Everything in life is based on rhythm: walking, breathing, the heartbeat, day and night. Chris Joris, one of Europe’s best percussionists, has always been on a quest to experience the rhythms of different cultures and traditions. The result of his expeditions was the Klara Prize for Jazz in 2003, for his CD ‘Out of the Night’. That same year he wrote his ‘Oratorio Ishango’, the first African oratorio, with Daniel Schell. They used a wide variety of instruments such as the likembé and the djembé, the ashiko and the udu, to name but a few. These are instruments that are usually associated with world music, but Joris uses them to expand the roots of jazz: Africa and Europe. The past year he was frequently seen on stage with the Brussels Jazz Orchestra, performing his ‘Percussive Portrait’. At the Flemish Jazz meeting you will, however, get to experience the Chris Joris Quartet, a somewhat revised version of his ‘Experience’, which has been touring through Europe since 1997 and with whom he has released two amazing CD’s.