Stichting Oosterkerk

Biografie

SPaM trio is a band that consist of three young up and coming jazz musicians that are located in Amsterdam. You could describe their band sound as energetic, spontaneous and the fact that they don’t have a drummer makes their linear compositions and style of playing closest to Chamber jazz or a modern take on the third stream movement in jazz of the 50’s and 60’s. The three players are all from different countries but met in the Conservatorium van Amsterdam where they used to study. Pianist Stefan Bos is from Holland, Double bass player Pierre Balda is from Switzerland and guitarist Mikael Máni Ásmundsson. They have played together since 2015 and have toured in the home country of each player; Iceland, Switzerland and Holland.

Stefan Bos
Growing up in the Dutch countryside, Stefan Bos (1996) started playing piano at 8 years old and showed an interest in improvised music very early on. At the age of 11 he started taking weekly lessons at the young talent department of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. This year he graduated from the bachelor program at the same school. Currently, he regularly performs in and around the city.

Mikael Asmundsson
Mikael Máni Ásmundsson graduated from the Conservatory in Amsterdam in June 2018. He studied with celebrated jazz guitarist Jesse van Ruller. Before going to Amsterdam he studied at the FÍH jazz school with Hilmar Jenssonar og Sigurður Flosason. In 2017 his first album “Staigjt home” introducing the duo “Marína & Mikael” was nominated for the Icelandic Music Awards in the category jazz and blues. He recently made his first recordings with his own compositions and the album “Bobby” will be released in 2019.

Pierre Balda
Pierre Balda (1993) is a Double Bass, E-Bass player and composer from Geneva (Switzerland).
He is currently based in Amsterdam where he’s finishing his Master at the Conservatory of Amsterdam.
After 10 years of classical guitar at the Conservatory of Geneva, Pierre started the bass at 18 years old at the AMR, in Geneva and Studied there for 3 years before moving to Amsterdam.
During this period, he played different Jazz (and other music) projects with Maurice Magnoni, Michel Bastet, Dominic Egli, Mathieu Rossignelly, Ohad Talmor, …

When he moved to Amsterdam, he started his first personal project, the Pierre Balda quartet, with 2 saxophone players, Bastien Weeger, Simon Rigter and Attila Gyarfas on drums. he played in different groups with musicians like Joris Roelofs, Madeleine Peyroux, Gideon Tazelaar, Wouter Kuhne, Stefan Bos, Martin J. Dine, Mo van der Does, Mikael Asmundsson…
He perfomed with a big band where he had the chance to play with great guest musicians like Terell Stafford, Dick Oatts, Jesse van Ruller, Alex Spiagin, Ben van Gelder, Dennis Mackrel.

He also performed and compose for some theatre and dancing projects with Raphael Rodan, Mayke van Veldhuizen, Sahand Sahebdivani, or Daniel Leveillé and with classical orchestras.