
11+ albums
jazzinstrumentalFusiondutchjazzrock
about
In 1976, the pianists Rob Franken en Jan Huydts both lived in Soest (Netherlands). They hung out together a lot, and shared their love for newly developed key instruments. Both of them were Fender Rhodes electric piano pioneers. Rob Franken's piano virtuosity is to be recognized on as many as four hundred records. In 1976, he had his own trio and performed with the Dutch funk fusion formation ‘Scope’ from the city of Zwolle. In this band, he met with drummer Henk Zomer, whom he was very impressed with. At the end of 1975, Rob Franken came to the idea to start a new formation based on the combination of different consonance colors by combining Fender pianos with synthesizers, string cabinets and other electronic key instruments. Jan Huydts, who was experienced in making experimental music through his formations ‘Basic Train’ and ‘Third Eye’, thought this was a good idea. They decided to arrange their key instruments in a circle during their performances and so the ‘The Keyboard Circle’ was born. The two musicians composed their own repertoire out of their own compositions and music covers. For example, on this record we find the Scopesong ‘Tamotua’, Kenny Dorham’s ‘Blue Bossa’ and Eddie Henderson’s ‘The Kumquat Kids’. They decided to play the bass lines themselves, one by one, on a bass synth, while the other was playing his solo. The drums of Henk Zomer, clearly inspired by Jack DeJonetthe and Tony Williams, became the driving force. Soon after a few rehearsals the fi
