Wilbert de Joode wins Buma Boy Edgar Prize
Wilbert de Joode, a founding member of the Doek collective, has been awarded the 2016 Buma Boy Edgar Prize. The Buma Boy Edgarprijs is awarded each year to an artist who has long demonstrated his or her outstanding creative contribution to the vitality of the Dutch jazz and improvised scene. Wilbert is the fourth member of the collective to win this prize, other winners being Michael Moore (1986), Wolter Wierbos (1995) and Tobias Delius (2003).
From the jury’s report…
De Joode’s playing is infused with a spirit of uncompromising urgency, yet it is also characterised by rigour and fragility. De Joode is self-taught – an increasingly rare phenomenon in the world of improvised music – and his independent study of music is driven by a fascination with timbre and acoustics. His sound is resonant, his pizzicatos explosive, and his bowing is rich and varied. He has an extensive vocabulary and a very good ear for the musical possibilities of a particular sound at a particular moment in a particular space. This sensitivity to the sound of the moment lends his playing a highly intuitive quality.
The jury particularly commends Wilbert de Joode on his interplay with fellow musicians, a quality so essential to freely improvised music. He is, to a greater extent than many a Dutch improviser, first and foremost a listener, and his responsiveness and musical agility are expressions of his wealth of ideas. De Joode acts simultaneously as both sponge and membrane, and in addition to his notable collaborations with Cor Fuhler and Han Bennink, Onno Govaert and Jasper Stadhouders, and Achim Kaufmann and Frank Gratkowski, he is partly responsible for shaping the sound of groups such as the Ab Baars Trio, the Eric Boeren Quartet, Bik Bent Braam, and Ig Henneman’s ensembles.
De Joode is a very active and much in-demand musician, and special mention must be made in this context of his many concerts abroad. Nevertheless, his international commitment to improvised music is not limited to musical performances. It is also reflected in his involvement in the creation of the DOEK Foundation for Improvisation, a platform for musicians that promotes national and international collaboration, experimentation and artistic research.
Wilbert de Joode has built an international following, but he has also captivated new generations of musicians with his music. They queue to study with him, to explore new possibilities in sound and musicianship. He is a shining example to young musicians, as well as a fulcrum between the pioneers of improvised music and an international community of young musicians from diverse backgrounds and with diverse interests. That he maintains his egalitarian collaborative approach even when working with young musicians is laudable.
Wilbert de Joode is a creative force in a tradition that eschews tradition. His unique individual vision ensures that the accumulated work of previous generations continues to yield new expressions and paths for exploration. And in this regard, it is particularly true that in De Joode’s hands musical creativity and the results thereof are a never-ending process, never a final conclusion.