THE
VAN MORRISON ALUMNI​
MATT HOLLAND - Trumpet
1,347 Concert appearances with Van.
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156 Recording credits on Van's albums including:​
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“Live In Montreux”
GEOFF DUNN - Drums
309 Concert appearances with Van.
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74 Recording credits on Van's albums including:
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“Live In Montreux”
ROBIN ASPLAND - Piano
244 Concert appearances with Van.
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57 Recording credits on Van's albums including:
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"How Long Has This Been Going On?"
“Live In Montreux”
RALPH SALMINS - Drums
145 Concert appearances with Van.
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51 Recording credits on Van's albums including:
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"How Long Has This Been Going On?"
“Live In Montreux”
ALEC DANKWORTH - Bass
LEO GREEN - Sax & Host
93 Concert appearances with Van.
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51 Recording credits on Van's albums including:
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"How Long Has This Been Going On?"
“Live In Montreux”
416 Concert appearances with Van.
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63 Recording credits on Van's albums including:
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"How Long Has This Been Going On?"
“Live In Montreux”
What can you remember about the first time you worked with VM ?
Matt Holland: "I’ll never forget, after getting the call to do the job, I was in Central London and thought I would pop into Tower Records and pick up his album.
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I knew he’d written a couple of wonderful songs, but was unaware of how prolific he was and walked in, expecting a few albums - and was met by an entire section of the shop, dedicated to Van’s albums!
I sheepishly left, concerned how I was going to learn what seemed to be dozens of albums. The next day a courier arrived from Van’s office with a huge box of 50 albums – the task of immersing myself into hundreds and hundreds of songs began.
To this day, I absolutely love receiving the albums Van sends over with his new songs – it’s a never ending journey into one of the greatest song catalogues of all time and I find playing these songs live, is nothing short of joyous."
Robin Aspland: "I first met Van at a rehearsal at The Bulls Head in Barnes. We sat and talked about his ideas for his jazz album, "How Long Has This Been Going On?". It was a fascinating conversation, about great songs and how he wanted us to record, live at Ronnie Scott’s Club during the day with no audience - it proved to be an amazing recording session that produced some of my favourite recorded moments with Van - It was great to play those tunes and arrangements with Van and of course, the great Georgie Fame on Hammond.
Not long after that, I did my first concert with him, at the Royal Festival Hall, where we played some of the tunes we had recorded at Ronnie's, along with some of Van’s more well known tunes - it was such a memorable night for me, aside from finding myself at the Royal Festival playing an amazing jazz concert with Van, the great jazz saxophonist James Moody sat in with us, duetting with Van on ‘Moody’s Mood’.
I'll never forget, that after the concert, myself, Alec Dankworth and Ralph Salmins jumped in a cab and went to play at Ronnie’s with the Dankworth Generation Band - relieved I had made it in time, a couple of numbers in, I looked up and I saw Van, in the audience, listening attentively to more jazz!"
WHICH songs DO YOU ESPECIALLY ENJOY playing with VM and why ?
Matt Holland: "Every time we play “Listen To The Lion”, it stops me in my tracks. The combination of Van's lyrics and the melodic structure is unsurpassed - it provides the perfect musical bed for him to improvise and stretch out on, as the song builds.
“Someone Like You” is quite simply my all-time favourite song - it's a definition of perfection.
When we recorded “Celtic New Year” , Van asked me to play penny whistle, which was a massive challenge. This really encapsulates how Van doesn’t really work within any creative boundaries and whether he knows it or not, this in turn really inspires musicians, stretching their musical potential, seeing how far he can push, whether it be a rock ‘n’ roll guitarist playing jazz, or in my case a trumpet player having to learn Penny whistle – I love these challenges."
Robin Aspland: "I always enjoy playing "Someone Like You", Van singing that beautiful melody and the horn and piano hook dancing around his vocals.
Similarly, "Have I Told You Lately", with that lovely piano feature! But there are so many others - I found "Raincheck" interesting to play, with it's hypnotic 6/8 groove, coupled with hits and accents - real jazz feel to that one.
Something else a bit more unusual was "On Hyndford Street", which I only got to play once or twice. I was improvising on Synthesizer, accompanying Van reciting his poetic, poignant words, about growing up in Ireland.
I love playing the full-on soul style, of songs like "Domino" and "Jackie Wilson Said" - those grooves and riffs are amazing to play. Then of course, there are the more trad songs, like "Raglan Road" - you know, no matter the song, when you're sat at the piano, accompanying Van, with his unique voice, phrasing and interpretation, it's always a real 'pinch me' moment."
Is there a live show that stands out in your memory ?
Matt Holland: "There’s actually a week that stands out for me and it sums up so much about the accessibility and range of Van’s music and how it connects to so many different people of so many different levels.
In one week, we went from an incredibly exciting, sell-out crowd at New York’s iconic Madison Square Garden, where Van knew exactly how to ‘read the room’ - he served up hit after hit after hit, it was mind blowing. And then later that week, we found ourselves back in the U.K, at the famous Hay literary festival, in a small tent that held no more than 300 people. Once again Van read the crowd perfectly and drew from deep within his catalogue, pulling out songs that we hadn’t done for a while. He delivered a completely different concert performance. I guess it was more akin to a highly charged spiritual experience in a church, with Van at the front, leading the congregation through a musical and poetic journey of inspirational soulfulness that stayed with me for years and years – I’ll never forget that week with him."
Robin Aspland: "So many of the shows with Van have left indelible musical memories - playing the music with Van on an idyllic summer evening at the Hollywood Bowl was so special; the legendary New York Supper Club gigs, where on some nights Van would be on stage for almost 4 hours without a break. Shows at The Royal Albert Hall, Montreux Jazz Festival, an outdoor gig in Memphis, looking down the winding river on a beautiful summer evening, drawing inspiration for some of Van’s ethereal music, the list goes on - I feel very lucky."
Is there a recording date that stands out in your memory ?
Matt Holland: "I feel so privileged to have spent so many incredible days in the studio with Van - the joy of his recording process, is that more often than not, it's a recording of a performance, as opposed to an overall concept.
It's all about the song and the message or story that Van is conveying – the best way to achieve that is through trying to get a great live performance in the studio and when he's able to capture that lighting in a bottle moment, when we're all grooving as one, in a studio environment, it's an incredible and electrifying experience."
Robin Ashland: "I'll never forget "The Healing Game" date with the whole band recording live in one room - Van, Georgie Fame on Hammond organ, plus all of us on Piano, Guitars, Double Bass, Electric Bass, Drums, Percussion, with Leo, Matt, and Pee Wee on horns and Brian Kennedy on backing vocals!
There were other times I remember, where rehearsals would morph into the most incredible legendary recordings!"