Ekseption

From The Jokers to Ekseption

Ekseption grew out of a Haarlem school group, The Jokers, founded in 1958 by Rein van den Broek, later The Incrowd, and took its name in 1967 because the earlier one was taken. Van den Broek, on trumpet and flugelhorn, was the only member on every album. In 1968 the band won the Loosdrecht Jazz Competition and signed to Phonogram. Philips rejected their chosen single, so the keyboardist Rick van der Linden proposed a 45 joining Beethoven's Fifth Symphony with Khachaturian's Sabre Dance, "The 5th", a hit in Holland and elsewhere in Europe that set the classical-rock direction; a gig by The Nice pushed them further that way. The line-up on the early records included Cor Dekker on bass, Peter de Leeuwe on drums and vocals, Tony Vos and Dick Remelink on saxophones, and Steve Allet on vocals in 1970.

Their Dutch hits included "The 5th" (1969, number three), "Air" (1969, number one for two weeks), "Italian Concerto" and "Adagio" (1970), "Peace Planet" (1971, number two) and "Ave Maria" (1971). Ekseption (1969), Beggar Julia's Time Trip (1970, which won an Edison), Ekseption 3 (1970), Ekseption 00.04 (1971, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on "Piccadilly Sweet") and Ekseption 5 (1972) went gold, with Ekseption 5 their only album released in the US.

After van der Linden

Van der Linden left after Trinity (1973) and formed Trace, a trio modelled on ELP; Hans Jansen replaced him, and the band turned toward jazz with Bingo (1974), Mindmirror (1975) and Back to the Classics (1976 or 1977) before disbanding in 1976. The offshoot Spin made two albums, and in 1978 Trace and Spin merged as Ekseption, making Ekseption '78, Cum Laude (1979), Dance Macabre (1981) and Ekseption '89. In 2003 van der Linden formed a new Ekseption with Canadian musicians. Live releases include Live at Idssteiner Schloss (1978), The Reunion (1994) and Live in Germany (2003), and the DVD The Story of Ekseption. In the NPO Radio 2 Top 2000, "Air" has appeared from 1999 to 2017, at best 700th in 2005.