As a young improviser I was always looking for a more personal and authentic way of expressing my music. Coming from a jazz background I felt I lacked something, as if I needed to find extra vocabulary. I started to get to know Maqams from the Middle East and later on Persian music, I found in this world a richness and finesse that I longed for. Combining these musical languages with my own, set me on a life long journey of musical exploration. It even brought me to a new instrument, actually a very old instrument, the 16th century violone, a predecessor of the double bass. This six string instrument gives me the nuance, detail and range to get even closer to the desired language that I call my own.