Lara Rosseel Orchestra: ARK

A dream project

Lara Rosseel herself described the lush sound of De Grote Vrouw and Hert as "ethnic acoustic jazz”. Appropriate, because this bassist and composer absorbs influences from the most diverse corners of the world. North Africa, the Middle East and Mediterranean places are being explored. This makes the music sound like a trip that is as coherent as it is colorful, that links mystery to groove and vastness to intimacy. And also: the compositions are always very visual; it takes no effort to make up stories to accompany the music she plays with her Octet or Quintet. For Rosseel herself it was immediately clear which direction her dream project would take.

In 2021 she played at Jazz Middelheim with a nonet that combined two line-ups of her band. Now she will expand that line-up further with a string quartet and oboe, an instrument for which she has developed a great love. She is now tackling the material she wrote for her previous albums, reworking it to fit the large line-up. For this she calls on the support of Bert Joris, who has created a furore at home and abroad as a musician, composer and arranger for the Brussels Jazz Orchestra.  For Rosseel, the development of this ambitious project is the culmination of an unusually fascinating chapter in her career that will undoubtedly open new doors to the future.