The BIMHUIS jazz club in Amsterdam set composer Tijn Wybenga (b. 1993) a task: to lead the way for jazz in Amsterdam. He was given two years to research and to discover the sound of Amsterdam in the 21st century. The album ‘BRAINTEASER’ featuring AM.OK (Amsterdam Modern Orkest) was released in June 2021 and is their debut studio album. Wybenga recorded musicians as Kika Sprangers, George Dumitriu, Ben van Gelder and Reinier Baas as they freely improvised. Using their signature sounds he produced an orchestral sample pack and built multilayered compositions with newfound grooves and beats. The Dutch national newspaper NRC Handelsblad wrote: “Relaxed, but accurate, Wybenga always sends his fourteen-piece AM.OK to a different sound image in his fresh, vibrant future jazz.”

Tijn Wybenga (comp, conductor), Alistair Payne (tpt), Kika Sprangers (alto sax), Nicolo Francescoricci (tenor sax), Oliver Emmitt (tb), Pablo Rodriguez (vl), Oene Van Geel (va), George Dumitriu (va), Pau Sola (clo), Teis Semey (g), Alessandro Fongaro (b), Jamie Peet (dr), Daniel Bolba (percs)