Han Bennink
| Han Bennink | |
|---|---|
Han Bennink at the HotHouse in Chicago on 3 November 2004. Photo by Seth Tisue.
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Han Bennink |
| Born | 17 April 1942 |
| Origin | Zaandam, the Netherlands |
| Genres |
Free jazz Avant-garde jazz |
| Occupation(s) | drummer, percussionist |
| Instruments | drums, percussion, saxophone, clarinet, violin, banjo, piano |
| Associated acts | Irene Schweizer, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins and Eric Dolphy |
Han Bennink (born 17 April 1942) is a Dutch jazz drummer and percussionist. On occasion his recordings have featured him playing clarinet, violin, banjo and piano.
Though perhaps best known as one of the pivotal figures in early European free jazz and free improvisation, Bennink has worked in essentially every school of jazz, and is described by critic Chris Kelsey as "one of the unfortunately rare musicians whose abilities and interests span jazz's entire spectrum." Known for often injecting slapstick and absurdist humor into his performances, Bennink has had especially fruitful long-term partnerships with pianist Misha Mengelberg and saxophonist Peter Brötzmann. Han is a brother of saxophonist Peter Bennink.
Bennink was born in Zaandam, the son of a classical percussionist. He played the drums and the clarinet during his teens.
Through the 1960s he drummed with a number of American musicians visiting the Netherlands, including Dexter Gordon, Wes Montgomery, Sonny Rollins and Eric Dolphy (he can be heard on Dolphy's recording, Last Date (1964)).
He subsequently became a central figure in the emerging European free improvisation scene. In 1963 he formed a quartet with pianist Misha Mengelberg and saxophonist Piet Noordijk which had a number of different bassists and which played at the 1966 Newport Jazz Festival, and in 1967 he was a co-founder of the Instant Composers Pool with Mengelberg and Willem Breuker, which sponsored Dutch avant garde performances. From the late 1960s he played in a trio with saxophonist Peter Brötzmann and Belgian pianist Fred Van Hove, which became a duo after Van Hove's departure in 1976. Through much of the 1990s he played in Clusone 3 (also known as the Clusone Trio), a trio with saxophonist/clarinetist Michael Moore and cellist Ernst Reijseger. He has often played duos with Mengelberg and collaborated with him alongside other musicians.
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