Close Encounters

Clouseau, a Belgian band, started as a bunch of friends back in 1984. Only Karel Theys, the bass-player, had some previous experience in a band with The Employees. 1987 sees them coming out of the garage for the first time : they play Marktrock in Leuven en get a record deal for their first single "Brandweer". In 1991, the Benelux is getting too small for the group so they (or at least the record company) decide to try to storm the European market.
This time they are appointed to participating for Belgium in the Eurovisionsongcontest (where the finish very low with "Geef het op", despite the very high hopes Flanders was posing in them). They record a CD in English called "Close Encounters" (mainly consisting of adaptations of their own Dutch songs) of which they sell 200.000 copies.

A follow-up to their previous excellent CD Horn To Horn has the two veteran tenor saxophonists with the same drummer, Kenny Washington, joined by pianist Stan Hope and bassist Ray Drummond. They swing and stroll through another seven standards, Edwards with his lithe, breezy, matter-of-fact tone, Person displaying the bluesy, street smart literate, fluid approach that always holds him in good stead…