DELMONTIS


DelMontis is collaboration between singer/pianist Frank Montis (int. al. Laura Vane & The Vipertones) and saxophonist/arranger Rolf Delfos (int. al. The Houdini’s). They met each other while working with the Nu-Jazz group The Jazzinvaders and not long after that DelMontis was born. The band was completed to a sextet with class musicians and a mix of the songs of Montis and the horns arrangements of Delfos emerged. Heart of the music is a balanced combination of fat grooves, transparent songs and musical freedom!

DelMontis are:

FRANK MONTIS – Vocals, Fender Rhodes, Hammond Organ, Wurlitzer (Composer)

ROLF DELFOS – Alt, Tenor Sax (Arranger)

Plays and played with: The Houdini’s which toured Australia & the U.S. and recorded in New York in the famous studio of Rudy van Gelder, the Frank Grasso Bigband, Tribute Band (tribute to Dollar Brand & van Otterloo-project), Cubop City Bigband, Loïs Lane, Frank Boeijen en The Quiet American (Jazz Festival Jamaica). Toured Portugal and Spain with the Paulo Gomes Group. Playes together with co-member Peter in the superb Artvark Saxophone Quartet and in his trio The Lewinsky Quartet. Rolf teaches at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and the Conservatory of Zwolle.

PETER BROEKHUIZEN – Bariton Sax, Flute

Played and toured with: Candy Dulfer & Funky Stuff in Japan, Asia, Europe and the U.S for several years. Played in the orchestras of Shirley Bassey, Van Morisson, The Four Tops and The Temptations. Plays recently with Dutch soul revelation Alain Clark and the new afro-beat hit AIFF. Played latin music with Lucas van Merwijk’s Cubop City Bigband and toured in Colombia with Rumbatá. Jazz with the Dutch band Jazzerall with drummer Arend Niks and is a member of the unique jazz saxophone quartet Artvark, with co-member Rolf. Peter is also arranger. He arranged the van den Ende musical “Saturday Night Fever” and did the arrangements of a variety of TV-shows.

CEES TRAPPENBURG – trumpet and flugelhorn

Studied at the Rotterdam Conservatory. Since 1988 playing for Van den Ende Theatreproductions in musical orchestra’s like Cabaret, Miss Saigon, Saturday Night Fever, Beauty and the Beast, Dirty Dancing and many more.
Played with I’ve got the Bullets, Harry Muskee, Metropole Orchestra, Glenn Miller Revival Orchestra, Big Band Bos, Timeless Bigband, New Symfonic Orchestra.
Plays recently with Auratones, Jazzinvaders, AIFF, Sonny’s Inc. and Alain Clark. And is member of Lex van Wel Swing Orchestra, Top 2000 live-band, Laura Vane and the Vipertones and Kim Hoorweg.

ARON RAAMS – guitar

GUUS BAKKER started to play guitar at age 11 and dedicated himself to the electric bass at 14. In 1989 he started to study at the Rotterdam Conservatory with electric bass ànd double bass, an entirely unknown instrument for him at that time, as his main subject. He was taught by Wim Essed, Koos Serierse and Pieter Douma. He graduated in 1996. Ever since then Guus has been active especially as a performing musician, both in the Dutch and Belgian music scene, besides some teaching at SKVR (Rotterdam) and at ‘de Stoep’ (Spijkenisse).

The Netherlands: Clazz ensemble, Dick de Graaf 4tet, DTX (a.o. Berthil Busstra, Spencer Croes), E.T. (Jeroen van Vliet), Pascal Vermeer 5tet, Wende Snijders. As freelancer with a.o. Michiel Borstlap, Eric Vloeimans, Dick De Graaf, Ben Van Den Dungen/Jarmo Hoogendijk.

Belgium: Tutu Puoane 4tet, Frederic Delplanq 4tet, Robin Verheyen trio, Quintessence, Pentachrome, Bruno Vansina 4tet. As freelancer a.o. Kris Goessens, Bart Van Caenegem, Kurt van Herck, Tom Van Dyck, Dré Pallemaerts, Mimi Verderame, Teun Verbruggen, Jazzisfaction.

Pim Dros – Drums
“Funky soul, but with a touch of jazz – almost a mod soul undercurrent that really sets these guys apart from the rest! The blend is great – nice and tight, yet never too slick – almost the sort of direction Georgie Fame should have gone in the early 70s, had he stayed on the right track – with lots of lead vocals from songwriter Frank Montis, who’s got this raspy sound that’s perfect for his hip lyrics! Frank also plays Fender Rhodes and Hammond as well – amidst some great horns, and backing vocals from Laura Vane on a number of cuts too. Tracks include ‘Make It Right’, ‘Fading’, ‘Right From Wrong’, ‘Façade’, ‘Life Is Short’, ‘We’ll Meet Again’, ‘Sunny’, ‘Straightforward Fascination’, and ‘Live My Life’ “

Dustygroove.com (US)