Tobias Klein

Tobias Klein (*Saarbrücken, Germany, 1967) moved to Amsterdam in 1990 and studied saxophone and bass clarinet at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. As a performing musician, he specializes in the alto saxophone and the low clarinets (bass- and contra bass-). His focus lies mainly on improvised music and contemporary jazz. He incorporates elements of contemporary composed music, live-electronics and techniques derived from African, Eastern European and Asian music. Tobias currently (co-)leads the groups Spinifex and Lackritz. He regularly composes for both contemporary jazz groups and chamber music ensembles. In 2010, he was awarded the North Sea Jazz Composition Commission. Tobias has toured and recorded with many outstanding musicians such as Benoît Delbecq, Marc Ducret, Jozef Dumoulin, Dr. Mysore Manjunath, B.C. Manjunath, Claudio Puntin, Timuçin Sahin, Emmanuel Scarpa, Chris Speed, Jasper Stadhouders, Raphael Vanoli, Oguz Buyukberber and Teun Verbruggen.

Spinifex: Undrilling the Hole

Read "Undrilling the Hole" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero

by Vincenzo Roggero
March 13, 2025

Spinifex è un gruppo eterogeneo per esperienza e per provenienza geografica, con base ad Amsterdam, che con Undrilling the Hole giunge alla nona pubblicazione, la quinta con questa formazione, un sestetto con tre fiati, sezione ritmica e chitarra. A differenza dei precedenti album nei quali le composizioni provenivano dalla penna di diversi componenti del gruppo, in quest'ultimo la scrittura è tutta appannaggio di Tobias Klein, il fondatore nel lontano 2010 dell'ensemble, allora in forma di nonetto. Questa novità ...

Album Review

Klein / Rosaly / Warelis: Tendresse

Read "Tendresse" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
February 8, 2025

Tendresse unites three talented improvisers residing in the cosmopolitan melting pot of Amsterdam in a low key frenzy of deep listening and inspired response. German reedman Tobias Klein has been an inhabitant in the Dutch city for over thirty years, while Polish pianist Marta Warelis and American drummer Frank Rosaly are more recent transplants. However, whatever their geographical origin they clearly share a taste for off-the-map excursions that build impact through the accumulation of small finely-judged details. ...

Album Review

Spinifex: Undrilling the Hole

Read "Undrilling the Hole" reviewed by Lawrence Peryer

by Lawrence Peryer
December 19, 2024

The Amsterdam-based sextet Spinifex borrowed their name from a hardy Australian grass known for thriving in harsh conditions. For nearly two decades, they have forged original music from seemingly incompatible elements--mathematical structures, punk aggression, free jazz fire. Their ninth album, Undrilling the Hole, presents seven new compositions from alto saxophonist Tobias Klein that showcase the band's singular musical vocabulary. Mathematics shapes Klein's compositions, but not in obvious ways. “Nothing fancy," Klein explains. “The basic proportions=-twos and threes, sometimes ...

Album Review

Spinifex: Beats The Plague

Read "Beats The Plague" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
January 24, 2022

Finally, a band of brothers retaliates against the coronavirus. The scientists and the anti-vax antipodes have had their day. Time for some partisan guerrilla action. Okay, maybe just a pipe dream, but these nine tracks by the Amsterdam based Spinifex deliver a much needed counterattack to this diabolical infective agent. Recorded in June of 2021, Beats The Plague is the band's seventh release. It follows Soufifex (TryTone, 2019) where the band looked East for inspiration from Sufi music. ...

My Favourite Things

Tobias Klein e il Questionario di Proust

by Paolo Peviani
March 10, 2021

Il tratto principale della mia musica Musica che risuoni dentro. La qualità che desidero nei musicisti che suonano con me La capacità di vivere una situazione musicale. Come musicista, il momento in cui sono stato più felice Quando sembra che la musica si suoni (o si scriva) da sola. Come musicista, il mio principale difetto L'impazienza. La mia più grande ...

"Catching that elusive energy, spontaneity and directness lies at the root of Klein's work ... He likes to keep his listeners spellbound by playing with their perception of time." Armand Serpenti, Trouw

"With soloing of utter abandon, Spinifex was still driven by idiosyncratic and complex compositional constructs, where challenging unison lines and stop/start rhythms were juxtaposed with passages of more complete freedom. Adventurous yet still with potent (albeit knotty) grooves to latch onto..." (John Kelman, allaboutjazz.com, about Spinifex)

"The irregular rhythms in this patchwork of styles continue with relentless energy… the math metal synergy shines through the tight changes which are fascinatingly intertwined with wild solos". (Tim Sprangers, Volkskrant, about Spinifex)