Tracks
- Cloud Cathedrals 2. Until My Muse Comes Knocking 3. In Search of the Lost Chord 4. Ingvald 5. Onderweg Naar Bloemfontein 6. Promenade (Patches of Sky) 7. Tyrion 8. Sisyphus 9. Tonight 10. Symphony of Loose Ends
Performers
Daan Herweg – piano
Matthias van den Brande – saxophones (1–4, 7, 8, 10)
Lorenzo Buffa – double bass (except 9)
Jeroen Batterink – drums (except 9)
Suzan Veneman – trumpet and flugelhorn (1, 10)
Henk Kraaijeveld – vocals (3)
Recorded at Key Element Music Studio, the Netherlands, on July 4, 5, and 6, 2023
Release date: May 10, 2024
Pianist and composer Daan Herweg was born in Amsterdam. He began his career with professional studies at the Manhattan School of Music and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where he earned a Master of Music degree in 2007.
He has worked with artists such as Teus Nobel, Caro Emerald, Pete Philly, Finn Silver, Floris van der Vlugt, Jazzquintet Quincey, Anne Chris, and Henk Kraaijeveld, among others.
He currently serves as senior lecturer of pop and jazz piano at the ArtEZ Conservatory in Zwolle, Arnhem, and Enschede in the east of the Netherlands.
His beginnings in classical music soon evolved toward improvisation and jazz. His early influences range from J.S. Bach, Johannes Brahms, and Claude Debussy to Thelonious Monk, Herbie Hancock, and Bill Evans, later expanding to hip-hop and pop in general.
Herweg is a sought-after accompanist and composer involved in many different projects, including several successful and award-winning pop collaborations.
Although he has been playing jazz since 2004, his first jazz album as a solo artist was Lucid Musings, released in 2014. He had intended to release albums regularly, but his life took a drastic turn when his parents fell ill and passed away in 2018 and 2019. Combined with the pandemic period, it wasn’t until 2024 that he released another album. In Search of the Lost Chord is his second project as leader. The album contains ten tracks, nine of them original compositions written between 2020 and 2023.
Herweg appears lyrical and fully contemporary on the opening track, Cloud Cathedrals, where the contributions of Van den Brande and Veneman complement and add warmth to the piece. Herweg improvises freely, showing both skill and versatility.
He changes tone with Until My Muse Comes Knocking, a vibrant piece with an energetic rhythm section.
On the title track, In Search of the Lost Chord, vocalist Henk Kraaijeveld can be heard humming. It’s a beautiful tune with touches of hip-hop, Brazilian flavor, and 1970s grooves. The rhythm section performs outstandingly.
The cheerful samba Ingvald is a tribute to his great love, Alf—full name Alf Arild Ingvald—with whom he has shared more than ten years and a memorable trip to Brazil.
Onderweg Naar Bloemfontein is inspired by a road trip Herweg took with his late father in South Africa around 2004. It’s a beautiful melody that pays tribute to the South African music he heard on that journey. Buffa delivers a fine bass solo.
The song Promenade (Patches of Sky) is an emotional melody that Herweg performed at his mother’s funeral. It is followed by the equally touching Tyrion.
With the playful and ever-changing Sisyphus, the music turns carefree again.
The lovely Tonight is the only non-original piece. It is a composition by Leonard Bernstein from West Side Story, his mother’s favorite musical. The track serves as a tribute to the struggle Herweg faced regarding his own identity, much like Bernstein himself. Performed as a solo piano piece, it stands apart as a distinct emotional moment in the album.
The record closes with the beautiful, enveloping, and elegant Symphony of Loose Ends, featuring once again trumpeter Veneman and saxophonist Van den Brande, who appears on seven of the album’s tracks.
The music on this album is about his late parents but also conveys the joy one can find within, regardless of loss, pain, or grief. It is a form of musical therapy—essential and healing.
Herweg’s compositions are well crafted, and together with his group, he performs them with freshness and vitality.
La Habitación del Jazz