Peter Beets is a Dutch pianist with great technical skills and a lot of swing. He played with Wynton Marsalis, Dee Dee Bridgewater, "Toots" Thielemans, Jeff Hamilton, Teddy Edwards, Roy Hargrove, Johnny Griffin, John Clayton and others. His star is still rising and it is rising fast. We will hear a lot more from this genius. Peter Beets (Netherlands, 12 June 1971) comes from a music loving family. Classical music comes to him via his mother a music teacher. Among others, the music of Art Blakey and Oscar Peterson are musical contributions from his father, a doctor. Both his brothers play instruments: Alexander (1968) plays tenor sax and Marius (1966) plays contrabass, they both become professional musicians. In 1977 Peter starts having piano lessons at the age of six. A conservatory studie follows when he is 18 (1998) at the Royal Conservatory for Music and Dance in The Hague. Though Peter combines this with legal studies, he eventually chooses for music. He finishes conservatory in 1998, the year he joins the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw as regular pianist. In 1985 the three brothers form the band “The Beets Brothers”, with whom he records a first nameless album in 1990, followed by “School is Closed Now” (1993) and “Brotherwise” (1995). In between Peter wins the Pall Mall Swing Award and the Prinses Christina Concours. === Beets readily validates the praise (see the review of New York Trio (1)), unleashing his marvelous chops on the faster numbers and playing with remarkable warmth and maturity when the tempo slows. Beets is a superb writer as well. On second hearing, the opinion (see the review of New York Trio (1)) remains unchanged. In sum, another wonderful album from young Peter Beets. - Jack Bowers, Cadence 11/03 The best young pianist I've heard in the last ten years. Beets leaves nothing unsaid. He swings with authority, creates constantly, improvises as though he was born doing it, and all of this with a light and lithesome touch. He's so good that it would make little difference what tunes he chose. Peter Beets is going to scare the hell out of some people. - George Fendel, Jazzscene 11/03 Impeccable technique, incisive sense of swing, very New York-like. The material has been carefully and cleverly chosen and covers many bases, in most cases the treatments being highly unusual. Page Two will probably outsell its predecessor. - Tony Hall, Jazzwise Peter Beets tackles the hoariest of modern jazz formats, the piano trio, and comes with a bright, energetic set tha brushes up both familiar and forgotten material. "So What" is redesigned at a very quick, almost mischievous clip, while the two Strayhorn tunes are lovingly outlined. Beets likes to play the blues and he can lead a soulful groove, but maybe the most inventive passage is his take on Sonny Rollins' Paradox, which is a compact and ingenious bit of repertory resurrection. - Richard Cook, Jazzreview 09/03 === First Date - (1996) - Peter Beets, grand piano - Marius Beets, double bass - Jeff Hamilton, drums New York Trio - (2001) - Peter Beets, grand piano - Rodney Whitaker, double bass - Willie Jones III, drums New York Trio: Page Two - (2003) - Peter Beets, grand piano - Larry Grenadier, double bass - Willie Jones III, drums New York Trio: Page Two - (2005) - Peter Beets, grand piano - Reginald Veal, double bass - Herlin Riley, drums Peter Beets Trio - Live at the Concertgebouw volume I - (2005) - Peter Beets, grand piano - Frans van Geest, double bass - Gijs Dijkhuizen, drums Peter Beets Trio - Live at the Concertgebouw volume II - (2005) - Peter Beets, grand piano - Frans van Geest, double bass - Gijs Dijkhuizen, drums New Groove - (2007) - Peter Beets, grand piano - Joe Cohn, guitar - Reuben Rogers, double bass - Martijn van Iterson, guitar - Ruud Jacobs, double bass User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.

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