L-Town Connection initially started out in 2010 as a sextet that almost exclusively played tunes from Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers repertoire from the early 60s. Changing the line-up to a quintet, the five members included original compositions to the repertoire while staying true to the roots of the music they like most: hard bop. Drawing influences from the music of Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard and other 60s pioneers, the quintet blends the in-your-face approach of hard bop with the more explorative modal music of that era and the occasional hip-hop groove to create a dynamic, thriving kind of music in which the blues is always right around the corner.
The band consists of: Raf Hendrickx (leader, guitar,composition) Andy Willems (piano, composition) Alessandro Russo (tenor saxophone) Tom Lambrecht (drums) Stefano Agostini (double bass) all of wich are students at the Lemmens institute in Leuven.
L-Town Connection won the Young Talent Contest at the 2011 Dinant Jazz festival.
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