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CITADELIC @ the PARC
from 23 til 26 of may
Citadelpark, Ghent
full program will be given at concert in La Resistenza on the 29th of april with Cactus Truck/Roy Cambell/Peter Jacquemyn

LINE UP CITADELIC @ the BASEMENT
La Resistenza, Brabantdam 82

Monday 1 April 21h:
Sluijs/Machtelinckx/Wouters
Ben Sluijs (reeds, Belgium)
Ruben Machtelynckx (guitar, Belgium)
Nathan Wouters (double bass, Belgium)

Monday 29 April 21h:
Cactus Truck + Roy Cambell + Peter Jacquemyn
John Dikeman (saxophones, US)
Jasper Stadhouders (guitar, the Netherlands)
Onno Govaert (drums, the Netherlands)
Roy Cambell (trumpet, US)
Peter Jacquemyn (double bass, Belgium)

...

Ben Sluijs followed a 5-year classical saxophone training. During that period he participated in various classical summer-workshops and took lessons with Francois Danneels; Norbert Nozy, Willy Demey..... From the age of 15, Ben's fascination for jazz grew and after finishing the classical school in excellence, he started a 4-year training at the Antwerp Jazz-Studio where his teacher was John Ruocco. After, he studied with Steve Houben at the conservatory of Brussels and followed lessons with David Liebman in the US.
Ben teaches at the conservatory and the academy of Antwerp.

Experiences as sideman: Octurn, BRT Big Band, Brussels Jazz- Orchestra, Myriam Alter Quintet, Act Big Band, Jean Warland's Sax No End, Ivan Paduart Septet, Radoni's Tribe...
Played (or plays) also with: Philip Catherine, Toots Thielemans, Stacy Rowles, Bert Van den Brink, Michel Herr, Bert Joris, Dre Pallemaerts, Hein Van De Geijn, Nathalie Loriers, Chris Joris, Joe Fonda, John Betsch...
or solo combined with poetry and spoken-word with: Remco Campert, Jules Deelder, Peter Holvoet Hanssen, Don Fabulist, Pjeroo Roobjee, Tom van Bauwel, Michaël Pas, Rogert de Neef, Jan Decleir...
Besides his own bands and projects you can frequently hear Ben also with: Augusto Pirroda Quartet, Brick Quartet, Christian Mendoza Group...
In 1997 he represented Belgium in the European Big Band in Slovenia.
In march 2003 he was selected by the Flemish Community to represent Belgium at Euro Jazz Festival in Mexico.
He receives the Antoon Van Dijck-award in 1999 presented by the city of Antwerp. Nominations for: Zamu-Awards 2003, 2007 and d'Jango d'Or 2006.
Performed on various national and international festivals as: Jazz-Middelheim and Blue Note festival (Belgium), Knitting Factory (New York), festival de Montreal (Canada), North Sea festival (Holland), Tremplin Jazz (France)...

Main influences John Ruocco, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Peter King, Lee Konitz, Hank Mobley, Ornette Coleman...

Ruben Machtelinckx (1986) started playing the guitar at the age of 15. Later he got interested in improvised music and he started his studies at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp where he graduated in 2010 with great distinction.
Among his teachers were Hendrik Braeckman, Kurt van Herck, Erwin Vann, Nic Thys, Teun Verbruggen and Free Desmeyter. He took master classes with Hilmar Jensson, Nelson Veras, Octurn, Christian Wallumrod, Jim Black and Dave Liebman. Especially the lessons with mentors Pierre Van Dormael and Karl Van Deun proved very inspiring and motivated him try to find his own way in life and music.

Experience. As a freelance musician, Ruben performed together with fellow musicians such as Teun Verbruggen, Kris Defoort, Quinsin Nachoff, Joachim Badenhorst, Erwin Vann, Bart Maris, Kurt Van Herck, Peter Evans, Chris Joris,...
In August 2010, Ruben performed on the international jazz festival "Jazz Middelheim" with "Le Pragmatisme du barman", a new band coached by New York trumpeter Peter Evans. He was the leader of the band "Phynt" with Erwin Vann. He currently plays and composes for Amydala (Kurt Van Herck/ Nathan Wouters) and a duo with guitarist Karl Van Deun. In 2012 he went to Copenhagen to take some lessons with Jakob Bro and to record his first album as leader with Hilmar Jensson, Joachim Badenhorst and Nathan Wouters. (EL Negocito Records). He is an active musician in different side projects ranging from impro to pop.

Nathan Wouters (°1989) was born into a musical family. At the age of 10 he started to attend classical bass lessons at the Academy for Music, Drama and Dance in Merksem under the guidance of Lode Leire. At the age of fourteen he led the bass section of the Orchestra of Jeunesses Musicales Antwerp directed by Ivo Venkov. In 2004, he won the 1st price in the "Music Live competition" organized by Jeunesses Musicales Flanders which enabled him to make a concert tour in Croatia. Three years later he completed his classical bass training with greatest distinction and he continued his education at the jazz department of the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp with Piet Verbist and Nicolas Thys. In 2009 he received the 'Oranjebeurs' granted by The Dutch Community Antwerp.

Nathan studied his last year at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) where his teacher was Anders Jormin, and has finished his master degree with greatest distinction. He worked with several professional musicians such as Mark Turner, Dave Douglas, Hilmar Jensson, Alexi Tuomarila, Bert Joris, Erwin Vann, Ben Sluijs, Jeroen Van Herzeele, Joachim Badenhorst, Erik Vermeulen, Jozef Dumoulin, Teun Verbruggen, Giovanni Barcella, Marek Patrman, Erik Thielemans, William Hooker, … Besides on the main Belgian stages (De Singel, De Roma, AB, Bozar, De Bijloke,…), Nathan also performed in Chili, Mexico, Japan, Croatia, Ukraine, Germany, France, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Italy and Spain.