<p style=”font-weight: 400;”>Meet the Amersfoort World Jazz team. We are busy preparing for the 45th edition of the festival and would like to introduce the team to you!</p>
<p style=”font-weight: 400;”>Jurriaan de Kok is a double bassist (Sunrise, Alexandra Alden) composer, but is also responsible for hospitality during the Amersfoort World Jazz Festival and is responsible for the World Jazz Network.</p style=”font-weight: 400;”> p>
<p style=”font-weight: 400;”><em>How do you take your experiences as a musician to the organizing side?</em></p>
<p style=”font-weight: 400;”>Because you are a musician yourself, you know what it feels like to play a concert somewhere. For example, that you know what kind of backline there is, that there is a parking space, that you can eat something and that you will be welcomed hospitably. So you only have to worry about the concert itself. That’s what I see as a ”Musicians Paradise”.<em></em></p>
<p style=”font-weight: 400;”><em>Jurriaan, as a musician you have already played at many festivals, what distinguishes Amersfoort World Jazz Festivals from other festivals? </em></p>
<p style=”font-weight: 400;”>You can tell that it is organized by a passionate group of musicians, who give artists the creative freedom to get the best out of the concert. All genres are covered, from traditional bop to Scandinavian atmospheric music, that’s what makes it so beautiful.</p>
<p style=”font-weight: 400;”><em>How do you take the experiences from the organizing side to being an artist?</em></p>
<p style=”font-weight: 400;”>It is nice to understand what an organizer finds important when booking artists. Such as having good photos, a bio, riders, etc. This has given me even more respect for the organizations of the places where I play as a musician.</p>
<p style=”font-weight: 400;”><em>What exactly is the World Jazz Network? And what do you do for that?</em></p>
<p style=”font-weight: 400;”>The World Jazz Network is a unique collaboration between unique festivals to broaden the mobility of international jazz talent. We do this by organizing the Sena Performers International Laureate Festival, where fourteen festivals have the opportunity to present an Endorsed Exceptional Talent. And we organize a conference for musicians, organizations and professionals to discuss current challenges. Partly because of the World Jazz Network we have been able to conduct international exchanges with Thailand, South Africa, India, Hungary, Latvia, Italy, Spain and so on. We do not do this to benefit as an organization, but to give young musicians a chance abroad. On behalf of the World Jazz Network, I am the contact person between all partners and musicians. This is very broad, from requesting photos and bios to picking up the musicians at Schiphol.</p>
<p style=”font-weight: 400;”><em>Which album would you recommend to everyone?</em></p>
<p style=”font-weight: 400;”>Red Garland’s Piano from the Red Garland trio.</p>