Composer, saxophonist and band leader Yuri Honing wins Holland's most prestigious jazz prize, the VPRO/Boy Edgar Prijs. This price is awarded annually to a Dutch instrumentalist, composer, arranger or band leader in the area of jazz and improvised music who has distinguished him/herself for a long period of time by his/her active, initiating and above all, original role.
 
Yuri Honing will receive the VPRO/Boy Edgar Prijs on May 16, 2012 at the Bimhuis in Amsterdam during a special concert program put together by Honing himself. The concerts and the award ceremony (8-12 PM) will be broadcast live and webcast on Radio 6 and via vprojazzlive.radio6.nl.
 
In 2012 Yuri Honing will be on tour celebrating his award and promoting the new album 'True' of the Yuri Honing Acoustic Quartet, which will be released February 14 (Challenge Records). With this quartet, but also with his electric group Yuri Honing Wired Paradise he will be performing a/o in The Netherlands, Ethiopia, Switzerland, Germany, UK, Canada, China, the USA.
 
Excerpt jury report
Yuri Honing is blessed with great musical talent, craftsmanship and workmanship. He carries out his profession creatively and inventively in a pioneering and cross-bordering manner.
 
In the jury deliberation Yuri was called a 'causer' (….) He has realized ideas that have continued on their own, ideas that have been copied and that form the origins of new traditions.
 
Yuri is an admitted opponent of the categorising of music. He has never committed to one specific style or movement (….) He is always eager to collaborate with musicians from various styles such as Arabian music, pop, classical music and dance. Jazz however, always remains his basic point of reference.
 
He has the ability to realize his artistic ambitions in a convincing manner and shows perseverance and cultural entrepreneurship.
 
The jury consisted of:
Annelies van Esveld: head of production Bimhuis, Amsterdam

Aad van Nieuwkerk: program maker/presenter VPRO radio

Hans Zuiderbaan: chairman Porgy & Bess Foundation, Terneuzen

Friederike Darius: artistic manager Jazz Academy Codarts, Rotterdam

Paul Evers: chief editor Jazzism
 
The VPRO / Boy Edgar Prijs is awarded annually under the auspices of VPRO and Music Center the Netherlands.
 
More information about the VPRO / Boy Edgar Prijs is available at www.vproboyedgarprijs.nl
 
For information about Yuri Honing, please visit www.yurihoning.com
 
Press release
New Album Yuri Honing 'True' (Challenge records)

There is mainstream, avant-garde and Yuri Honing.

Saxophone player Yuri Honing behaved like a matchless chameleon for decades but now he seems to unite all his experiences in one statement that is clear and transparent but also passionate and trendy.

Honing created a whole new sound in a classical acoustic setting. With new and  sometimes provocative compositions and a unique way of using loops .

Honing put together a group of musicians from different generations thus forming a musical weapon that blasts away all those with a cynical approach to the future of jazz.

The new album was recorded last summer in Berlin. A city that is bubbling with new initiative and has at the same time a rich history. In that way it corresponds precisely with what the saxophone player represents.

The album was recorded in a single day. That is all the time Yuri needs to make a statement that will buzz around in the international music scene for a long time.
 
Honing never made any difference in style – Jazz is not a style, but a language – and proves again that it is possible to blend the achievements of jazz and pop in an emotional and sophisticated way creating a unit that will appeal to the whole world.

And not in the least because the vocal qualities of the saxophone performance reach to a new climax in this recording.

"True" is perhaps the most personal album Yuri has released so far.

Yuri Honing saxophones
Wolfert Brederode piano
Ruben Samama double bass
Joost Lijbaart drums

Press about Yuri Honing
You will be hard pressed to find a better live jazz CD this year.  - Indigoflow (about Alive)

Full of expressiveness and lyricism (.... ) they gave an impeccable concert and made clear why they are so acclaimed in the European jazz circuit  - Buenos Aires Herald

One of the most creative, fearless and alert jazz units of the moment 

- The Times

From note one you know that saxophonist Honing has 'got it' and that tone can cut through your soul! - The Independent

Consistently thoughtful and definitively swinging Honing has it all

- The Guardian
Honing and his men have the estimable advantage of freshness, a clear musical identity and talent to burn, allied to a truly unusual degree of eloquence - Jazzwise

A hell of a saxophone player!  - Herald Tribune

Press about Wired Paradise

***** Five star review: it's the sovereign combinations of jazz, pop, avantgarde and world influences, that make this recording one of the most exciting sessions in years  (FonoForum - Germany)

***** Five star review: the quartet mixes an extraordinary cocktail  (Stereo, Germany)

It's breath-taking how beautiful some bands can sound (Volkskrant, The Netherlands)

I never knew one could 'funk' so beautifully slowly (....) not to be compared with anything (Heaven, Belgium & The Netherlands)

Incredibly relaxed, self-asured music, that knows what it wants, without being apodictic
(Jazzthing, Germany)

The more you listen to Wired Paradise, the more you discover  (Jazzthetik, Germany)

Yuri Honing is something else.
Though definitely a jazzman, Dutch saxophonist Yuri Honing reaches much further.

From working with Dutch improsiver Misha Mengelberg, Lebanese singer Rima Khcheich through stints with people like Pat Metheny and Charlie Haden.

Honing made his first mark – before Herbie Hancock's New Standard -  recording only popsongs with his trio for his first hitalbum Star Tracks; and his second by his awarded New York recording Seven with jazzgreats Paul Pley, Gary Peacock and Paul Motion.

Honing never thought of jazz as a style but as a language.

Nowadays he divedes his attention between two groups:

Yuri Honing Acoustic Quartet and his electric Wired Paradise.

Both show Honing 's  open way of working, a process that took him almost 18 albums, to mix up his jazz roots with his love for songs and electronics.

His fine instinct for good popsongs adds extra tension and release during his concerts as he knows how to seduce his audiences worldwide; something he learned from his Star Track days.

Being the best Dutch jazz has to offer, Yuri has been touring all over the world with the greatest musical minds he could find, entertaining and inspiring audiences everywhere.