Robin Verheyen Starbound

The Belgian jazz scene is blooming and booming, with many young players pushing the envelope. Pianist Jef Neve is realising an international breakthrough thanks to his intimate cd with the excellent singer José James. Jef has a new cd out this september with his pianotrio, and it will certainly please those who are fond of EST or Brad Mehldau.
But perhaps the most talented Belgian guy is saxophone player Robin Verheyen. He has been living in New York for a couple of years now, where he plays with avantgarde musicians like Ralph Alessi, Jeff Davis or Tom Rainey. His most recent cd, Starbound on the German Pirouet-label, may be the best 'Belgian' jazz cd I ever heard.
It features Robins quartet, with Bill Carrothers on piano, Nicolas Thys (who lived in NY for seven years but returned to Brussels) on bass and Dré Pallemaerts (very active on the French jazz scene) on drums. They play nine originals by Robin, one by Nicolas, and the standard I Wish I Knew. The result is very satisfying. Robin has a mature tone on his sax, especially on soprano. I'm not the only one who says so: Branford Marsalis invited Robin several times on stage to sit in with his band and praised his soprano sound in particular.  And a Brazilian website (http://jazzstation-oblogdearnaldodesouteiros.blogspot.com/2009/12/best-jazz-of-2009.html) ranked him as best soprano player of 2009, before Dave Liebman and Jan Garbarek.
Robins compositions are very entertaining, opener On the House being my favorite. This is modern jazz I really like. It certainly has an avantgarde flavour to it, but it is still very accessible. And the band is terrific.
Robin has a new cd out his autumn, with another band. I'm definitely looking forward to it.
Peter