Joost van Es (Venlo, 1968)
Born the son of artists Jacques van Es and Nettie van Es – Franssen, Joost grew up in an artistic environment. His mother started teaching him the violin, at the age of 5, not long after that, he followed music school and Waldorf school. Soon he joined several ensembles and bands, ranging from classical to folk, sometimes together with his brother Bram, who also went along in cultural programs, traveling abroad. Especially music from the Balkan states and from Scandinavian countries caught his interest, followed by anglo-saxon countries. During his classical violin studies at Artez conservatory (Arnhem) he started his first gipsy band, inspired by the music of the Tata Mirando Orchestra. He also served as a true ‘Steh-Geiger’ in his 8 piece ‘Salon Orchestra’ Pistache, led by Huub Buurman. His first bluegrass band was called Windy City.
Important inspirers always were the masters of violin Jascha Heifetz, Arthur Grumiaux, Roby Lakatos, Mark o’Connor, Stephane Grappelli, and Kenny Baker, to name a few.
Career
During his studying years he played the most diverse combinations, styles and projects. 4Wheel Drive and BlueGrass BoogieMen where the bluegrassbands he mostly played with, and he came across many other projects and networks. Studio sessions became more and more important.
From the moment he was hired for ‘Desire Under the Elms’ by Eugene o’Neill (Het Zuidelijk Toneel / Ivo van Hove-1992), things started to unravel faster and he became an independent artist. From 2012 to mid-2018 he also is the programmer for De Parel van Zuilen (www.parelsessies.nl), a more and more successful live-music stage for the Utrecht region. Here he also starts organizing bluegrass festivals. His network keeps developing.
Projects, tours
While working with a great variety of artists and genres, Joost keeps developing his skills, also as a multi-instrumentalist, which also broadens his musical spectrum.
Amongst the many projects he works / worked with are:
Cousin Hatfield, Routinis, Steampower, Frederique Spigt, 4Wheel Drive, Ruud Hermans, International Dance Theatre, Lou Reid & Carolina, Bill Clifton, James Talley, Good Bros., Reinhard Mey, Bert Visser, Si Kahn, Gerard van Maasakkers, TipJar, Egbert Meijers, The Bald & The Beautiful, Linde Nijland, Vrouw Holland, Lollo Meier, JW Roy (Deeper Shades), Omnia (Alive!), Within Temptation (Aquarius), Ancora, 3 Js, Frans Bauer, Jan Keizer, Map MacBeth, Toneelmakerij, Ilse de Lange, DouweBob, and many more.
