Artist Highlight - Paul van Wageningen

"We were very lucky that our parents were always supportive of our desire to play in a band"

Paul van Wageningen

Paul van Wageningen was born in the Netherlands. He comes from a very musical family. Paul and his brother Marc played music ever since they were kids. Both quickly rose to great fame.

Paul attended the Amsterdam Conservatory before moving to New York to be closer to the American music scene. He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. A member of the Andy Narell Group, Mark Levine & the Latin Tinge, the Pete Escovedo Band, the Ray Obiedo Group, Los Mocosos, and John Santos and the Machete Ensemble.

He has performed and recorded with Stan Getz, Angela Bofill, Jan Akkerman, Bill Summers, The Whispers, Sadao Watanabe, Sheila E., Dave Samuels, Tom Grant, Henry Kaiser, Cornelius Bumpus, Henry Butler, Kenny Rankin, The Caribbean Jazz Project with Paquito D’Rivera, Tito Puente, Second Sight, Jeff Linsky, Marc Russo, Tom Coster, Omar Sosa, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Claudia Villela and Ricardo Peixoto, Nestor Torres, Jovino Santos Neto and Dori Caymmi and over the past two years joined Bay Area Legend Wayne Wallace on several of his new CDs.

Paul is prolific - he joined Mark Levine with his acclaimed collection of Mark Levine & The Latin Tinge album. which they will be performing on December 14, 2009 at Yoshi's, San Francisco.1330 Fillmore St San Francisco, CA 94115-4113 (415) 655-5600.

Mark Levine & The Latin Tinge
Mark Levine
Kristin Strom
John Wiitala
Michael Spiro
Paul van Wageningen

Paul will be performing on January 24, 2010 4PM with the Mark Levein Trio at the Berkeley, Jazz School.

The Quntet will appear in Santa Cruz on March 4th, 2010 at the

Kuumbwa Jazz Center
320 Cedar St #2
Santa Cruz, CA 95060-4362
(831) 427-2227

love how your musicality is so consistent...I KNOW that Moacir is smiling
You're an international treasure, Mark"
- John Santos

"moacir santos' music is like pure sunlight, and your arrangements and playing as well as the entire band's grace, mastery, cooperation and positive energy is so wonderful on my ears."
- Benny Green

"I can imagine how happy Moacir is watching this from up there..."
- Mario Adnet

Mark Levine & the Latin Tinge
Off & On

Widely considered one of the best Brazilian composers of the 20th century, saxophonist Moacir Santos nonetheless saw few paper returns from the three albums he recorded for Blue Note in the 1970s. They were under-promoted and never reached a definite market; according to local pianist and former Santos collaborator Mark Levine, Blue Note ultimately lost the masters. It wasn't until shortly before his death in 2006 that Santos recorded two albums that garnered popular and critical recognition. Nonetheless, he remains indelibly etched in Brazil's music history. Santos' tunes are characterized by extravagant but immediately catchy rhythms and lean, singable melodies. They provide terrific material for a small combo with a tight percussion section. For Mark Levine and the Latin Tinge — a quintet featuring woodwinds expert Mary Fettig, percussionist Michael Spiro, drummer Paul van Wageningen, bassist John Wiitala, and Levine on piano — Santos' oeuvre is a perfect fit. .....

A mix of bossa novas and sambas, the songs usually require Spiro and Wageningen to play two completely autonomous rhythms in tandem, which makes for a busy percussion system. Levine anchors the band with careful, elegant comping, which sounds most imaginative on "Suk-Cha" — probably the best tune on the album. By Rachel Swan, East Bay Express

A sharp abinico from drummer Paul van Wageningen transitions the group into an energetic improvisation from Fettig that inspires pronounced accents and fills from the rhythm section. Left Coast Clave

"Cha Cha Cha Para Mi Alma", a charmingly simple number, starts this recording in a relaxed, swinging style. Mark Levine leads the quartet from the piano, and he leads it well. His economical, melodic solo and the crisp ensemble play within is a microcosm of the good taste and compositional approach the band utilizes throughout the date. These aren't "head tunes" that are vehicles for childish displays of chops, but rather separate pieces of music - small group arrangements (with intros, re-harmonizations, soli sections, vamps, and rhythmic hits) in the genre that feature the strengths of this talented and professional quartet. "A Shade of Jade", the classic Joe Henderson number, is four minutes and forty-two seconds of jazz excitement. Michael Spiro and Paul Van Wageningen get down! - Jim Josselyn, allaboutjazz.com

Simultaneously Paul van Wageningen participated in the recording with Kristina's Offshore Echoes. Offshore Echoes is a great CD that sounds beautiful.

Paul van Wageningen was also featured on the 2004 GRAMMY NOMINATED! Best Latin Jazz Recording with Mark Levine and the Latin Tinge Isla ;