source: jazzism
Album Review: ‘Amity’ – Jadi Peperzak Quartet
21/05/2026 | Reviews
Both Jan Akkerman meets Wes Montgomery and rebellious, disruptive
In the run-up to Jazz in Duketown—the jazz festival held around the Pentecost weekend in Den Bosch—the annual battle for the Conservatorium Talent Award takes place. It is a prestigious prize for the most talented student across the jazz departments of Dutch conservatories. In 2024, guitarist Jadi Peperzak (Nijmegen, 2000), then still a student at the Codarts Conservatory in Rotterdam, took it home (Jazzism, April 2024). Peperzak used the prize money attached to the award to record the album Amity.
Amity features seven compositions by Peperzak, moving between raw urban jazz and soulful, almost ballad-like pieces. He effortlessly navigates between technical feats—with lightning-fast runs across his guitar strings in one track—and atmospheric, gliding chords in the next. Think Jan Akkerman meets Wes Montgomery, so to speak.
And therein lies the crux. On this debut album, Peperzak showcases a sampler of his craftsmanship, which is simultaneously his strength and his weakness. He surrounds himself with three talented, young musicians, among whom pianist Kasyfi Kalyasyenat impresses both as an accompanist and a soloist. However, a stroke of genius is the addition of Nicolò Ricci on a track like Song For My Couch. With his tearing saxophone solo—playful, rebellious, and delightfully disruptive—he lifts the band to a higher level, while Peperzak keeps his quartet on the right track with tight chords.
With Amity, Peperzak hands out two different business cards. The one that is a bit more raw and frayed around the edges is the one he can hand to me more often.
MARCEL BOUWMAN