The Marit van der Lei Nextet is founded in 2015. Intrigued by the horn sections she had heard during her school years and through years of bigband singing, she started writing for a jazz combo starring a small horn section, and decided that she wanted to fulfill one horn part herself. This resulted in her debut album ‘in Other Words’. Marit writes contemporary music for her ‘Nextet’, inspired by the music of Kenny Wheeler and Daniel Herskedal.
Marit van der Lei Nextet sounds sober, subtle and somewhat unpolished, in attempt to avoid the big gesture. Without excessive frills, lyrical compositions sounds through without falling into melodrama or patheticity for a single moment. As a result, the music she writes for her own ‘Marit van der Lei Nextet’ sounds intense, sometimes low-key, in which the expressiveness seems to increase exponential.
In 2018, the Marit van der Lei Nextet debuted their first album 'In Other Words', which was received with enthusiasm.
In September 2022, a new release is being celebrated! Learn more here.
Marit van der Lei - vocals
Jesse Schilderink - tenor sax
Kika Sprangers - alto sax
Federico Castelli - gitaar
Marre de Graaff - basgitaar
Willem Romers - drums
Kika Sprangers Large Ensemble
The "Kika Sprangers Large Ensemble" plays original music composed by Kika. The compositions are melodic and lyrical, but are always worn by a solid groove. With the band Kika went looking for the reconciliation of these two elements in one band sound. On the 23rd of August we played our debut concert with the 'large ensemble' in Tivoli Cloud Nine. This ensemble consists of Kika's quintet, extended with three vocalists and a unique horn section (bass clarinet, horn, trumpet and flute). Because of this line-up a new sound has been added to our band sound and with that sound we have written new arrangements for this group. In September 2019 our new album will be released in a.o. Bimhuis Amsterdam.
Free The Voices
Together with colleague - vocalists and dear friends Anna Serierse and Sanne Rambags, Marit forms the vocal impro trio "Free the Voices". They met in the Large ensemble of Kika Sprangers. The three strong voices blend seamlessly, and their sounds are coming straight from their souls, with the intention to move spirits. Without a clear framework, they are free to ride on the waves of emotion and feminine energy towards a meditative state of being.
Echo
Echo tells a story, sung in solely vowels and visualized by singers. New Amsterdam Jazz arranged the recording of the collective’s premier at the Grachtenfestival on August 17th. Echo is a collaboration between Floris Kappeyne (music), Sophie Prins (dance) and Maria Ravelli (philosophy and costume). It is a collective of 9 singers, keys and percussion/drums. We present our story through voice, dance and costume.
Doremikado/ De Ontspoking
These are two shows in collaboration with dance company "De Stilte". "De Ontspoking" is musically led by Martin Fondse and choreography/ artistically led by Jack Timmermans. "Doremirado" is a show with music by Helene Jank and and dance by Jenia Kasatkina.