Fenix is an electro-acoustic jazz band, in which ambient synths, playful melodies and raw grooves merge. Their music has an open, playful character, where their shared love for improvisation and musical spontaneity results in honest music-of-the-moment. With their receptive interplay they paint a musical landscape that evolves and moves to unexpected places.
The band is a musical collective made out of four young, yet decorated musicians and composers that established themselves as usual suspects on the flourishing Dutch jazz scene. As bandleaders and side-men with different projects they have toured Holland's main stages with regular appearances at venues like the legendary North Sea Jazz Festival and the Bimhuis. In march 2023, Fenix played the final of the prestigious European Young Artists' Jazz Award Burghausen.
Inspired by artists like and Donny McCaslin, Avishai Cohen and ADHD, they join arms for an intimate and at the same time festival-banger-worthy experience.
Kika Sprangers - saxophones and electronics
Robert Koemans - keys and electronics
William Barrett - bass
Willem Romers - drums
MEET THE BAND
Kika Sprangers
With her sparkling phrases and velvety sound combined with compelling compositions, the Dutch saxophonist, composer and band leader Kika Sprangers (Nijmegen, 1994) is one of the most captivating musicians in the Netherlands. With her Quintet and Large Ensemble, she appeared at many renowned jazz clubs and festivals, including the Bimhuis and North Sea Jazz Festival. That same year, Sprangers' quintet toured Indonesia, followed by a tour to China in 2019. In 2020 this album was nominated for the Edison Jazz / World Audience Award and the Edison Jazz National. Kika was also named one of the 101 Promising Artists of the Netherlands and Belgium by the NRC this year. In 2022 she was awarded the Rogier van Otterloo Award by the prestigious Metropole Orchestra, for which she was awarded a composition assignment that premiered in 2022.
Musical adventurer Kika Sprangers is showing strong growth and maturity as a musician - All About Jazz
Kika Sprangers is not only an exceptional composer, but also an instrumentalist with great lyrical qualities, and the pleasant tone of her saxophones is simply a feast for the ears - Jazzthetik (GERMANY)
Willem Romers
As one of the most sought-after drummers in the Dutch jazz- and impro scene, Willem Romers' drum sound is often described as creative, energetic and fresh with a clear and deep sound. He is a regular on the Dutch jazz circuit with artists and bands like Kika Sprangers, Coal Harbour, Sjoerd van Eijck and Robert Koemans. As a side-man and bandleader he played virtually every national jazz venue including the North Sea Jazz Festival and Bimhuis and he has toured abroad in Indonesia, China, Greece, Spain, Hungary and Norway. He won the first Top Talent Award, was a finalist for the Erasmus Jazz Prize and worked under Vince Mendoza in the prestigious Metropole Academy. In 2020, he debuted his own project at the Amsterdam Grachtenfestival. The debut led to the adventurous trio-EP In Contrast, which was released in LantarenVenster and got lyrical reviews by Dutch press.
Played with incredible focus, very promising. - Trouw
Romers' composition, Svartvass could be part of the ECM catalogue. - ProgJazz
William Barrett
William Barrett is a jazz double bass player, teacher, composer and artist. Working interdisciplinary has always been part of his career, collaborating in classical music settings as well as with pop and indie artists. He performed at Holland's most important music venues, such as BIMhuis, Concertgebouw van Amsterdam, Stopera, Carre and Tivoli Vredenburg. He has performed with a wide array of artists and orchestras like Guy Salomon, Mo van der Does, Peter Beets New Jazz Orchestra, Kika Sprangers, Concertgebouworkest and Michael Moore. In 2020 his band Vondelier reached the final of the prestigious Dutch Jazz Competition. In 2022, the Radboud University commissioned him a composition assignment for on Walk of Wonder, a sonic art installation. For this he will compose works for choir and his band Vondelier.
Robert Koemans
Pianist, composer and arranger Robert Koemans is part of the new emerging generation of Dutch jazz musicans. He released several projects including his trio-debut CROSS and several records with the eccentric 11-piece large-ensemble Coal Harbour. As a composer and arranger, he has written for bands like the Dutch Jazz Collective and the Red Light Jazz Society. He has toured the Dutch jazz stages and festivals as a side-man and as a bandleader with appearances at the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Bimhuis. In collaboration with the Dutch Performing Arts Fund, he was a New Maker in a two year residency with Jazz International Rotterdam. During this period, he composed the 12-piece suite FEEDFORWARD for Coal Harbour. With this project they toured major classical and jazz-venues in 2022. Next to his activities as a performer, Robert teaches at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and Codarts Rotterdam.
Koemans shows himself an excellent arranger and interesting composer. Undoubtedly, many more beautiful work will follow. - Jazzism
Music that speaks, is refreshing and avoids the beaten paths in every possible way. - JazzNu