trombone ensemble (1 alto/tenor tromb - 5 tenor tromb - 2 bass tromb)

Wim Bex wrote this piece commissioned by Sandor Hendriks as a tribute to a friend/colleague trombonist Frans Theeuwen, who unfortunately died much too soon. Bex never got to meet the man, but he was able to form an image of him thanks to conversations with Sandor and some other colleagues who knew Frans well.
Frans Theeuwen was a very talented, classically trained trombonist. You can listen to him here with Flexible Brass, Fanfare Liturgiques by Tomasi, in which he plays the great solo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oggVjR2kCZU (solo from 2:55)
His heart, however, was with jazz music and the fact that he never continued in that, he himself experienced as a great loss.
Wim told all stories about Frans in a piece with several characters. After the initial fanfare (incidentally inspired by Tomasi) he translated the main theme into several other forms. Gradually the beating heart for jazz music resounds more and more strongly, until the moment that it cannot be stopped and the piece ends in a jazz-waltz with an improvisation as a metaphor for the freedom that has been broken loose. From that moment on, only gratitude and joy speaks.
Unfortunately, an aggressive form of cancer snatched Frans away from life in a very short time. You can literally hear this, the heart beats a little faster and then finally stops - you can hear the heartbeat machine switch to its monotone la, which stops abruptly when the machine is turned off.