Albert van Veenendaal-piano, prepared piano
Tineke de Jong- violin
Jodi Gilbert-voice, little instruments, texts
Rara Avis was founded in 2017 and released the album “How Do I Listen” in april 2021. This album was named after a poem from the Soefi poet Hafez (1320-1390). The trio consists of Jodi Gilbert (voice and little instruments), Tineke de Jong (violin) and Albert van Veenendaal (piano) and finds inspiration in a wide variety of texts including the poems of the 18th-century poet Yosa Buson , a novel from F. Scott Fitzgerald, humorous modern newspaper headlines, and a Handbook of Roses.
Their improvisations are in total freestyle and lead to a wide variety of colours and atmospheres, amplified by Jodi’s wide and virtuosic vocal spectrum, Tineke’s classical background, and Albert’s ability to build cinematic musical structures on the (prepared) piano.
Eyal Haareuveni in Salt Peanuts over de cd How Do I Listen:"The intimate, subtle interplay of van Veenendaal and de Jong and their immediate rapport brilliantly serves the expressive, theatrical and acrobatic pathos of Gilbert making this meeting into a really rare one”.
Bad Alchemy 119 rbd:“Jodi Gilbert transforms the whole material into something like art pop, something quite different from artificially dumbed-down or tirillized art songs. Violin and piano are on the move in a modernist way, with enough know-how and esprit to shake the right thing out of their sleeves, from bittersweet and heartfelt tremolos and shimmery wisps to the finest details, with a thoughtfully applied hand, small hatchings on the pianowire or cross-keys to plonking grips or tonal preperation. Just great"
