New Cool Collective

The long-lived Dutch group New Cool Collective, born during the late 1990s and working well into the 21st century, play a unique, energetic mix of jazz, dance, Latin, salsa, Afrobeat, and boogaloo. Their M.O. is always creating musically intriguing, danceable grooves in a compelling mix of arrangements, interplay, and improvisation, as evidenced by 1998′s More Soul Jazz Latin Flavours Nineties Vibes and 2015′s Electric Monkey Sessions. A hard-touring unit, they have covered the ground in Benelux, Great Britain, Germany, Africa, Canada, Russia, and Asia, playing in hipster jazz clubs as well as huge pop and rock festivals. They are also notable collaborators who have worked with Dutch musicians as well as Tony Allen, Mapacha Africa, Andrew Roachford, Jules Deelder, Matt Bianco, and Georgie Fame. New Cool Collective was formed in 1993 when saxophonist/orchestra leader Benjamin Herman and DJ Graham B combined the recording of live music with beats and samples in an Amsterdam discotheque. As their debut long-player Soul Jazz Latin (1997) and More Soul Jazz Latin Flavors Nineties Vibe (1998) made clear, the band’s unique approach to mixed Latin rhythms, DJ culture, and energetic post- and hard bop was infectious to listeners and club audiences. In 2000, the group expanded to become a 20-piece big band for the album Big with Fame, and alternated as a quintet on recordings in subsequent years. For their efforts they were awarded the Edison Jazz Award, the Golden Nutcracker, and the Heineken Crossover Music Award. They signed to Sony briefly to issue Bring It On, which contained guest vocal tracks by Hooverphonic singer Geike Arnaert (“Comin’ Back for More”) and Andrew Roachford (“Bring It On,” “Do Anything”). NCC played weekly gigs in addition to touring; they also contributed dozens of tracks to compilations. They signed to Dox Records in 2004 and re-entered the studio in early 2005, birthing the acclaimed full-length Trippin' before year’s end. Touring became an incessant activity for a time; whenever they returned, they’d head back into a studio. Between 2006 and 2010, they issued two studio recordings (Out of Office and Pachinko) as well as a pair of live dates. Late that year, they collaborated with Cuban rumberos Los Papines and Kenyan beat group Mapacha Africa to release Sugar Protocol, which received airplay not only in Europe and Asia, but in America, too. In 2013, the band won a Golden Calf award at the Dutch Film Festival for a score they composed, arranged, and performed for the Dutch movie Toegetakeld door de liefde, in which they also made a cameo as a fictional band. The provocative Eighteen was released in 2014, and peaked at number 64 on the Netherlands’ year-end album charts. They followed it immediately with the first volume of Electric Monkey Sessions. In early 2015, NCC collaborated with Guus Meeuwis on the album Hollandse Meesters, created exclusively of cover versions of Dutch hits; they also issued Chin Chin, the original quintet’s celebrated score for Toegetakeld door de liefde. In addition, they also worked with Mark Reilly and Matt Bianco on The Things You Love EP. After touring Europe and Asia for a year, the band re-entered the studio to release The Electric Monkey Sessions, Vol. 2 as a 25th anniversary commemoration, and another cover single with Meeuwis. On New Year’s Eve 2017, New Cool Collective mourned the loss of lead trombonist Bart Lust, who passed away after a short illness. ~ Thom Jurek