MOVIE
Pierre Courbois (Nijmegen, 1940) studied classical percussion in Arnhem, but left for Paris at a young age to see his heroes Miles Davis and Stan Getz perform. In Paris he played with celebrities such as Jean-Luc Ponty, Eric Dolphy and Ben Webster and took drum lessons from Kenny Clarke. He was the first musician in Europe to experiment with free jazz and successfully toured Europe and the United States in the 1960s and 1970s.
In ‘The Pioneer’, director Els Dinnissen sketches the image of Courbois as a cheerful and cheerful man. All the fame of the past seems to pass him by: “As a jazz musician I am world famous, but compared to pop music it means nothing.” Nowadays he enjoys playing with jazz musicians as much as with his son Barend Courbois, with whom he has a heavy metal band.
Courbois alternates between sitting on his houseboat in Arnhem or in his second home in France. When Dinnissen returns with him to his birthplace in Nijmegen, it produces one of the most beautiful scenes of the film. Courbois tells how he always practiced in the basement with musical friends such as Pim Jacobs, Ramses Shaffy or Herman Brood, who sometimes wrote their names on the cellar wall out of reluctance. When Courbois wants to point out the place, he is touched to discover that the names are still there.
INTERVIEW
Pierre Courbois and filmmaker Els Dinnissen are interviewed by drummer Joost Patocka, who was a guest at the Music Film Festival last year with his own band.
CONCERT
After film and interview, a full concert by Pierre Courbois and his band 3GEN3, which, in addition to Pierre himself, consists of bassist Wiro Mahieu (1964) and saxophonist Jesse Schilderink (1995): three generations of jazz musicians.
Playlist:
1 One More
2 Lo Belia
February 3, 1953
4 Perpendicular
5 Inverness
6 Aminona
7Wuhan
8 One Less