Cologne Jazzweek: Teis Semey Quintet

In his second home country, the Netherlands, Teis Semey is often referred to as "the bad boy of Dutch jazz". However, the guitarist, who was born in Aalborg, Denmark, in 1993 and moved to Amsterdam to study jazz, takes his nickname with a sense of humor. Even if his improvisational music is often rough and raw, loud and powerful and played with the attitude of a punk, Semey is by no means a "bad boy".
At the center of his quintet are two saxophonists on alto and tenor. It is they who counter the hot, emotional eruptions of the rhythm section around Semey with warm, sonorous sounds and a lyrical melody.

In any case, the guitarist and his musicians stand for an improvisational attitude, which for them is a tried and tested means of communication in order to become a real community. Semey is "primus inter pares" in this group because, as a composer, he sets the framework for the music to become the basis for a collective art of improvisation.