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The second CD of the Jeff Herr Corporation "CONSPIRACY!", released November 7 th 2007, with 8 new compositions, is a great example of the evolution of an artist and a band. The compositions are exciting and excellently made, with driving funky rhythms delivered by Jeff Herr and lyrical jazz melodies carried by the great musicianship of Trumpet player Carlo Nardozza, and keyboardist Joonas Lorenz, with musically strong and swinging bass lines played by Tom Van Acker. A great example of Nu Jazz from Luxembourg. All the tunes were composed by Jeff Herr except the final track, by Carlo Nardozza.
Jeff Herr (drums)
Music runs in drummer Jeff Herr's family. His paternal grandfather was also a drummer, and his maternal grandfather a trumpet player. He juggled music and his love of football until at the age of 17, music won.
He enrolled in the Conservatoire of Luxembourg, for 4 years where he studied music theory, harmony, classical percussion, drums, Latin percussion and piano. He earned his "Prix Superieur" in drums and also a "Premier Prix" in music theory.
In 2001 he was accepted into the jazz department at the Conservatoire in Maastricht, where in the spring of 2005 he will finish his degree in drums, methodology and pedagogy.
He was "discovered" by WPR when he came to the studio with his band to record his own music. He says " I wanted a playground where I could play what I wanted. After years of playing the music
of others the moment came when I had to write my own. I've always had music, phrases and riffs, in my head and I wanted to write it down. It's funny because it started out as kind of sad, then it became Funky."
Jeff had strong ideas and musical concepts for this album. He says he realized it was important to have your concept clear by seeing so many excellent musicians who just couldn't seem to get theirs defined, then they fade away, not reaching any of their musical goals.
His experience of playing in so many different bands (such as "Funx Force Five", "The Gentles" and "Stroke X") as a sideman, exposed Jeff to many musical styles, and he's always been open to them. "Doing so much gigging pushed me to make my own musical ideas more concrete."
He met his "Corporation" partners, Carlo Nardozza on trumpet, Tom Van Acker on Basses, and Joonas Jan Aslak Lorenz on piano, in Maastricht. They slowly began establishing the sound and feel he envisioned. When it was ripe they hit the studio to record, and got t themselves a recording contract with WPR jazz.
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