Penta by Ronald Snijders

Dutch-Surinamese multi-instrumentalist Ronald Snijders announces the release of new album Penta via Night Dreamer on January 17th.

A jazz heavyweight who draws Latin, Brazilian and Surinamese influences into dialogue with the electric sound of Weather Report, Snijders released four albums between 1977 and 1983 that have become holy grails of deep, forward-thinking fusion. Over forty years, 50 releases and 5,000 compositions later, Penta represents a statement return from an unsung jazz great ready to pick up his dues.

Recorded direct-to-disc at Artone Studio, with a stellar cast of European musicians, new album Penta fizzes and sparks with the ingenuity of Snijders’ flute chops, tight interplay and a palette that spans synths, clavinet, Fender Rhodes, electric bass and sax. A seamless fusion of rhythms, influences and improvisation, Penta has the class of a golden-era jazz-funk record, with the energy and verve of an in-the-pocket live band.

The album begins with ‘Kaseko Sisters’, a vibrant, percussive composition that combines the Surinamese rhythm of kaseko (itself influenced by calypso and kawina) with a contemporary jazz sound. A steaming session that brings the heart of Suriname capital Paramaribo to Haarlem, it sets the tone for an album of hybrid styles and thrilling musicianship.

On ‘Nevertheless’ and ‘Basic Things’ the band settle into a deep funk groove, making space for Snijders’ melodic and whip-smart flute playing to dance. By the time we reach ‘Nite Time’, the groove has simmered down and the warm evening air of Rio De Janeiro is calling the tune, speaking of Snijders’ love for Brazilian music, which has infused numerous of his compositions over the years.

On the B-side, Snijders drops into downtempo jam ‘Fusionize’, a track that reclaims the word ‘fusion’ in a new context (as does the homage to one of the music’s pioneers on ‘Ode to Wayne Shorter’). A blending of diverse musical elements, it prefaces the featherlight kaseko tune ‘Maseko’, and ‘Valsa’, a Caribbean waltz which draws the session to a serene and starry-eyed close.

Born in Suriname and son of renowned composer and orchestra leader Eddy Snijders, Ronald Snijders made his name in the Netherlands - his 1977 debut album Natural Sources a remarkable and radical feat of self-determination. Released on his own label, Black Straight Records, the album featured only original compositions, for which Snijders played all the instruments, produced and mixed the album himself.

Bucking the expectation that Surinamese or Caribbean musicians should only make party records, Snijders blazed a trail, cutting his second LP, A Safe Return in similarly independent circumstances in 1980. Working with a band for 1981’s Black Straight Music and 1983’s Quartz, Snijders crafted a discography that will be reissued by Night Dreamer to accompany the release of Penta, all transferred from the original master tapes.

Although both Snijders and his father have been knighted for their services to music in the Netherlands, with Ronald receiving the country’s most prestigious jazz award, The Boy Edgar Prize, in 2022, his work has been largely obscured to the international jazz audiences. An exposition of Snijders’ virtuosic range and beguiling compositional prowess, Penta traces musical trajectories from Suriname to Europe and back again to fuse a sound that is both timeless and original in equal measure.

A jazz heavyweight who draws Latin, Brazilian and Surinamese influences into dialogue with the electric sound of Weather Report, Ronald Snijders released four albums between 1977 and 1983 that have become holy grails of deep, forward-thinking fusion. Over forty years, 50 releases and 5,000 compositions later, Penta represents a statement return from an unsung jazz great ready to pick up his dues.