The first full October weekend carries a particularly tidy listening route at Art Base. From Thursday 1 October through Saturday 3 October, the Brussels art centre presents three concerts at 20:00, each framed by a different musical geography: Catherine Smet’s jazz-classical project, the Colombo-Kociolek-Frontini Tango Trio and Rebetiko Altana Trio. The sequence is useful because it gives a listener three sharply defined evenings in one room, with enough contrast to make the weekend feel mapped out.[1]

This is a themed roundup for listeners who enjoy following instrumental lineages across borders and eras. Art Base’s own calendar moves from “Jazz-Classical” to “Tango Argentina” and “Greece Rebetiko” across those three nights. The through-line is intimacy: small-group music whose identity lives in arrangement, timbre, repertoire and the conversation among players. Start on Thursday, return Friday, then leave space for Saturday’s Greek urban-folk repertoire to close the run.[1]

Thursday, 1 October: Catherine Smet’s jazz-classical evocations

Catherine Smet’s Take Time Project opens the run on Thursday 1 October at 20:00 with Évocations Jazz et Classiques. Art Base places the concert directly in its jazz-classical strand, a concise indication of the evening’s meeting point. That framing makes this the quietest entry point to the three-night route: an opportunity to listen for how a programme carrying both labels shapes its material, without having to turn the evening into a genre quiz. The value here lies in beginning with a project explicitly built around evocation, then tracing where the following nights take that sense of musical memory.[1]

See which of your friends are going, and find people to go with.

Get the app

Download CrowdMate on the App Store Get CrowdMate on Google Play

Friday, 2 October: Argentine tango in trio scale

On Friday 2 October at 20:00, the Colombo-Kociolek-Frontini Tango Trio brings the focus toward Argentine tango. The trio centres Fabrizio Colombo on bandoneon, Émilie Aridon-Kociolek on piano and Lucas Frontini on double bass. A Paris Jazz Club profile describes their shared interest in historic Argentine tango trios and identifies Colombo as the project’s arranger and composer. Those details make the trio format central: bandoneon, piano and bass can carry pulse, harmonic shape and dramatic weight without crowding the lines. At Art Base, it is the weekend’s clearest invitation to hear tango as listening music as well as dance-rooted music.[1][3]

Saturday, 3 October: Altana Trio and the rebetiko thread

Saturday 3 October, again at 20:00, turns to Rebetiko Altana Trio. The group’s own release notes say Orestis, Panos and Kostas met at a rebetiko jam in 2023, drawn together by Greek urban folk and rebetiko/laiko from the early post-war decades. Their recording credits list bouzouki and vocals across the trio. Visit Brussels describes the Art Base date as a programme reaching from pre-war repertoire toward laiko, alongside originals. That gives the final night a strong historical contour while keeping it connected to living players and a current small ensemble. It is a fitting final chapter after Thursday’s genre dialogue and Friday’s tango arrangements.[1][2][4]

Plan the three-night route

All three concerts take place at Art Base, 29 rue des Sables in Brussels: Catherine Smet’s Take Time Project on Thursday 1 October, Colombo-Kociolek-Frontini Tango Trio on Friday 2 October and Rebetiko Altana Trio on Saturday 3 October. Each is scheduled for 20:00. Treat the series as three separate tickets and three different listening temperatures, or choose the night whose musical vocabulary pulls strongest. Recheck Art Base’s official calendar before leaving, since start times, availability and practical arrangements can change.[1][4]

Sources

  1. Art Base programme — Art Base
  2. αλτάνα — Altana Trio on Bandcamp
  3. Colombo Kociołek Frontini Trio — Paris Jazz Club
  4. Rebetiko Altana Trio — Visit Brussels