Happy new year!
With the release of Motherland and the fantastic press, I must say that this year was a great year for me. For 2009 I have some great stuff planned. With the quartet we will do some great club and festival gigs here in Holland and around Europe. Furthermore I will be playing with the Amsterdam Jazz Orchestra, a great contemporary big band led by Yaniv Nachum. There are plans on arranging some of my tunes for this band as well. I hope you guys will have a great year! Oh, before I forget, on January 20th the Marzio Scholten Quartet will be playing in Dizzy, Rotterdam, so.. don't be a stranger, come by and say hi!
31/12/2008
Miami
Hi! From 4 until 15 December I will be in Miami, Florida, for the IN A CABIN WITH international recording project. I will be there with my good friend and sound engineer Maarten Besseling, who also is the initiator of this project. We will record and compose on location in collaboration with Miami based musicians. The result will be released as an online download and a cd will be distributed to stores through V2 records sometime next year. A daily blog will be put up at www.inacabinwith.com, so that you guys can see what we are up to over there.
03/12/2008
Reviews
As you all may have seen, Motherland has been receiving fantastic reviews, which can be read and downloaded in the renewed press section on this website. Last week Dutch national newspaper Trouw published this review. In September we performed an offical cd release concert with the quartet and got a great review as well, this one can be read here. Unfortunately, for now, both reviews are in Dutch. We are working on translating it to English, and we will upload those soon as well.
06/11/2008
Concert in Amsterdam Blue Note
On Monday, October 27th we will give a special concert with the entire 'Motherland' band, including award winning pianist Randal Corsen. The concert will take place at the Amsterdam Blue Note, a great new jazz venue in the new Conservatory of Amsterdam (Oosterdokskade 151, Amsterdam), and will begin at 8 p.m. Entrance is €7,50 (and free for Conservatory students). Click here for directions. Be sure to check out this special concert!!
18/10/2008
Benedetto
Hi! I'm proud to say that since a few weeks I'm being endorsed by Benedetto Guitars. Benedetto Guitars is a fantastic guitar manufacturer, based in Savannah, Georgia (U.S.), which produces about 500 handmade jazz guitars per year. I am playing on their fabulous Bambino Deluxe guitar, with which I am very happy. Thanks again, Benedetto! Be sure to check these guitars out.
30/09/2008
Motherland CD Release Concert at Badcuyp
Thursday September 25th 2008 the Marzio Scholten Quartet will be giving a concert at the Badcuyp in Amsterdam celebrating the release of Motherland. Entrance is € 8,-. Doors will be open at 9 p.m. and we will start around 9:30 p.m. Reservations for tickets can be made by calling +31(0)20 - 67 59 669. We hope to see you there!
10/09/2008
Uitmarkt
Coming Saturday, 30th of August, we will do a 30 minute showcase at the Uitmarkt - the yearly opening of the cultural season - in Amsterdam. We will be playing at 8 p.m. in Fifteen(Jamie Oliver's restaurant). Hope to see you there!
28/08/2008
Vondelpark Openluchttheater
Hi everybody. Saturday, 23rd of August, we will play at the Vondelpark Openluchttheater in Amsterdam. The show will start at 4 p.m. We will be playing some tunes from the 'Motherland' cd, as well as some new stuff. Entrance is free.
20/08/2008
'Motherland' receiving critical acclaim!
The last few weeks I have been receiving emails and text messages from people all over the world with all kinds of compliments on my music. I'd like to thank all of you who've bought the cd and have taken the time to listen to it. I am very thankful about getting such enthusiastic responds to my music. Also I'm very proud to say that 'Motherland' has been receiving critical acclaim by the press through some fantastic reviews, which you can read on the 'contact' page of this website. Some quotes: "A debut one could only dream about..." and "It does not happen very often that a young jazz musician presents himself on his debut album with such musical maturity the way that guitarist Marzio Scholten does on his 'Motherland..." Also in stores now in stores now is this month's 'Gitarist' magazine, which has a nice jazz guitar article, which features me as well.
12/07/2008
Great review of Motherland
Renowned Dutch jazz journalist Bert Jansma wrote a fantastic review of Motherland, which I'd like to share with you. For now it's only available in Dutch, I hope to post an English translation soon.
"Het gebeurt niet al te vaak dat een jonge jazzmuzikant zich op zijn debuut-cd met zoveel muzikale rijpheid presenteert als gitarist Marzio Scholten op zijn ‘Motherland’. In de eerste plaats zijn er de acht eigen composities, stuk voor stuk goed doordacht en uitgewerkt en bovendien elk met een andere sfeer en inkleuring. Het is vooral dat rijke emotionele palet dat bijzonder is aan Marzio Scholtens debuut. Als solist is hij een opvallend sterke ‘storyteller’ met een subtiel gevoel voor melodie, die pure poëzie (‘On the first day of spring’), melancholie (‘The end of an era’) zowel als een lekkere hedendaagse ‘groove’ (300 Miles) aan kan. Niet voor niets noteert niemand minder dan gitarist Jesse van Ruller in zijn ‘liner notes’ voor ‘Motherland’ invloeden van zowel Pat Metheny als John Scofield en Jimmy Raney. Dit is jonge jazz van vandaag, gevoelig, fraai en intens. Door een voorbeeldig kwartet waarin Scholten gelijke kansen voor elk van de bandleden creëert en ook nog prachtig samen fraseert met rietblazer Floris van der Vlugt."
16/06/2008
Motherland. Out now!
I'm very proud to say that my debut album 'Motherland' is out now! It will officially hit the stores on June 30th, but it already is for sale online here and at my gigs. Motherland contains eight tracks composed by me, and mainly is recorded with the quartet. On three tracks we are joined by award winning pianist Randal Corsen. Furthermore, I'm proud to say that Jesse van Ruller has written the liner notes for Motherland. I will upload samples of the music very soon on this site. I hope you will enjoy Motherland!
02/06/2008
Some not so breaking news
Finally spring has arrived, and it was about time. What also will be arriving soon is my debut album 'Motherland'. It will hit the stores around July 10th (not sure about that though), but it definitely will be for sale at my concerts in a week or two. I will upload some samples on this site soon, as well as instructions on how and where to buy it. Also, I've got some interesting gigs in May and June, so please come visit them. For exact dates and info check the 'tour' section.
05/05/2008
Germany tour, Utrecht Jazz Fest and more..
It's almost the end of the month now, so here's a little write-up from my side. With the quartet we played in Athens, Greece a few weeks ago. Besides the bad weather and a weird incident, we had a great time over there. I'd like to thank the people that came out to see us play! In March we'll do a short tour in Germany (Hamburg and Berlin), so if you live there try to catch one of our shows! We will also play at the Utrecht Jazz Fest next month, this will be the first gig with the Marzio Scholten Group (feat. Randal Corsen). Hope to see you guys there! Oh, and if you have time to catch a movie one of these days, then check out these ones: No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood, they're both incredible!
27/02/2008
What's going on..?
Hi! Here's a brief update on what's going on. Momentarily I'm busy mixing my first cd, which hopefully will be released somewhere this spring. I'm very excited about it. Also we are preparing for some nice gigs with the quartet next week in Athens, Greece. So if you live there or happen to be there, be sure to check us out! This year I will also be playing duo with pianist and friend Christiaan Verbeek, we'll be recording his compositions as well as mine soon. As a sideman I just finished recording a cd with PGP; a band that's bringing the soul back into urban music. Also I'm playing in the quintet of Marike van Dijk (sax), with which we'll hit the studio this spring. So, that's it for now. See you soon!
30/01/2008
Happy Holidays!
So, that's it. We're almost done with 2007. Looking back, for me, this year was great, but I'm really looking forward to the years to come. Next year we have some great stuff lined up. We'll be touring Greece with the Marzio Scholten Quartet in February and then hit Germany in March (for Germany there are still some dates available for booking). Also we will be doing some festivals in Holland with the "Marzio Scholten Group feat. Randal Corsen". And, of course, next year we will release my debut album! Very excited about that! Anyway, happy holidays to you all and see you next year.
18/12/2007
O.A.P. Records!
Hi folks! I have some great news. I recently signed with Dutch record label O.A.P. Records for the recording and release of my debut album! So finally there will be an official album for sale soon. Next week we'll spend a few days in the studio. The recording will feature the quartet mainly. Pianist and Edison Award winner Randal Corsen will join us on a few tracks as well. I'm very excited! I will keep you posted about all of this. We are expecting an early 2008 release.
09/10/2007
Summertime...
Well, summertime is coming around (not exactly here in Holland, but anyway) and I'm using these days for writing new stuff and experimenting with sounds. I'm in negotiation with a Dutch record label about recording and releasing my official debut album. I can't say too much about it, because things aren't official yet. Furthermore, the quartet will take its first steps abroad soon. Next year we will be playing three nights in Athens, Greece, amongst others. Oh yeah, check out my trio gig next week (22 July) in Jazzcafe The Duke in Leiden. Have a great summer!
16/07/2007
New music!
Finally I have put some new music online. It's from a recording session we did about two weeks ago. We recorded four new tunes with a quintet consisting of Randal Corsen on piano, Floris van der Vlugt on saxophones, Lucas Dols on bass, Bob Roos on drums and of course myself on guitar. Be sure to listen to the new tracks. I hope you enjoy it.
14/06/2007
Festivals and new demo recording with Randal Corsen!
Hi everybody! Last weekend we had an outstanding gig at the "The Hague Jazz" festival. It was nice to see how the audience responded to the new tunes. This weekend we will perform at the Blues & Jazz Festival in Emmen and at Jazz in Duketown in Den Bosch. And last but not least, there will be a recording of the new tunes next week, with Randal Corsen on piano. I'm very excited about this! You'll hear the result very soon.
22/05/2007
Showcase at the 'Dag van de Nederlandse Jazz' (National Dutch Jazz Day)
Coming Friday, May 11th, we will be doing a 45 minute showcase with the Marzio Scholten Quartet at the 'Dag van de Nederlandse Jazz' (National Dutch Jazz Day) in Amersfoort. We will play at 21:30 at the SENA stage (Observant, Stadhuisplein). Entrance is free and everybody is welcome, so come support us! For more information: www.jazzdag.nl.
09/05/2007
Welcome on my new site!
Hi everyone. Finally my new website is online. I hope you will enjoy it and hope you will come back to visit it regularly. I will try to keep this website updated by posting new messages here regularly.
04/05/2007