“This record has no songs. It has no logical structure. It is not radio friendly. Nothing was written down. Nothing was predetermined. Nothing was scripted. Nothing was composed. This record was not produced. It just happened.” This is what Colin Benders, better known as Kyteman, says about the album called The Jam Sessions, which he and his orchestra released last Friday. For some, this description might sound a bit frightening, or at least not too tempting. For many, including us at Rockstone Sessions, it sounds both promising and exciting. Listening to this album of live improvised jam sessions confirms that Kyteman’s unique approach worked out perfectly.
The 28-year-old orchestra leader has shown before to be a bit stubborn. He quit both high school and his study at the conservatory, in order to follow his own musical path. This led to his debut called The Hermit Sessions in 2009, which he performed live with ‘Kyteman’s HipHop Orchestra’. In 2012 he started ‘The Kyteman Orchestra’ and released his eponymous debut with this formation later that same year.
After that second project, Kyteman started wondering where he and his orchestra were actually capable of. He decided that the only way to find out was to start jamming. So that’s what they did: live jam sessions at music venues all around the country. However, all the creations are only played once and therefore “reduced to nothing but memories, slowly fading away as time passes on”, as he explains himself. In order to avoid losing these amazing pieces of improvised music, most of the sessions were recorded. The best ones are collected on this epic album, which is now available on CD and in the iTunes store. Check out the recently released single below to get an impression.