Earlier this week, Goa was treated to an
absolute treat – an auditory spectacle that is QuinTiz, a jazz/jazz-fusion
quintet from Maastricht in the Netherlands. Their gig at The Farm House in
Benaulim was nothing short of entertaining and refreshing all at once. The band
focused a lot on their originals and threw in a few covers as crowd pleasers as
well.
With the line-up comprising Tizaan
Alphonso on piano and keyboard, Pierre Vyncke on saxophone and flute, Philip PK
Cho on guitar, Cody Soudant on bass and Joey Schins on drums, the international
act is doing a four-city India tour, stopping at Mumbai, Goa, Pune and Delhi at
the moment. The band’s tour also features Zian Bhamgara (who is incidentally
Tizaan’s sister) on vocals.
Formed in September 2016, they started
off as a trio playing jazz standards at quite a few gigs across Maastricht.
Their USP comprises performances that are honest, full of energy and
smile-inducing during and after their gigs. However, the driving force behind
the band is their passion for writing original music. The band eventually
expanded into a quintet, which added the finishing touches to all the
arrangements that Tizaan Alphonso, the main man, had in mind. Chatting with
Café, he shares the band’s story, and what India has been like this far into
the tour.
Herald Café: The band is relatively new, how did it come
together?
Tizaan Alphonso: Well, the band is almost a year old. We
are five best friends, students of jazz at the ‘Conservatorium Maastricht’ in the
Netherlands with a common passion for writing jazz/jazz fusion music. There is
always a huge flow of ideas when we jam together, each of us being from different
countries – that is India/Portugal, Belgium, South Korea and the Netherlands; this
cultural mix proves that music has only language globally.
HC: How would you best describe your sound?
TA: The driving force behind the band
is their passion for writing original music, which is the key to success in
today’s music world. Together as a band, our sound is unique, with the goal
being to write music that is not only harmonically and rhythmically challenging
but also appealing to all ears, making us a crowd favourite.
HC: Why tour through India, which doesn’t particularly have a jazz-savvy
audience?
TA: Although I have Portuguese roots, I have
been brought up in Mumbai. I was born in a family of musicians. My mom and dad,
Reuben and Rashna Alphonso, even had a band of their own, called Faith, and
have had about 25 years in the music business. Hence, India is very close to my
heart. Also, I think it is the perfect experience and opportunity for the band
to bond and grow tighter as a unit, playing our tunes together at various jazz
venues across the country.
HC: What have you taken away from this tour and how has it been a learning
experience for the band?
TA: Well, the most important thing that we
learnt is how we approach an audience’s taste. We already had six originals
ready to play, but perhaps we could have had more, as people like more original
music nowadays, which is perfect. We thought of doing a mix of a few covers
that could have also appealed to the crowd. Another thing is that we keep
discovering various aspects of our sounds while playing our original material,
always with the scope for improvement. Every day we learn more and more of what
the perfect sound would be for our band. So it’s always going to be constant
learning, if you have an open mind that has a very large creative spectrum.
