The Corporate Express Midsummer Jazz Gala starring Katie Melua
Thursday the 12th of July 2007 the North Sea Jazz Festival was traditionally opened with the Corporate Express Midsummer Jazz Gala. After well-known artists such as Randy Crawford, Elvis Costello and Ibrahim Ferrer, this year Katie Melua kicked off the second edition of the North Sea Jazz Festival in the Rotterdam Ahoy. Wouter Hamel performed as supporting act, a young Dutch artist who can be seen as the mixture between Jamie Cullum and Michael Bublé. Monique Klemann (lead singer of Lois Lane) sang in the night.
Corporate Express and the North Sea Jazz Festival
There’s a good chance that the pen you’re writing with or the toner in your printer comes from one of the companies in the Corporate Express Group. Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide use our products at work. As one of the world’s biggest names in office supplies and related products, our assortment goes further than essential office products; we deliver everything for the office. In the eighteen countries where it operates, with 18,000 employees, Corporate Express holds leading positions. In that sense, we’re a bit like the North Sea Jazz Festival, which holds a leading position in the jazz world.
About Katie Melua
As from the moment that Melua's debut album "Call off the search" came out in store she is "The Next Big Thing" in Great Britain. Also the Netherlands fell for her serene easy listening with influences from jazz and blues. Her three concerts last year in Amsterdam were sold out in record time. Katie Melua is originally from Georgia, but moved at the age of eight with her parents to Belfast and later to London. During her education at the BRITON school for the Performing Arts & Technology she discovered several styles of music, which inspires her up to the day of today such as: Queen, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Irish folk and music from India. With her music, a mixture of jazz, folk and blues, she positions herself between all genres - just like the other fantastic British artists: Joss Stone, Amy Winehouse and Jamie Cullum. With Katie Melua the Corporate Express Midsummer Jazz Gala was a splendid start of the 32nd edition of the North Sea Jazz Festival!
About Wouter Hamel
Wouter Hamel is the Dutch mix between Jamie Cullum and Michael Bublé. He studied at the Hogeschool for Arts in Utrecht. After winning the Dutch Jazz Vocalisten Concours in 2005, the public enjoyed Wouters performances in several radio- and TV-programs (Barend & Van Dorp, Paul de Leeuw and De wereld draait door). He also performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival in 2006 where he received a nomination for the Deloitte Jazz Award. His debut album, for which he wrote twelve numbers, appeared in March 2007. The critics were euphoric about this new album. “Wouter Hamel is a modern crooner. Jazz is modern thanks to this new generation.”