Willem Breuker

Dutch saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and bandleader Willem Breuker is probably the single most well known, prolific, and influential figure in 20th century Dutch music. From his early, free jazz days to his role as long-time leader of the successful Willem Breuker Kollektief, he accomplished much in creative music from the 1960s on. In addition to performing, Breuker helped instigate changes in government subsidies for jazz and improvised music, he co-founded two important independent, Dutch labels -- ICP and BVHaast -- and he unabashedly mixed genres and incorporated humor and theater into his compositions, with a love of experimentation and a definite dedication to music. On November 4, 1944, Willem Breuker was born into the final (and bare bones) winter of WWII and grew up in a middle-class home in Amsterdam East. He recalls a childhood filled with sound and music: loud neighbors, the yelling fish merchant, a marching band that rehearsed nearby, a barrel organist -- all of these would leave their mark on the young boy. He first heard jazz around the age of 10, when he heard Dutch alto saxophonist Piet Noordijk (with whom Breuker would later play) over the radio. Breuker began taking music lessons around this time, studying singing, and, eventually, the clarinet. Even then, Breuker enjoyed improvising, and it wouldn't be very long before he wanted to play his own music. From early on, Breuker was listening not only to jazz such as Count Basie, but also modern classical including Bela Bartok, Charles Ives and Schoenberg. In fact, Breuker has told of being interested in just about every kind of music he heard, except for rock & roll. He had the opportunity to learn another instrument, the bass clarinet, by joining a group which already owned one but needed a...