Music
2025
Y.O.P.E.
Stravinsky aficionado wonders if jazz bands can also play broken beat
You hear the flying hours that Joop de Graaf has spent in jazz bands, but Y.O.P.E. is really something else. The frontman – you may know him from Brintex Collective, the Diana Dzhabbar Quartet or Imaginarium – initially sketches electronic soundscapes and cool beats in his studio. What the musicians then contribute is the next surprise. Especially when diehard hardboppers, ska fans, and Stravinsky enthusiasts are in the same band. It leads to wonderfully unpredictable, semi-futuristic nu-jazz. What sometimes sounds calm on the debut album peer pleasure comes alive in overdrive during performances – until you find yourself amidst the lasers in the envisioned nightclub.
