Dutch Jazz Heritage: Fay Claassen sings Rita Reys

Jazz and pop music

It goes without saying that The Concertgebouw and jazz & pop music make a perfect combination. The stages of both the Main Hall and the Recital Hall have borne witness to nearly the whole of jazz history. Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald have both performed here, as have Miles Davis and Louis Armstrong. Famous pop stars and bands that have graced the stage of the Main Hall include Frank Zappa, the Doors and the Eagles, to name but a few. Legendary concerts, in the present as well as the past.

Dutch Jazz Heritage

With the Dutch Jazz Heritage series, the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw, together with the Dutch Jazz Archive, puts the spotlight on unique historical jazz moments and jazz artists. Jazz singer Rita Reys (1924-2013) would have turned one hundred this year. For the JOC & NJA a unique project together with Fay Claassen and recently recovered arrangements from the jazz archive!

Rita Reys and Oliver Nelson

In October 1965, Rita Reys recorded a sparkling album with an orchestra led by the illustrious arranger Oliver Nelson (1932-1975). Nowadays, this album has a worldwide cult status, just because of the star line-up that plays on it. All of Oliver Nelson's original arrangements for the album were recently found on paper in the Dutch Jazz Archives. The Jazz Orchestra will now perform this music again for the first time together with the inimitable Dutch jazz vocalist Fay Claassen. The presentation is in the hands of Frank Jochemsen.