Good music should be round and must have everything life has; it has animals, it has people, it has events, it has politics, it has religion, everything' - Steve Lacy

Raoul van der Weide - contrabass, crackle box, sound objects
Michiel Scheen - piano
George Hadow - drums        

The Blue Lines Trio consists of three generations of improvising musicians. In 2012 Raoul van der Weide brought together George Hadow and Michiel Scheen. It is not a traditional pianotrio, but a trio, with equal treatment of every instrument.
The trio continues its restless quest for new possibilities of interplay. Tradition and personal input are playfully interwoven in an appealing melting pot of mild anarchy, stumbling swing, crunchy chords, mélodies trouvés, blissful ballads, woogie tunes and interim scores.

Casco Records 002 The Blue Lines Trio

The trio received rave reviews on their in september 2014 released debut CD (Casco Records 002). See also Blue Lines Trio CD on Bandcamp and Toondist

“… sparkling compositions and tingling free improvisations … a beauty of a debut album … a little gem to discover ... music for connoisseurs … clear compositions with strong contrasts, sometimes smooth, sometimes jerky ... no improvisation resembles others, every track is an entity and has a character of its own … musicians with particular melodic and harmonic alertness … the cd is full of hidden intelligent musical jokes … a very diverse and colorful ‘contemporary improvised music’ album …”

Reactions on earlier work of the band members:
- George Hadow: ‘A f***ing good drummer!’ (Han Bennink, 2012)
- Michiel Scheen: 'Odd twists and sharp angles, post-Monk, post-Mengelsberg, even' (The Village Voice, 2004).
- Raoul van der Weide: 'Klankmagician Raoul van der Weide.' (Tim Sprangers, Gonzocirsuc,2012)

For decades, Van der Weide and Scheen worked within leading formations in improvised music. For instance with Maarten Altena, Guus Janssen, Misha Mengelberg, Paul Termos and in many international ensembles. George Hadow is an example of a new generation of improvisers who recently enrich the Netherlands’ music scene.

Video:

Blue Lines Trio at JazzBlazzt Festival september 14, 2019 @OZOland

Shocked and sad by the passing of the unforgettable Mars Williams who's presence was one of the most inspirational definitions of life in it's unique individual expression. Rest in peace, dear friend!

Since 2014, the Blue Lines Trio featured master-saxophonist and key figure in the Chicago music scene, Mars Williams on a project basis. 

Mars Williams was an open-minded musician, composer and educator who commuted easily between free jazz, funk, hip-hop and rock, Mars has played and recorded with The Psychedelic Furs, Billy Idol, Massacre, Fred Frith, Bill Laswell, Ministry, Power Station, Die Warzau, The Waitresses, Kiki Dee, Pete Cosey, Billy Squier, DJ Logic, Wayne Kramer, John Scoffield, Charlie Hunter, Kurt Elling, Swollen Monkeys, Mike Clark, Jerry Garcia, Naked Raygun, Friendly Fires, The Untouchables, Blow Monkeys and virtually every leading figure of Chicago’s and New York City's "downtown" scene.

John Zorn credited Mars as "one of the true saxophone players--someone who takes pleasure in the sheer act of blowing the horn. This tremendous enthusiasm is an essential part of his sound, and it comes through each note every time he plays. Whatever the situation, Mars plays exciting music. In many ways he has succeeded in redefining what versatility means to the modern saxophone player."

In 2001 Mars received a Grammy Nomination for Best Contemporary Jazz Record with his group Liquid Soul. 

Despite his busy touring schedule with Liquid Soul and The Psychedelic Furs, Mars managed to stay active on the Chicago underground improvising scene. In recent years he has toured and recorded with the Peter Brötzmann Tentet, Switchback, Full Blast, Scorch Trio, the Vandermark 5, Boneshaker, Chicago Reed Quartet and Cinghiale, teaming him with such musicians as Ken Vandermark, Hamid Drake, Michael Zerang, William Parker, Kent Kessler, Fredric Lonberg Holm, Peter Brotzmann, Joe McPhee, Paal Nilssen-Love, Mike Reed, Jeb Bishop, Harrison Bankhead, Dave Rempis, Kidd Jordan and Matts Gustafson.

He performed weekly in Chicago along with Jim Baker, Steve Hunt, and Brian Sandstrom in the improvising quartet “Extraordinary Popular Delusions”. As a bandleader, he continued to perform and record CDs with his own free-jazz groups, the NRG Ensemble, Witches & Devils, Slam, XmarsX, Mars Trio, Boneshaker and The Soul Sonic Sirkus which featured improvising musicians and aerial circus performers. Along with Die Warsau’s Van Christie, Mars had started Ratking Music, a production company focusing on music for film and television.

In addition to performing and creating music, Mars had been an educator in the field of woodwinds and jazz improvisation for over thirty years. Mars held the position of Woodwind Instructor at Bard College for two years. In the last few years Mars has presented Master classes and clinics to a number of private and public institutions including, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, the University of Chicago, Roosevelt University (Chicago, IL), and June Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art (Auburn, AL).

Video's:
Blue Lines Trio featuring Mars Williams @Koffie en Ambacht, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Biography Raoul van der Weide

Contrabassist, cellist and crackle box player (Fontenailles - France, 1949) has a background as classically educated violinist but works as a professional double bassist, cellist and improvising crackle box-player since 1978 both as a soloist and as an ensemble player Having a broad interest in historical, ethnical and actual musical cultures worldwide, his focus is on exploring the boundless if not dazzling possibilities and challenging promises composing/improvising of free and structured improvised music. 

Raoul has toured Europe, Indonesia, Russia, Argentina and the Baltic States. Performed with a numerous amount of great improvisers ranging from Frank Wright, Louis Moholo, Derek Bailey, Steve Lacy, Vincent Chancey, Herb Roberston, Ernst Reijseger, Tristan Honzinger, Tobias Delius, Terrie EX, Peter Evans, Paal Nilsson-Love, Fred van Hove, Gunda Gottschalk, Andrew Drury, Mike Reed, Keefe Jackson, Mars Williams, Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennink to mention a few and was member of the 'Guus Janssen Septet' + 'Guus Janssen & His Orchestra' (1979-1990) , 'Paul Termos Trio' (1979-1984) , 'Burton Greene Trio/Quartet'(1982-86) 'Ab Baars Sextet' (1986-87) , 'Spazio trio' (with Guenther Sommer/d and Conny Bauer/trb) (1985-88) , 'The Gravitones' (1990- 1995) AS IF trio (1997- 2010) , 'Sound-Lee! 4tet Plays the Music of Lee Konitz' (2002-2006) 'Trialectics'(since 2012) 'Boucale! Quartet' (2010-13) and is actually performing with 'Dikeman/Kugel/Van der Weide' trio, 'Blue Lines Trio and Sextet', 'STRINGS5' quintet, 'The Mulligan-Baker Project', 'Xavier Pamplona Ensemble 'and 'New Rumours And Other Noises' trio and ad hoc combinations.

1978 member of the short lived but burlesque and formative 'Punt-Uit Orkest' initiated by trombonist Bert Koppelaar. Other musicians included: Guus janssen/p + compositions, Paul Termos/as + compositions, Peter Cusack/gt, Wim Janssen/d. 

1998-2002 boardmember of the Beroepsvereniging van Improviserende Musici (BIM) > Dutch Association Of Improvising Musicians.

In 2010 he started 'The White Noise Orchestra', an ongoing experimental collective instant composing 10 piece ensemble including 2 dancers working specifically in low dynamic areas exploring an open and undogmatic 'playing with silence & non-silence' approach.

In 2009 till 2017 he initiated and hosted the Amsterdam based improvising programming curators platform called 'OORSPRONG' curators series/OCS', a monthly all-volunteering collective project promoting the concept of high degree zero 'blinddate+instant composing' lineups on different locations notably 'Het Poortgebouw' (Amsterdam) and 'DokZaal' (Amsterdam). Each month these lineups were curated/casted and presented by 3 different curators form different improvisation backgrounds: notably dance, electronics and acoustic music. OCS was assisted by George Hadow and cooperating with Dutch leading Studio for creative Electro-Acoustic research, development and practice STEIM as supportive content and facility partner. In these 8 years 240 curators were participating in this series presenting around 1000 different performers.in 240 blinddate+instant composing sets.

In 2014 he started on request of Huis de Pinto organisation a new monthly improvising series 'Pintotonics n+1' at the Huis de Pinto venue in Amsterdam. This series focuses on presenting pro evening a solo and an small ensemble set bringing refractory quality soloists and ensembles both young talented as well as older 'proven quality' performers in the context of composed/improvised repertoires.

In 2016 he started with guitarist Henk Zwerver and violonist Jacob Plooij the 'New Handicaps All Strings Pool' project. Promoting all-kind-of strings improvisations in different formats. This 'strings only' pool organizes regularly performances on different locations in Amsterdam.