Biography Ab Baars
21-11-1955
Ab Baars - clarinet, tenor saxophone, shakuhachi, compositions
Education
Netherlands, Rotterdam Conservatory saxophone with Leo van Oostrom (1976 – 1982)
USA Los Angeles, clarinet with John Carter (1989)
Japan Tokyo, shakuhachi with Atsuya Okuda (2014)
Awards
Wessel Ilcken Prijs with Groep Ohm, 1975
Boy Edgar Prijs (the most prestigious award in the field of jazz and improvised music in The Netherlands), 1989
Biography
Saxophonist-clarinetist Ab Baars (Axel, The Netherlands 21 November 1955) is a mainstay in a number of important groups from the Dutch improvisation scene. In the past he was a member of the Guus Janssen Septet, the Theo Loevendie Quintet, the Corkestra, nowadays he focuses on the Instant Composers Pool Orchestra, his trio Fish Scale Sunrise, Perch Hen Brock & Rain, duos with violist-composer Ig Henneman (duo Baars-Henneman) and with trombonist Joost Buis (Baars-Buis) and the Kaja Draksler Octet. The Ab Baars Trio has been the main outlet for his work as a band leader and composer. Although he initially played the soprano and baritone saxophones as well, he concentrates on the tenor saxophone, shakuhachi and clarinet. For the latter instrument he consulted the American clarinetist John Carter, who helped him to fully master the instrument, and to further develop his idiosyncratic sound. Tonal color and solo structuring are the two main weapons in his musical arsenal. He therefore has a preference for horn players exploring the extremes of tuning and coloring, like the American saxophonists Roscoe Mitchell, Von Freeman and Albert Ayler. Since a number of years Baars has added the Japanese bamboo flute shakuhachi to his instruments, and has sought specialists to coach him in learning to play it. Baars has managed to blend these influences into a very personal style, or ‘Ab music’ as his mentor, pianist and composer Misha Mengelberg called it.
Ab Baars has been internationally acclaimed for both his solo and ensemble music performed in hundreds of concerts throughout Europe, North and South America, Japan and Australia over the past 40 years.
He received grants and commissions by the Dutch Creative Music Fund, NOS Jazzfestival, NOS Television and the Performing Arts Fund NL, for his compositions, projects and travels.
1970 - 1975
An uncle gives Ab Baars a tenor saxophone as a present, in a high tuning. When he wants to play pop music in his hometown Eindhoven, he finds out that his saxophone is ‘out of tune’. He buys a new instrument and starts playing in various local bands, including the Flying Spiderz. He also becomes a member of the symphonic wind band Philips Harmonie. He discovers jazz and starts taking workshops with bassist Niko Langenhuijsen. In 1975 the workshop leader includes him in the extended sextet version of his Groep Ohm, which is awarded the Wessel Ilcken Prijs (the major Dutch jazz award at the time) in the same year. Baars also makes his recording debut with the Ohm Sextet.
1976 - 1983
Baars starts studying at the Rotterdam Conservatory with Leo van Oostrom and immerses himself in the local improvisation scene. He follows workshops with cornetist Butch Morris, becomes a member of the Bunkersextet, and is one of the founding members of the group Cumulus. With one of his cohorts there, saxophonist and flutist Mariëtte Rouppe van der Voort, he strikes up a musical partnership that will stretch over the next few decades. It is through her that he ends up playing contemporary classical music in Orkest De Volharding. Theo Loevendie hears him playing there and invites him to join his Consort. When Loevendie forms a new quintet in 1983 with the rhythm section of his older quartet (bassist Arnold Dooyeweerd and drummer Martin van Duynhoven), he gets two young horn players on board: trombonist Wolter Wierbos and Ab Baars. The group records one LP for the VARAJazz label in 1985.
1984
Baars records his debut album as a leader: Carroussel (Data 841) On this he plays unaccompanied solos as well as duos and trios with Mariëtte Rouppe van der Voort and pianist Guus Janssen (under the name Trebbel). The pianist includes Baars in his septet, which records an eponymous LP for the Claxon label later that year. Baars is also featured on Guus Janssen’s LP '85….86' (1986) and his CD Dancing Series (1988).
1985
Ab Baars joins tenor saxophonist JC Tans’s Rockets (later rechristened JC Tans Orchestra) on clarinet and baritone saxophone. He records two albums with the band: Dance of the Tadpoles and Around the World.
1986
Misha Mengelberg asks Ab Baars to replace Paul Termos in the Instant Composers Pool Orchestra (ICP Orchestra). More than thirty years later the reed player is still one of the mainstays of the ensemble, and he often composes new work for the ensemble, too. Mengelberg is the originator of the famous description of Baars's style of playing: 'Ab music.' Bassist Maarten Altena also enlists Baars’s services. His arrival turns the Maarten Altena Octet into nonet, which records the LP Quick Step.
1987
The Amsterdam Bimhuis’s artistic director, Huub van Riel, invites Ab Baars for the international October Meeting for improvisers. Baars is also on the roster for the second edition in 1991.
1989
A grant from the Dutch Ministry of Culture allows Baars to study with clarinetist John Carter in Los Angeles, whom he admires very much. Until then the Dutchman has been playing 'tenor saxophone on the clarinet' (as he puts it himself), and he truly wants to master the instrument. When Baars is awarded the Boy Edgar Prijs (the major Dutch jazz award) in the same year, Carter is the guest of honor at the award ceremony at the Bimhuis. On this occasion Baars also premieres his Tentet, a new outlet for original work. Krang is the reed player’s first (unaccompanied) solo CD. Later Verderame (1997) and Time to Do My Lions (2010) and She Speaks a collection of ballads (2018) will follow. For the double album Joggers & Smoggers the improv punk band The Ex surrounds itself with various improvisers, including trombonist Wolter Wierbos and Ab Baars. The reed player will regularly return as a guest with the outfit, and in 2000 he records the duo CD Hef with Terrie Ex, the group’s guitarist. In 2014 they record their second duo CD Shifting Sands (Terp IS 26).
1991
The Ab Baars Trio starts its life, with bassist Wilbert de Joode and drummer Martin van Duynhoven as its members. The band’s debut album, released by the Geestgronden label in 1992, is called 3900 Carol Court. It is the address of his teacher John Carter, who passed away earlier that year. The CD contains mainly original compositions by Baars. A Free Step, recorded seven years later, is solely devoted to Carter’s music.
1994
Pianist Michiel Scheen, one of the founders of the group Kenvermogen, invites Baars to play the clarinet in the extended, 15-piece line-up of the ensemble, which records an eponymous debut album a year later. Baars is also the horn player in the new quartet which Scheen forms in 2003, and produces the CD Dance, My Dear?
1995
The Ab Baars Trio tours with the American soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy as its guest. For later tours Baars invites trombonist Roswell Rudd (1996 and 1998) and reed player Ken Vandermark (2007 and 2009) as guests with his trio. For all of these projects Baars was given a grant from the Fonds Scheppende Toonkunst (Dutch Creative Music Fund) to compose new material. Baars's partner, Violist-composer Ig Henneman includes him in her Tentet. In 1999 the two form the duo Baars-Henneman, which makes its recording debut on their Wig label in 2006: Stof
1996
Ab Baars and his trio perform at the festival Improvisaties/’Improvisaties’ with shakuhachi player Yoshikazu Iwamoto and the contemporary classical Nieuw Ensemble, conducted by Butch Morris. He composes a new work for this occasion.
1999
Songs is the title of a program in which the Ab Baars Trio explores the music of native Americans. The project is recorded, and a CD is released in 2001.
2002
Ilse van de Kasteelen and Han Buhrs are the Ab Baars Trio’s vocal guests for the program De Boksers. It concerns itself with the art of pugilism, both in Baars’ compositions and in the improvisations. The Ab Baars trio undertakes its second Canadian tour.
2003
Pianist Cor Fuhler includes Ab Baars, who already played a role in his chamber music-like group Carduelis, in his medium-sized Corkestra. The nonet’s eponymous debut album is released by Data Records. Baars’s ongoing duo with Mariëtte Rouppe van de Voort records the CD Veer & Haul in 2003. The Ab Baars trio undertakes a North America tour with 14 concerts.
2004
With trombonist Joost Buis as a special guest the Ab Baars Trio performs its take on Duke Ellington’s music, under the title Kinda Dukish. A CD with the same title is released one year later on the Wig label.
2005
During a solo tour of Japan Ab Baars buys a shakuhachi, the classical Japanese bamboo flute. He decides he wants to master the instrument properly, and takes lessons from Kees Kort, Christopher Blasdel, Atsuya Okuda and Takeo Yamashiro.
2006
The Ab Baars trio with trombonist Joost Buis extensively tours North America and Europe, performing their program Kinda Dukish.
2007
The Ab Baars Trio takes guest artist Ken Vandermark on board for a long European tour. The Baars-Henneman duo tours Europe and travels to Japan.
2008
Baars is composer in residence at the Leighton Colony at the Banff Arts Center in Alberta, Canada. The duo Baars-Henneman do a Canadian Festival tour.
2009
After a tasty meal at the Bimhuis Ab Baars, Ig Henneman and Misha Mengelberg record a trio CD with improvisations, named after the dish the three of them ate: Sliptong (the Dutch name for undersized sole). In the same year Evil Rabbit Records releases a duo CD by Ab Baars and bassist Meinrad Kneer. Henneman and Baars start the trio Floating Worlds with the Japanese koto player Michiyo Yagi, exploring the boundaries of Western and Japanese improvisation. The Ab Baars Trio plus Ken Vandermark tour the USA.
2010
On the occasion of her 25th anniversary as a bandleader (and of her 65th birthday) Ig Henneman forms a new sextet, with Ab Baars as one of its members. In 2011 the group makes its recording debut: Cut A Caper and tours Canada and Europe. The duo Baars-Henneman is invited for three jazz festivals in Norway. Baars is a featured guest with Danish artist Chistian Skjodt’s trio You Had Me At Hello.
2011 - 2012
American singer Fay Victor and French horn player Vincent Chancey are the guests with the Ab Baars Trio for the program The Invisible Blow, compiled in collaboration with Dutch poetess Anneke Brassinga. In addition to her own poetry she and Baars chose texts by William Carlos Williams, Hans Faverey, Charles Bukowski, Seamus Heaney, W.B. Yeats and Emily Dickinson. For this program Baars received a composition grant. Kneer invites Baars and veteran drummer Billy Elgart to form a new trio. Their debut album is called Give No Quarter. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Ab Baars Trio, a 5 CD boxed set is issued on the Wig label, featuring the band’s first four albums (without guests) plus the new title Gawky Stride. American critic Kevin Whitehead writes the accompanying booklet. In April and May Baars is composer in residence at the Leighton Artists' Colony in the Banff Center in Banff (Canada). He returns to the center in the summer of 2012. In the autumn of that same year the duo Baars-Henneman plays 14 concerts in the USA plus workshops.
2013 - 2014
Bass guitarist Luc Ex invites Baars as one of the two reed players in his new project 'Assemblee', alongside Ingrid Laubrock (tenor sax) and Hamid Drake (drums) both from the USA. Laubrock and her life partner Tom Rainey (drums) also join Baars and Henneman in the new quartet, Perch Hen Brock & Rain. The group undertakes a highly successful tour of Europe. Fish-scale Sunrise is another new outfit started by Baars, featuring Amsterdam based Slovenian pianist Kaja Draksler and bass player Joe Williamson. The Wig label releases a new title by the Baars-Henneman duo: Autumn Songs. The duo travels from Romania via Italy to Iceland to play concerts.
2015 - 2016
A concert recording of the 2012 program The Invisible Blow is released on CD by Wig, and a new album by the Ab Baars Trio, Slate Blue, simultaneously sees the light. The label celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2016 with a special concert recording of the Baars-Henneman duo with the iconic American pianist Dave Burrell at the Amsterdam Bimhuis. The album will later be released as Trandans. Yet another concert recording is added to the Baars discography: Live@ The Tampere Jazz Happening by Perch Hen Brock & Rain. Kaja Draksler incorporates Baars in her idiosyncratic new Octet. Baars plays solo concerts in Norway and Denmark. The Baars-Henneman duo present a new project, called Canzoni di Primavera for which both musicians compose new material. The quartet Perch Hen Brock & Rain is invited by the North Sea Jazz Festival. Baars undertakes a long European solo tour, with concerts from Berlin to Lisbon.
2017 -2018
Ab Baars releases his fourth solo album, And She Speaks, (A Collection of Ballads) on the Wig label, and the Baars-Henneman duo provides a companion piece to the earlier Autumn Songs: Canzoni di Primavera. Fish-Scale Sunrise makes its recording debut on Relative Pitch Records: No Queen Rises (RPR 1075). The quartet Perch Hen Brock & Rain undertakes a Canadian festival tour and Fish-Scale Sunrise tours in Europe. The Kaja Draksler Octet makes its critically acclaimed recording debut for the Portuguese Clean Feed label, Gledalec. The Baars-Henneman duo is invited to the festival Contratempi in Noci (Italy)
2019
The Baars-Henneman duo is invited for a collaboration and a tour in Canada by the Canadian duo Mercury. Baars plays a series of solo concerts in the Netherlands.
Since 1987 Baars has made various tours with the Instant Composers Pool Orchestra to Japan, Australia, North and South America and Europe.
Discography as (co-)leader:
Ab Baars
Krang
(Geestgronden; 1989)
Form: CD
Ab Baars - clarinet, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, baritone saxophone, compositions
Ab Baars
Verderame
(Geestgronden; 1997)
Form: CD
Ab Baars - clarinet, tenor saxophone, compositions
Ab Baars
Time To Do My Lions
(Wig; 2010)
Form: CD
Ab Baars - clarinet, tenor saxophone, compositions
Ab Baars
And She Speaks - a collection of ballads
(Wig; 2018)
Form: CD
Ab Baars – clarinet, tenor saxophone, shakuhachi, compositions
Duo Baars-Henneman
Stof
(Wig; 2006)
Form: CD
Ig Henneman – viola
Ab Baars – tenor saxophone, clarinet, shakuhachi, noh-kan
Duo Baars-Henneman
Autumn Songs
(Wig; 2013)
Form: CD
Ig Henneman – viola
Ab Baars – tenor saxophone, clarinet, shakuhachi
Duo Baars-Henneman & Dave Burrell
Trandans
(Wig; 2017)
Form: CD
Ig Henneman – viola
Ab Baars – tenor saxophone, clarinet, shakuhachi
Dave Burrell - piano
Baars/Henneman/Mengelberg
Sliptong
(Wig; 2009)
Form: CD
Ig Henneman – viola
Ab Baars – tenor saxophone, clarinet, shakuhachi
Misha Mengelberg – piano
Baars/Kneer
Windfall
(Evil Rabbit; 2009)
Ab Baars – tenor saxophone, clarinet, shakuhachi,
Meinrad Kneer - double bass
Baars/Kneer/Elgart
Windfall
(Evil Rabbit; 2013)
Ab Baars – tenor saxophone, clarinet, shakuhachi, noh-kan
Meinrad Kneer - double bass
Billy Elgart - drums
Baars/Kneer/Elgart
Live at Konfrontationen Nickelsdorf 2012
(Evil Rabbit; 2018)
Ab Baars – tenor saxophone, clarinet, shakuhachi, noh-kan
Meinrad Kneer - double bass
Billy Elgart - drums
Ab & Terrie
Hef
(Terp; 2000)
Form: CD
Ab Baars – tenor saxophone, clarinet
Terrie Ex - guitar
Ab Baars + Trebbel
Carroussel
(Data; 1984)
Form: LP
Ab Baars - clarinet, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, baritone saxophone, compositions
Mariëtte Rouppe van der Voort – alto saxophone, flute, piccolo
Guus Janssen – piano
Ab Baars Trio
3900 Carol Court
(Geestgronden; 1992)
Form: CD
Ab Baars - clarinet, tenor saxophone, compositions
Wilbert de Joode – double bass
Martin van Duynhoven - drums
Ab Baars Trio
Sprok
(Geestgronden; 1995)
Form: CD
Ab Baars - clarinet, tenor saxophone, compositions
Wilbert de Joode – double bass
Martin van Duynhoven – drums
Ab Baars Trio
A Free Step
(Geestgronden; 1999)
Form: CD
Ab Baars - clarinet, tenor saxophone
Wilbert de Joode – double bass
Martin van Duynhoven - drums
Ab Baars Trio
Songs
(Geestgronden; 2001)
Form: CD
Ab Baars - clarinet, tenor saxophone, compositions
Wilbert de Joode – double bass
Martin van Duynhoven - drums
Ab Baars Trio + Roswell Rudd
Four
(Data; 2001)
Form: CD
Ab Baars - clarinet, tenor saxophone, compositions
Wilbert de Joode – double bass
Martin van Duynhoven – drums
Roswell Rudd – trombone
Ab Baars Trio + Guests
10 Years Ab Baars Trio: party at the Bimhuis
(Wig; 2003)
Form: CD
Ab Baars - clarinet, tenor saxophone, compositions
Wilbert de Joode – double bass
Martin van Duynhoven – drums
Ig Henneman – viola
Mariëtte Rouppe van der Voort – alto saxophone, flute, alto flute, piccolo
Guus Janssen – piano
Misha Mengelberg – piano
Ab Baars Trio
Kinda Dukish
(Wig; 2005)
Form: CD
Ab Baars - clarinet, tenor saxophone, compositions
Wilbert de Joode – double bass
Martin van Duynhoven – drums
Joost Buis – trombone
Ab Baars Trio + Ken Vandermark
Goofy June Bug
(Wig; 2008)
Form: CD
Ab Baars - clarinet, tenor saxophone, shakuhachi, compositions
Wilbert de Joode – double bass
Martin van Duynhoven – drums
Ken Vandermark – tenor saxophone, clarinet
Ab Baars Trio
20 Years (1991 – 2011)
(Wig; 2005)
Form: 5 CD boxed set
Ab Baars - clarinet, tenor saxophone, compositions
Wilbert de Joode – double bass
Martin van Duynhoven – drums
Ab Baars Trio & NY Guests
Invisible Blow
(Wig; 2014)
Form: CD
Ab Baars - clarinet, tenor saxophone, shakuhachi, compositions
Wilbert de Joode – double bass
Martin van Duynhoven – drums
Fay Victor – voice
Vincent Chancey – French horn
Anneke Brassinga – poetry
Ab Baars Trio
Slate Blue
(Wig; 2014)
Form: CD
Ab Baars - clarinet, tenor saxophone, shakuhachi, compositions
Wilbert de Joode – double bass
Martin van Duynhoven – drums
Ab Baars + Mariëtte Rouppe van der Voort
Veer and Haul
(Wig; 08, 2003)
Form: CD
Ab Baars - clarinet, tenor saxophone
Mariëtte Rouppe van der Voort – sopranino saxophone, alto saxophone, flute,
alto flute, piccolo
Fish-Scale Sunrise
No Queen Rises
Form: CD
(Relative Pitch Records; 2018)
Ab Baars – tenor saxophone, clarinet, shakuhachi
Kaja Draksler – piano
Joe Wiliamson – double bass
Perch Hen Brock & Rain
Live@ The Tampere Jazz Happening
(Relative Pitch Records; 2016)
Form: CD
Ig Henneman – viola
Ab Baars – tenor saxophone, clarinet, shakuhachi
Ingrid Laubrock – tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone
Tom Rainey - drums
As a sideman with Groep Ohm, Chris Abelen Tentet, Kenvermogen, The Ex,
Ig Henneman Sextet, Kaja Draksler Octet and the ICP Orchestra.
Contactadres
Website: www.stichtingwig.com
Email: baars@stichtingwig.com
Postadres: Prinsengracht 1009 – 2, 1017 KN Amsterdam
Telefoon: + 31 6 13129576
