After a period of serious illness, Mellema has reinvented himself as a musician. The familiar Amstel Quartet was left behind and they went their own way. According to him, the music became more intuitive and more intense. A story is told on stage and the viewer cannot help but continue to watch mesmerized. Ties is renowned both as a soloist and as a player in an ensemble. Many music prizes were won, including the prestigious Dutch Music Prize.
PEAX was born as a multi-stylistic cross-over ensemble of saxophonist Ties Mellema and percussionist / drummer Barry Jurjus. PEAX integrates all the music that resonated with Barry and Ties in their 20+ years of careers as classical and cross over musicians. Their inspiration comes from minimal music, funk, jazz, baroque, avant-garde, drum and bass. The worldwide Corona crisis marked the beginning of this duo. Barry and Ties both suddenly had time to get together and share their ideas about music. Both experienced a strong musical connection, which resulted in the creation of their own pieces.
You can already order the PEAX “RESET” CD via Bandcamp.