Born: 1964 Primary Instrument: Trombone
Versatile trombone master May Peters was born in 1964 in Echt- Netherlands, and started to play the flute at the age of five. While still very young she started to study horn and became a member of the local brass band. At age fifteen she switched to trombone. In the meantime she was also playing electronic organ, and in 1987 she graduated at the Conservatory- Maastricht ‘Electronic Organ’ Keyboard/ Synthesizer.
Three years later she graduated at the Conservatory Hilversum where she had studied with Bart van Lier ‘Trombone Jazz’. Beginning also in 1990, she toured with the Glenn Miller Orchestra Holland/Germany and the Glenn Miller Memorial Orchestra France/Holland/United Kingdom (trombone/bass trombone/ close-harmony choir) throughout France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Sweden and Tunisia. She was also a member of the Belushi Memorial Blues Brothers Band, and several other Dutch and German pop groups (on keyboard, trombone and as an arranger).
During concerts in Paris with Javier Plaza y Orquesta Son Risa, Peters connected with Puerto Rican bass player Tomas Pérez , and in 1994 left for the Caribbean, where she became immersed in Afro Caribbean music. After her return to the Netherlands in 1995, she studied Spanish, out of homesickness to the Caribbean, obtaining her teacher’s degree after two years. After a five week tour on a cruise ship between Stockholm and Helsinki with Perfume de Salsa (Leticia y su Rumba Dama) she kept on playing with this Dutch/Cuban formation. Shortly after, she became the musical director of Big Band Beeg, Grevenbicht. She would transcribe, arrange, and direct a Mambo-project: Fiesta Latina with guest musicians: from Venezuela: Javier Plaza (vocals and percussion) and Gerardo Rosales (percussion) , Jorge Martinez (piano) from Cuba, Randal Corsen (piano) Curaçao, Liber Torriente (percussion), Cuba, La Tigresa and Daniel Patriasz (percussion) Holland.
In May 1998 the Royal Dutch Embassy of the Netherlands asked her to represent the Netherlands on the EURO DAY GALA, being the director of the Big Band from the Music Academy Gauteng, South Africa. From 2000 until 2003 she was the musical director from the Blue Basement Big Band of Hoevelaken. At the same time between 2001 and 2006 she played trombone in the Extended Band of Surinam flute player Ronald Snijders, with whom she recorded several compact discs. After half a year of managing the Ronald Snijders Black Straight Music she started Coqui Promotions, an agency for salsa groups.
In the winter of 2004-2005 she did several concerts and TV shows in San Juan, Puerto Rico, with Los Pleneros del Quinto Olivo and William Cepeda. From August 2006 to May 2007 she was a member of the Department Jazz and Caribbean Music at the Conservatory of Puerto Rico, where she taught Trombone Jazz and Caribbean Music. Being the trombonist of the Orchestra Elias Lopés she played with trumpet man Luis Perico Ortiz.
From January until July 2008 she stayed in Curaçao, where she participated at the Festival di Tumba 2008. She founded a Music Education Program for Children’s home Brakke Put. May Peters was a guest in the Television show Morú Bon Dia (TeleCuraçao) and Konklushión (TV11) and did successful workshops, concerts and lectures for the Fundashión di Músikos ( zie Pers Curaçao taller) and the International School of Music zie http://www.caribemagazine.nl/ .
Besides being a freelance musician, May is the reviewer of Music for the Antilliaans Dagblad, Curaçao. And she is the correspondent for Puerto Rico and Curaçao (music) www.caribemagazine.nl Reisjournaal.
Source: May Peters
