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Anke ANGEL (The NETHERLAND (Pays Bas))

She was born in Zeist (The Netherland), the 3th of october 1961.Her father was (and still is) a great fan of boogie woogie. When she was a little girl, she used to sit on his lap when he played the piano. They listened to records of Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson and Meade Lux Lewis together. According to him she played a bit of blues when she was three years old. At the age of six she started taking pianolessons. In Zeist there were only classical teachers, so she had to discover boogieplaying by listening to records over and over. She really enjoyed composing songs and recording them with her fathers equipment (of course nobody was allowed to hear them). Later on she also took singing lessons. After high school she went to study law at the University of Utrecht. She became a lawyer (specialized in entertainment law) and that didn’t leave her much spare moments for the music. She composed for several purposes, like fashion shows. Only for herself she played boogie, but she tried to go to many boogie and jazz-events with her father. On one of them they met Little Willie Littlefield. They became close friends. As Little Willie heard Anke play once, he was surprised, and encouraged her to do more with it. So Anke came to realize that she could very well be missed as a lawyer and that she might make more people happy by making music (including herself). She was permitted to receive lessons from Rob Agerbeek, because she really wanted to learn more about jazz. She developed her characteristic, very powerful style, with a tremendously grooving left-hand. “She really is a woman but she plays like a man” is a frequently heard comment. Since her first performance at a jazzfestival her carreer gained momentum. She is asked to play all over Europe, she was contracted by Rolf Schubert, and recently she released her first CD, ‘Boogious ‘ at the Oldie Blues label from Munich Records. She plays solo or with a drum, bass, and guitar or saxophone. Pure boogie and blues, strong and solid, and sometimes mixed with other jazz styles (like Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald).

website : www.ankeangel.com

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