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The Quartet Live at BIMHUIS Amsterdam

By BIMHUIS

Dutch Jazz master Benjamin Herman, Peter Beets, Ruud Jacobs and Han Bennink have been playing together for five years and swinging from day one, when they hit the stage on New Year's Eve 2013. Since then, every one of their performances has offered something fresh and surprising. A highlight of their collaboration was a series of performances in 2016 dedicated to the music of Misha Mengelberg, in 2016, which were captured on an album on ICP Records. 'Herman ...

Han Bennink: Hazentijd

By Eyal Hareuveni

Han BenninkHazentijdData Images2010 Han Bennink, Dutch master drummer and one of the godfathers of European improvised music, may not need an introduction, but this insightful documentary by director Jellie Dekker and producer Dick Lucas--who together made the documentary on another godfather of Dutch improvised music, pianist Misha Mengelberg--proves that most people probably have plenty more to learn about Bennink. Bennink has gained a reputation as a natural, intuitive ...

Han Bennink Trio: Parken

By David McLean

Han Bennink Trio Parken Ilk Music 2009

One of the most iconic players from the European free-music scene, Han Bennink's 50 plus year career has seen the Dutch master drummer traverse through a multitude of musical settings. Bennink's journey has embraced revolutionary, avant-jazz recordings such as saxophonist Peter Brotzmann's ferocious Machine Gun (FMP, 1968) and accompanying reed player Eric Dolphy on his final recording, Last Date (Verve, 1964), to providing the backbone ...

Han Bennink: Monk Volume One

By Mark Corroto

Pity the straight man that has to play alongside the comedic drummer Han Bennink. In his 50+ years of music making, no gesture, tap, thump, or strike has gone unnoticed. And while he has covered the music of Thelonious Monk before, never has Monk, as interpreted by Bennink, sounded better.On paper this recording, a piano trio, figures for a standard trip around Monk's planet. Funny how this music was considered odd or strange, back in the day. The ...

Han Bennink: Monk Volume One

By John Kelman

With so many tribute albums to jazz icon Thelonious Monk already made, it's hard to imagine how much more can be added to the pianist's canon without becoming redundant. Perhaps, however, it's not all that surprising that an album of Monk material featuring Dutch wildman/drummer Han Bennink, piano phenom Michiel Borstalp and bassist Ernst Glerum, would find fresh new ways to interpret Monk's body of work and, with no shortage of New Dutch Swing, bring its own sense of playful ...

Han Bennink: Amplified Trio and People I Like

By Ivana Ng

Han Bennink Amplified Trio Treader 2007 The Blueprint Project People I Like Improvised Communications 2007 Han Bennink's virtuosic drumming and irresistible joviality are in high demand. While visiting the UK in 2006, the Dutch percussionist was invited to record with John Coxon (electric guitar) and Ashley Wales (electronics/samples), the duo collectively known as ...

The Blueprint Project with Han Bennink: People I Like

By Nic Jones

The Blueprint Project's fourth release finds them working with Han Bennink, one of the greatest drummers to come out of Europe, so there can be no faulting their choice of company. The music they make together is nothing short of glorious.

The program of group originals is understandably well tailored to the trio's distinctive group conception, something they've had the chance to hone over a period of time, and Bennink brings his characteristic work to bear in a way that's ...

The Blueprint Project with Han Bennink: People I Like

By Mark Corroto

Adding drummer Han Bennink to a recording with an established group is like inviting a seven year old into your china shop after he has downed a couple of Red Bulls. Both are impossible to ignore, and you know your world will be changed forever.

This is The Blueprint Project's second official release, fourth if you count their prior unnamed collaborations. The trio consisting of Jared Sims(reeds), Eric Hofbauer(guitar), and Tyson Rogers(piano) met at Boston's New England Conservatory ...

Bennink/Clark/Glerum: Home Safely

By Eric J. Iannelli

Home Safely is the first release by Favorite Records, a record label formed this year, though the album itself was cut over a decade ago at Amsterdam’s Bimhuis. The trio features Chicago-born pianist Curtis Clark, bandleader for this session and the composer of all twelve tracks found here, as well as two prolific Dutchmen: drummer Han Bennink and bassist Ernst Glerum.

This outstanding disc has the mood and sound of a mainstream jazz release from the late ’50s ...

Drummer Han Bennink

By Andrey Henkin

Do not take Han Bennink lightly. While his exuberance is refreshing and entertaining, above all he is a passionate and committed musician with an international resume spanning five decades. The son of a concert percussionist, Dutchman Bennink has been around the drums since birth. Bennink recounts, “I was a lonely child and went with my father all the time to the studio when I was a pupil. I would sit next to him and soon as the studio ...

Han Bennink & Evan Parker: The Grass is Greener

By John Eyles

Now Evan Parker has his own label, one would assume that its releases of his own music are those he considers among his best. That was certainly true of Lines Burnt in Light, the label's extraordinary debut on which Parker played solo soprano sax. Han Bennink & Evan Parker are an excellent pairing, but this release falls well within the boundaries of “normal improvisation." In other words, it does not have the same immediate appeal as Lines Burnt in Light, ...

Han Bennink & Terrie Ex: The Laughing Owl

By AAJ Staff

Try to imagine the sounds of a laughing owl, and you might find yourself hooted out of your somber existence. Dutch drummer Han Bennink has made a career out of his quick-witted sense of humor, and he finds a willing partner on this expedition with the Ex's noisy guitarist, Terrie Ex. Both players certainly have the experience to justify a fresh round of free improvisation. The 17 pieces on The Laughing Owl range from spacious, open interplay to rousing, intense ...