Explosive stage presence isn’t enough to describe the way Nik West moves, wows, and shocks crowds everywhere. With credits that include work with Quincy Jones Productions, Prince, Macy Gray, John Mayer, Glee, American Idol, Dave Stewart of Eurythmics fame, and more, bassist, singer, and songwriter Nik West isn’t just a musician; she’s an embodiment of individuality. With a style as unique as a fingerprint, she invites you to embrace your true self and move to your own beat.
This young funk-fueled dynamo is a force of nature, blending genres and breaking boundaries with every note she plays and every lyric she sings. Named “the bass icon of this generation’ by Rollingstone, and “The Queen of the Bassists” by Rollingstone France, her bass lines are like a heartbeat you can dance to. But Nik isn’t just about bass – her vocals are a journey through emotions. From sultry and smooth to high-energy and electrifying, her voice tells stories that hit you right in the feels. Known for impressively recording a cover of “Back In Black” by AC/DC, Nik shocked many rock fanatics and became a new favorite of Steven Tyler.
Her 2nd album, Moody is “Genre-Bending Brilliance”: Funk, Soul, Rock – Nik effortlessly weaves them all together into a sonic tapestry that’s uniquely her own. Features include Larry Graham, Cindy Blackman-Santana, Narada Michael Walden (Whitney Houston, Santana, Sting), and more. “Catch Me If You Can” was featured on Netflix’s Virgin River and Apple TV original, Amber Brown. Her funky bass lines can also be heard in ESPN sports programs all over the world.
She has toured as the support act for George Clinton/Parliament Funkadelic. She has appeared on the covers of virtually every bass magazine and has been featured in numerous publications for People Magazine, Vanity Fair, Teen Vogue, Rollingstone, Ok! Magazine, Billboard, Afropunk and more.
“Nik West is definitely bringing back the funk groovement and I love everything about what she stands for!”
Maaike Girardin is a Dutch Canadian singer and songwriter who travels the world with her music. Her signature voice, full of feminine sensitivity, discusses hidden thoughts, confessions and broken hearts, which she conveys with charm to her listener as an expert by experience.
Maaike invites you to relive her physical and emotional journeys, but this time through her poetic lyrics and folky guitar playing. In recent years, Maaike has played on stages all over the world, including in Israel, Vietnam and Australia. She collaborated with many musicians of different nationalities and genres. Performances at the Swedish embassy in Hanoi and the Blue Note Jazz Club in Milan are moments she can look back on with pride.
She has something personal. She introduces you to her world. She is naked and shares her emotions. She shares who she really is. It doesn’t sound like anyone else. She is only Maaike Girardin. This is what an artist does. – Dariana Koumanova Conductor of the Sanremo Festival Orchestra.
Maaike Girardin has won multiple awards at the Artist Voice Music conference in Italy. In the summer of 2019 she returned to the Netherlands to devote herself full-time to her music in combination with her Songwriting studies at the Rock Academy. Maaike is currently working on her debut album with Italian guitarist Alberto Ammendolia, which will be released in 2022. This year she is in the national final of Tour Music Fest (Rome, Italy) for the second time. She also played at the Circolo Festival, KRANG festival in the Netherlands, and Wonderest festival in Hungary this year. Her ambition is to touch as many souls as possible with her music and to relive the connection between people.
JEFF BERLIN TRIO
Jeff Berlin | Bass
Jorge Vera | Keyboards
Asaf Sirkis | Drums
Jeff Berlin is a flexible and powerful electric bassist. He was one of the major fusion bassists to emerge during the mid-’70s. His father sang opera and his mother played piano. Berlin had nine years of violin lessons starting from when he was five and was considered a child prodigy, appearing with orchestras in New York City. However, when he was 14 he switched directions and began playing electric bass; Jack Bruce was an early hero. Berlin attended the Berklee College of Music for a time and then moved back to New York. For a short period he was in a trio with Allan Holdsworth and Tony Williams. In 1975 he recorded in Europe with Yes keyboardist Patrick Moraz and then in New York he became quite busy with studio work, club dates, and record sessions. Berlin played with many top musicians including Pat Martino, Gil Evans, Toots Thielemans, Al DiMeola, George Benson, Earl Klugh, Larry Coryell, Bob James, Dave Liebman, Herbie Mann, Ray Barretto, the Brecker Brothers and others. Jeff Berlin was also a regular member of Bill Bruford’s band (which included guitarist Holdsworth and keyboardist Dave Stewart) for a couple years starting in 1977; four recordings resulted.
Jeff Berlin subsequently moved to Los Angeles, worked in clubs with Scott Henderson and Frank Gambale, became an educator (helping to found the Bass Institute of Technology), played rock (including with Frank Zappa), and turned down an opportunity to join Van Halen. During 1985-1986 Berlin recorded two fusion/rock dates for the soon-defunct Passport label. He moved to Florida in 1990 and toured with Yes, John McLaughlin, Billy Cobham, Kazumi Watanabe, and other musicians from a wide variety of creative genres. In addition, he began teaching at the Players School. His third set as a leader, 1997’s Taking Notes for Denon, was Berlin’s most jazz-oriented set to date. He continued releasing a number of albums into the 21st century, including Lumpy Jazz (2004) with his core trio featuring pianist Richard Drexler and drummer Danny Gottlieb; the highly regarded In Harmony’s Way (2004) with guest appearances by saxophonist David Liebman, vibraphonist Gary Burton, and guitarist Mike Stern; Ace of Bass/Aneurythms (2006); and the piano trio-oriented High Standards (2010), again featuring Drexler and Gottlieb in addition to the session leader.
Website: https://www.jeffberlinmusicgroup.com/
JORGE VERA
Pianist, composer, drummer, music producer began his professional career very early at the age of 14 in Santiago de Chile where he was born. He quickly became one of the most requested musicians in his country and participated in various musical programs accompanying artists such as Miguel Bosé, Luis Jara or David Bisbal. He was also the official pianist of the well-known “Festival de Viña del Mar” between 2005 and 2010 while recording with the local jazz elite, artists such as Christian Gálvez or Carlos Figueroa.
Asaf left Israel to Europe and eventually settled in London in April 1999. He soon become part of the UK Jazz and world music scene, and started working with Adel Salameh, a Palestinian aud player/composer with whom he recorded the album ‘Nuzha’ which featured Asaf’s Middle Eastern frame drum playing. Soon after arriving in the UK Asaf re-formed the Inner Noise band with Steve Lodder (Church Organ) and Mike Outram (Guitar).
In 2000 Asaf met Gilad Atzmon, which was the start of a major creative collaboration. With Atzmon they formed The Orient House Ensemble, and this band went on to record 7 albums (‘Orient House’, ‘Nostalgico’, ‘Exile’, ‘Musik’, ‘Artie Fishel & the Promised Band’, ‘Refuge’, and ‘In Loving Memory Of America’). OHE’s album ‘Exile’ won the ‘Best CD of the Year’ category at the BBC Jazz Award 2003 and nominated for the ‘Best Band’ category in 2004. Asaf performed with The OHE in many prestigious festivals and venues in the UK and in Europe until April 2009 when he left the band to focus on his own writing and work with his trio.
In 2003 Asaf recorded the Inner Noise’ first album (‘Inner Noise’, Konnex KCD 5113). ‘Inner Noise’ is widely considered a groundbreaking album and the music has been described as a new gender – ‘Gothic Jazz’. The CD was chosen as one of the best albums of 2005 at the CHUOFM89 radio jazz station in Canada.
In 2006 Asaf started a unique collaboration with the highly acclaimed saxophonist/composer Tim Garland and has enjoyed making seven albums with him so far; notably ‘The Mystery’ (featuring Chick Corea and the Northern Sinfonia Orchestra), ‘Lighthouse’ (released on ACT, featuring Gwilym Simcock on piano), and ‘Songs For The north Sky’. Asaf has tours around the world with Tim’s various projects.
With the Inner Noise band Asaf made two more albums, ‘We Are Falling’ (Konnex 2005) and ‘The Song Within’ (SAM Productions/Egea 2007) which was selected as one of the best albums of 2007 at the ‘All About Jazz’ web-site by John Kelman. While developing his own compositions, Asaf formed the Asaf Sirkis Trio in 2007 which features Greek guitarist Tassos Spiliotopoulos and Israeli bassist Yaron Stavi. This trio has released three albums; ‘The Monk’ in (SAM Productions/Egea, 2008), ‘Letting Go’ (Stonedbird Productions, 2010) and ‘Shepherds Stories’ (2013, Stonedbird Productions) which has been selected twice as one of 2013’s best Jazz albums of the year at the All About Jazz website.
Since 2014, Asaf has been co-leading the SIrkis/Bialas IQ together with Polish composer/singer extraordinaire Sylwia Bialas (with Frank Harrison on keyboards & Kevin Glasgow on bass). Their debut album ‘Come To Me’ has been receiving some rave reviews and been selected as one of the best of 2015 by Mark Sullivan at the All About Jazz website.
In recent years Asaf has been studying Konnakol – the south Indian vocal percussion language – with master mridangamist Paramasamy Kirupakaran and has been integrating this system in his teaching, composing and rhythmic approach. Asaf has developed an easy, step-by-step method of practicing Konnakol that can help any western instrumentalist or vocalist of any musical genre and level to increase rhythmic awareness and focus. Nowadays, Sirkis is involved in a variety of educational work, bringing Konnakol as a useful tool of understanding rhythm to western music education. Notably he has given many workshops and seminars around the world on the subject and has a YouTube channel with some basic Konnakol tutorials.
In 2016 Asaf started a collaboration with the Moonjune record label (founded by Leonardo Pavkovic) – a collaboration that has led to the recording of about 20 albums to date with international artists such as Gary Husband (UK), Jorge Padro (Spain), Carles Benavent (Spain), Beledo (Uruguay), Nguyen Le’ (France), Dwiki Dharmawan (Indonesia), Mark Wingfield (UK/USA), Dusan Jevtovic (Serbia/Spain), Nicolas Meier (Switzerland/UK), Markus Reuter (Germany), and many more.
In 2021 Asaf joined Emma Rawicz ‘Chroma’ band and recorded an album for the ACT record label as well as touring with her band in Europe and UK.
In January 2023, Asaf joined legendary British Jazz-Rock group Soft Machine and has been touring world-wide with the band as well as recording a single (released 2024) for My Only Wish record label. 2024 sees Asaf touring with the band extensively.
Asaf played or has been playing around the world with artists such as: Dave Holland, Jacob Collier, Tim Garland, Celine Bonacina, Gwilym Simcock, Larry Coryell, Nicolas Meier, Jeff Berlin, John Abercrombie, Bob Sheppard, Jeff Berlin’s Quartet, Norman Watt-Roy (off the Blockheads), Wilco Johnson, Soft Machine, Robert Wyatt, Mark Egan, Mark Wingfield, Natacha Atlas, Dave Liebman, David Binney, Gary Husband, pianist John Taylor, Norma Winstone, Kenny Wheeler, Andy Sheppard, Lenny Stern, John Law, Peter King, Stan Sulzman, Barbaros Erkose (Turkey), Dwiki Dharmawan (Indonesia), Bela Szakcsi-Lokatos (Hungary), Glauco Venier (Italy), Yuri Goloubev (Russia), Klaus Gesing (Austria), Eyal Maoz (NYC), Simon Fisher Turner, Phil Robson, Mark Latimer, John Etherigde and more…
JORGE VERA