JAZZAROUND WITH JAZZEYE
12 03 08, Tonight in Daily News; Durban

PATRICK’S POINT OF VIEW

A session with pianist Patrick Bebelaar always has a profound and lasting effect on my creative psyche. It’s to do with his approach to his instrument and his music – a combination of technical expertise, emotional fluidity, staunch seriousness and fun- poking playfulness. He demands - and extracts - a certain quality of sound out of the piano that resonates with clarity and intention. 
He opened his concert at the Centre for Jazz with a well known ballad – My One and Only Love, a tender, romantic song that hushed the audience and captured their undivided attention. “I chose to play the melody only, with counter point on the left hand and also gave the piece enough space and time to breathe, creating a feeling that ‘something’s going on’ to arouse the curiosity and interest of the listeners,” he told me after the concert. 
As he had also performed renditions of Foggy Day, Round Midnight and Parker’s Yardbird Suite I wanted to know his feelings about jazz standards. “I don’t like jazz standards,” he said candidly. “Actually, it’s mostly I don’t like the way the standards are played. It’s always the same. Most of the people who played them well are dead now and others simply repeat them with predictable variations. They lack personality...” 
As an admirer of Bebelaar’s original pieces I ask him what informs his compositions. “I play with many musicians and incorporate many forms,” he explains. “I play with musicians from India, Russia, South Africa and America and work with different sounds. But I don’t have the feeling that it is a strange mixture. It feels more like a journey, taken from my point of view. And it’s the way I play the piano that brings it together.” 
It may be a cliché to say that Bebelaar approaches his music and his instrument with palpable passion but it’s axiomatic that those who are totally committed to their chosen art form deliver a different kind of performance. He has an expansive and generous approach to the emotional content of his work that, in a world crammed with bread-and-butter players, dilettantes and fakes, is refreshingly real. “Music is the way I put out my emotions,” he says simply. 
Bebelaar does not have a conventional approach to the piano and frequently astounds with his deviant behaviour as he jams his forearm down on the keys or leaps up to lean over and pluck strings.  “It’s true I treat the piano a bit hard, jump on it sometimes” he admits. “But making music is like making love; you have the opportunity to express yourself.... and everything is possible. There should be no borders.”   
Bebelaar has formed a collaboration with Durban based contemporary composer Ulrich Suesse which has resulted in an album which mixes acoustic and electronic sounds. Whilst the resultant sounds are often uncomfortable, acclimatization, confronting prejudices and being open to possibility leads to appreciation. As always, Bebelaar pushes the boundaries and demands a little more from his audience than the complacent satisfaction of easy listening.  

News:
Notizen von Unterwegs
Aktuell: 16.12.2011

Bebelaar / Godard
Aktuelle CD "Dedications"
Info Presse

Klink / Bebelaar info
www.wielandshoehe.de
Booking: tomprodukt.de

Konzerte:

11.12.2011 Bebelaar / Settelmeyer / Naoum, Merlingen – Schweiz

12.12.2011 Bebelaar / Settelmeyer / Naoum, Merlingen – Schweiz

13.12.2011 Bebelaar / Settelmeyer / Naoum, Merlingen – Schweiz

13.12.2011 Bebelaar, SOLO, SWR-Fernsehaufzeichnung, Baden-Baden

14.12.2011 Bebelaar / Settelmeyer / Naoum, Merlingen – Schweiz

15.12.2011 Bebelaar / Settelmeyer / Naoum, Merlingen – Schweiz

18.12.2011 Bebelaar / Klink, Pforzheim, Kulturhaus Osterfeld

26.12.2011 Bebelaar / Godard – Bebelaar / Klink, Dieselstrasse Esslingen

8.1.2012 Bebelaar / Klink, Oberschwaben Schwendi
15.1.2012 Bebelaar / Klink, Schorndorf, Manufaktur

21.1.2012 Bebelaar / Fonda / Joos, Kulturtreff Untertürkheim

22.1.2012 Bebelaar / Fonda / Joos, Schulzentrum Weil der Stadt

24.1.2012 Bebelaar / Naoum, Literaturhaus Stuttgart

4.2.2012 Bebelaar / Naoum, "Oceano" Punta del Hidalgo, Teneriffa

5.2.2012 Bebelaar / Naoum, "Oceano" Punta del Hidalgo, Teneriffa

6.2.2012 Bebelaar / Naoum, "Oceano" Punta del Hidalgo, Teneriffa

7.2.2012 Bebelaar / Naoum, "Oceano" Punta del Hidalgo, Teneriffa

8.2.2012 Bebelaar / Naoum, "Oceano" Punta del Hidalgo, Teneriffa

9.2.2012 Bebelaar / Naoum, "Oceano" Punta del Hidalgo, Teneriffa

10.2.2012 Bebelaar / Naoum, "Oceano" Punta del Hidalgo, Teneriffa

12.2.2012 Bebelaar / Klink, Klinik Löwenstein

13.2.2012 Bebelaar / Klink, Staatstheater Mannheim

18.2.2012 Bebelaar / Kroll, Petrozawodsk (Russland)

19.2.2012 Bebelaar / Kroll, Petrozawodsk (Russland)

3.3.2012 Bebelaar / Godard feat. Frank Kroll, Schorndorf 

4.3.2012 Bebelaar / Godard, Laichingen, Altes Rathaus 

5.3.2012 Bebelaar / Klink, Gaggenau

8.3.2012 Bebelaar / Godard, Bayreuth JazzClub

10.3.2012 Bebelaar / Godard, Villingen – Schwenningen, Jazz Club 

12.3.2012 Bebelaar / Godard, Karlsruhe, JazzClub

13.3.2012 Bebelaar / Godard, Alte Feuerwache Mannheim

18.3.2012 Bebelaar / Klink / Droste, Stuttgart – Wagenhallen

25.3.2012 Bebelaar / Klink, Friedrichshafen, Bahnhof Fischbach

26.3.2012 Bebelaar / Klink, Konstanz, Il Boccone

31.3.2012 Bebelaar / Joos / Lenz, Cave 61 – Heilbronn

1.4.2012 Bebelaar / Klink, Foyer der Stadthalle Singen 

21.4.2012 Bebelaar / Fonda / Joos, Jazzfestival-BW, Reutlingen Mitte

22.4.2012 Bebelaar / Klink, Kleinheubach

5.5.2012 Bebelaar / Joos / Lenz, Frankfurt, Roman Fabrik 

14.5.2012 Bebelaar / Klink, Böblingen, Aula des Albert-Einstein-Gymnasiums

31.5.2012 Bebelaar / Godard, Konstanz JazzClub

25.6.2011 Bebelaar / Klink / Droste, Rheinfall-Festival

22.7.2012 Bebelaar / Godard / Gavino / Klink / Rizzo, Kloster Lorch

23.7.2012 Bebelaar / Godard / Gavino / Klink / Rizzo, Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele

14.10.2012 Bebelaar / Klink, Echterdingen, Theater um 4

15.10.2012 Bebelaar / Klink, Baden-Baden, Rantastic

10.11.2012 Bebelaar / Godard, Fellbach, Musikschule

11.11.2012 Bebelaar / Godard, Aidlingen Jazzfestival

11.11.2012 Bebelaar / Godard / Klink, Jazzclub in der Mitte, Reutlingen

12.11.2012 Bebelaar / Klink, Stadt Ehingen

17.11.2012 Bebelaar / Klink, Waldshut

6.12.2012 Bebelaar / Godard, Jazz Club Singen, Gems

7.12.2012 Bebelaar / Godard, Jazz im Staufenberger-Schloss, Albstadt

9.12.2012 Bebelaar / Klink, Esslingen Schlossscheune