Tineke Postma's "A Journey That Matters"

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A Journey That Matters, the third album as a leader by the award- winning Dutch saxophonist and composer Tineke (pronounced TEE-na-ka) Postma and the first recording on the new label Foreign Media Jazz, is set for release in the U.S. on September 10, 2007. The CD -- which has already received rave reviews in the Netherlands where it was released in June 2007 and in Japan since its release there in July 2007 -- will be available through Koch Distribution.

“A fresh voice...who never resorts to overplaying” (All Music), Postma has been hailed as “...a remarkable new talent [who] exhibits a vivacious stage presence” (JazzTimes) and praised as a player with “drive and urgency” who creates “undulating lines [that] can be almost breathtakingly earnest” and music of “convincing” emotional impact (DownBeat). She is also a mainstay of a modern jazz scene in the Netherlands that champions melody and harmony whose profile has been eclipsed abroad by the tempestuous free jazz of the Willem Breuker Kollektief, pianist Misha Mengelberg, drummer Han Bennink and others. Compared to these avant-gardists, Postma's lyricism shines like a brilliant ray of sunshine emerging from the dark cacophony of a raging North Sea storm.

A virtuoso instrumentalist equally eloquent on the tenor, alto and soprano saxophone, Postma is reunited on A Journey That Matters with American drummer Terri Lyne Carrington who appeared on the saxophonist's previous release “For The Rhythm” (Munich Records 2005). The new CD also features pianists Rob van Bavel, Marc Antoni van Roon and Randal Corsen, bassist Frans van der Hoeven and guitarist Edoardo Righini, all leading members of the contemporary Dutch jazz scene.

In addition to the eight original compositions and arrangements Postma contributed to A Journey That Matters are inspired interpretations of three works by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. When asked why, among all the immortals in the jazz pantheon, she chose to include beside her music only songs by these two giants, Postma explained: “In 2005 I did a tour of 14 Dutch cities playing the music of Ellington and Strayhorn and I became so familiar with their work that it felt natural to include three of my favorites tunes from their songbook on the new album. I truly love their compositions - they're perfect models and inspirations for what I should aspire to in my own writing. They are so strong and timeless...you can arrange them in a modern way yet the composer's imprint on them is so indelible that the original character of the song remains.”

With the release of A Journey That Matters Tineke Postma is also making an original musical statement, one that is just the latest stop on an engaging musical odyssey the saxophonist invites aficionados of contemporary modern jazz around the world to join her on.

Born on August 31, 1978 in Heerenveen, Tineke Postma earned an M.A. from the Amsterdam Conservatory, where she currently teaches, graduating with honors in 2003. She then received two scholarships to attend the Manhattan School of Music in New York, where she studied with Dick Oatts, David Liebman and Chris Potter. Other honors Postma has received include the international Sisters In Jazz All Star Award, the Singer Laren Jazz Award, the Heijmans Award and the prestig ious MIDEM International Jazz Rvlation of the Year award in 2006 during a French National TV gala broadcast “Victoires du Jazz”.

Postma's recording debut as a leader, “First Avenue,” was well received both nationally and internationally and her second album, “For the Rhythm” featuring Terri Lyne Carrington, was featured on the playlists of more than 250 radio stations in the U.S. and spent three weeks in the Top-20 of the JazzWeek Top-50 Jazz. In November 2005 she toured the U.S. with the program “Billie & Me” along with Carrington, James Genus, Dianne Reeves and Nancy Wilson that included a sold out performance at Carnegie Hall in New York.

Postma's upcoming events include a concert on September 22 at the Viersen Jazz Festival will be broadcasted on National German TV. In October 2007 Postma will embark on her second Japanese tour that will include a performance at the Yokohama Festival. In November 2007 she and her quartet will perform at the prestigious Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and in Spring 2008 will appear at several festivals in Asia.

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