CD REVIEW
Jadi Peperzak Quartet – Amity
- Line-up: Jadi Peperzak (guitar); Kasyfi Kalyasyena (piano); Sulav Maharjan (double bass); Rafael Slors (drums); Nicolò Ricci (tenor saxophone)
- Recorded: December 18 and 19, 2024, Studio Smederij, Zeist
- Released: May 3, 2026
- Label: Peperbag Records
- Tracks: 7
- Running time: 41’48
- Website: jadipeperzak.nl
- By: Jeroen Jansen
The Rotterdam Conservatory (Codarts) has been turning out remarkable talent for years, but the Jadi Peperzak Quartet is a special case. The four musicians originally found each other in the lecture halls of Codarts, evolving from classmates into an ensemble that experienced professionals love to share the stage with. The arrival of their debut album is welcome news. That it is instantly this good comes as a surprise—though one that quickly fades once you’ve spun the record a few times.
‘Amity’ features seven compositions, all penned by guitarist and bandleader Jadi Peperzak (2000). The titles are intentionally lighthearted; Peperzak writes from emotion but wants to give listeners the freedom to bring their own meaning to the music. While that might sound like a recipe for non-committal music, the tracks prove otherwise. Take the opening track ’00:59′, one of the first pieces he wrote for this quartet and long their standard set-opener. It is a track that knows exactly how to kick off an evening: energetic yet patient, leaving plenty of room for the band to establish themselves right away.
From round and full to raw
Peperzak plays guitar with an uncommon sense of dynamics. In the liner notes, Jarmo Hoogendijk—his improvisation teacher at Codarts—describes a guitarist capable of shifting from a round, full tone to a raw, gritty edge, deploying eighth notes and syncopation with a precision that sounds far more mature than his age suggests. He is right. But what stands out just as much is how Peperzak embraces space. ‘Seven No More’ started out as a 7/8 composition but was rewritten in 4/4, simply because it felt better that way. Making that kind of call—letting go of a concept when it gets in the way of the music—is what separates a true composer from a mere craftsman.
Pianist Kasyfi Kalyasyena is the quiet powerhouse of the quartet. Hoogendijk praises him for his ability to conceive and develop motifs on the fly during improvisation, and it shows. His contributions don’t just fill space; they guide, comment, and reply. Sulav Maharjan plays double bass with energy and inventiveness, and his interplay with Rafael Slors on drums forms the foundation upon which everything else rests. The fact that Slors’ cymbals are exceptionally well-recorded is a detail you might only notice after a few listens, but once you do, it becomes indispensable.
The Core
Tenor saxophonist Nicolò Ricci joins as a special guest and delivers some of the album’s most powerful moments. His solos are raw and direct: the sound of someone who has listened deeply to the blues, not to imitate it, but to internalize it. On ‘I Think You Know’—written the day after a breakup and put to paper in just two hours—his sax acts as a second voice, approaching the emotion of Peperzak’s composition from a different angle. This piece is the core of the record for other reasons too: it serves as living proof that jazz doesn’t need to be old to be deeply moving.
‘JaJaJa’ provides the lightest note on an album that otherwise leaves no room for fluff; the title references a studio inside-joke that snowballed into a catchphrase. ‘Song For My Couch’ carries its own little lore, written on the sofa where Peperzak was forced to sleep during a bedbug infestation. Meanwhile, ‘Floating On Dream Soda’ offers no explanation, nor does it need one. Music is whatever you make of it yourself, Peperzak says. The question now isn’t whether there will be a second album, but how soon.
Album Presentation: Jadi Peperzak will present ‘Amity’ on May 3rd at LantarenVenster, Rotterdam.