Han Bennink

Han Bennink (born 17 April 1942) is a Dutch drummer and percussionist. On occasion his recordings have featured him playing soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, trombone, 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.

Early life and education
Bennink was born in Zaandam, the son of a classical percussionist. He played the drums and the clarinet during his teens.

Performing career
Through the 1960s he was the drummer with a number of American musicians visiting the Netherlands, including Dexter Gordon, Wes Montgomery, Sonny Rollins and Eric Dolphy (he is present 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 performed at the 1966 Newport Jazz Festival. 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.

From the late 1980s through the early 2000s, Bennik collaborated closely with Dutch post-punk band The Ex, appearing on their 1995 album Instant and travelling and playing with them on their first tour to Ethiopia.

Recordings
As well as playing with these long-standing groups, Bennink has performed and recorded solo (Tempo Comodo (1982) being among his solo recordings) and played with many free improvisation and free jazz musicians including Derek Bailey, Conny Bauer, Don Cherry and Alexander von Schlippenbach, as well as more conventional jazz musicians such as Lee Konitz. In 1983 he collaborated with boogie-woogie pianist and vocalist Little Willie Littlefield for his album, I'm in the Mood.

Style
Bennink's style is wide-ranging, running from conventional jazz drumming to highly unconventional free improvisation, for which he often uses whatever found objects happen to be onstage (chairs, music stands, instrument cases), his own body (a favourite device involves putting a drumstick in his mouth and striking it with the other stick), and the entire performance space—the floor, doors, and walls. He makes frequent use of birdcalls and whatever else strikes his fancy (one particularly madcap performance in Toronto in the 1990s involved a deafening fire alarm bell placed on the floor).

Discography
The following is a partial list of recordings by Han Bennink.

Solo albums

 * 1970: Solo (Instant Composers Pool)
 * 1973: Nerve Beats (UMS, ALP, Atavistic, 2001)
 * 1979: Solo - West/East (FMP)
 * 1982: Tempo Comodo (Data Records)

Collaborations
As leader or co-leader With Ray Anderson and Christy Doran With Gary Bartz, Lee Konitz, Jackie McLean and Charlie Mariano With Paul Bley and Annette Peacock With The Blueprint Project With Anthony Braxton With Steve Beresford With Willem Breuker With Eric Dolphy With Peter Brötzmann With Eric Boeren With Marion Brown With Sean Bergin With Uri Caine With Eugene Chadbourne With Don Cherry With Daniele D'Agaro With Ellery Eskelin With Terrie Ex (and others) With Cor Fuhler and Wilbert De Joode With Frode Gjerstad With Kees Hazevoet With Will Holshouser and Michael Moore With Kazuo Imai With Mikko Innanen and Jaak Sooäär With Instant Composers Pool With Guus Janssen With Steve Lacy With Little Willie Littlefield With Keshavan Maslak With Myra Melford With Misha Mengelberg With Kenny Millions With Pino Minafra With Michael Moore With Simon Nabatov With Armen Nalbandian With Mark O'Leary With Evan Parker With Alessandra Patrucco With Dudu Pukwana With Roswell Rudd With Paul Ruys With Manfred Schoof With Irene Schweizer With Jaak Sooäär With Spring Heel Jack With Aki Takase With Cecil Taylor With Rik van Iersel
 * 1968: Instant Composers Pool, (Instant Composers Pool), with Misha Mengelberg and John Tchicai
 * 1972: Derek Bailey & Han Bennink (Ictus) with Derek Bailey
 * 1979: A European Proposal (Live In Cremona) (Horo Records), with Misha Mengelberg, Paul Rutherford and Mario Schiano
 * 1996: Serpentine (Songlines Recordings), with Dave Douglas
 * 1997: 3 (VIA Jazz), with Michiel Borstlap and Ernst Glerum, reissued in 2004 by 55 Records
 * 2000: Jazz Bunker (Golden Years Of New Jazz), with Eugene Chadbourne and Toshinori Kondo
 * 2004: Free Touching: Live in Beijing at Keep in Touch (Noise Asia), with Wong Young, Andreas Schreiber, Dennis Rea, Steffen Schorn, and Claudio Puntin
 * 2004: Home Safely (Favorite), with Curtis Clark and Ernst Glerum
 * 2005: BBG (Favorite), with Michiel Borstlap and Ernst Glerum
 * 2007: Amplified Trio (Treader Records), with Spring Heel Jack
 * 2008: Monk Volume One (Gramercy Park Music), with Michiel Borstlap and Ernst Glerum
 * 2009: Parken (ILK Music), with Joachim Badenhorst, Simon Toldam, and Qarin Wikström
 * 2010: Laiv (Bassesferec), with Fabrizio Puglisi and Ernst Glerum
 * 1994: Azurety (hat ART)
 * 1995: Cheer Up (hat ART)
 * 2011: Who Is In Charge? (Kemo), with Frank Möbus, Ernst Glerum, and Paul van Kemenade
 * 1973: Altissimo (Philips)
 * 1971: Improvisie (America)
 * 1972: Dual Unity (Freedom)
 * 2007: People I Like (Creative Nation)
 * 1993: Anthony Braxton's Charlie Parker Project 1993 (HatART, 1995)
 * 1987: Directly To Pyjamas (Nato)
 * 2002: B + B (Instant Composers Pool)
 * 1967: New Acoustic Swing Duo (Instant Composers Pool)
 * 1964: Last Date (Limelight Records)
 * 1964: Playing: Epistrophy, June 1, 1964 In Eindhoven, Holland (ICP; includes Misha Mengelberg and Jacques Schols; rehearsal tape for the above concert issued 1975)
 * 1968: Machine Gun (FMP)
 * 1969: Nipples (Calig)
 * 1970: Balls (FMP), with Fred Van Hove
 * 1973: Brötzmann/Van Hove/Bennink (FMP) with Fred Van Hove, also known as FMP 130
 * 1977: Ein Halber Hund Kann Nicht Pinkeln (FMP)
 * 1977: Schwarzwaldfahrt (FMP)
 * 1979: 3 Points and a Mountain (FMP), with Misha Mengelberg
 * 1980: Atsugi Concert (Gua Bungue)
 * 2001: Fuck de Boere (Atavistic) recorded in 1968 and 1970
 * 2004: Still Quite Popular After All Those Years (BRÖ Records)
 * 2006: Total Music Meeting 1977 Berlin (BRÖ Records)
 * 2008: In Amherst 2006 (BRÖ Records)
 * 2012: Coconut (De Platenbakkerij), with Michael Moore and Wilbert de Joode
 * 1967: Porto Novo (Freedom)
 * 1988: Kid's Mysteries (Nimbus West)
 * 2013: Sonic Boom (816 Music)
 * 2001: 21 Years Later (Train Kept A Rollin') (Leo Records)
 * 2005: Chad And Han (House Of Chadula)
 * 1971: Orient (BYG)
 * 1971: Actions (Philips)
 * 2003: Strandjutters (hatOLOGY), with Ernst Glerum
 * 2010: Fingerprints (Artesuono), with Alexander von Schlippenbach
 * 1998: Dissonant Characters (hatOLOGY)
 * 2000: The Laughing Owl (Terp Records)
 * 2002: Ethiopia Tour 2002 (Not On Label)
 * 2006: Transparancy-Wolk 3 (Terp Records), with Rik van Iersel, Bart Maris, and P Jacomyn
 * 2007: Zeng! (Terp Records)
 * 2010: Let's Go (Terp Records), with Brodie West
 * 1998: Bellagram (Geestgronden)
 * 1998: "Zilch" (ConundromCd)
 * 2003: Tinderbox (Data Records)
 * 2009: Han & Frode (Cadence Jazz Records)
 * 1978: Calling Down The Flevo Spirit (Snipe Records)
 * 2011: Live In NYC (Ramboy Recordings)
 * 2003: Across The Desert (Improvised Music From Japan)
 * 2006: Spring Odyssey (TUM Records)
 * 2005: Groet (Data Records)
 * 1978: Lumps (Instant Composers Pool), with Michel Waisvisz and Maarten Van Regteren Altena
 * 1983: I'm in the Mood (Oldie Blues)
 * 1980: Humanplexity (Leo Records), with Misha Mengelberg
 * 2008: Bim Huis Live 1st Set (Hum Ha Records)
 * 1997: Eleven Ghosts (hatOLOGY) recorded 1994
 * 1971: Instant Composers Pool 010 (Instant Composers Pool)
 * 1972: Een Mirakelse Tocht Door Het Scharrebroekse no. 1-6 (Instant Composers Pool)
 * 1974: EinePartieTischtennis (FMP, Instant Composers Pool), live
 * 1975: Coincidents (Stichting ICP Geluidsdragers, Instant Composers Pool)
 * 1978: Midwoud 77 (Instant Composers Pool)
 * 1978: Groupcomposing (Instant Composers Pool), with Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Peter Bennink, Paul Rutherford, and Derek Bailey
 * 1978: Fragments (Instant Composers Pool), with John Tchicai, and Derek Bailey
 * 1982: Bennink Mengelberg (Instant Composers Pool)
 * 1985: Change Of Season (Music Of Herbie Nichols) (Soul Note), with Steve Lacy, George E. Lewis, and Arjen Gorter
 * 1991: Dutch Masters (Soul Note), with Steve Lacy, George Lewis, Ernst Reyseger, and Han Bennink
 * 1994: Mix (Instant Composers Pool)
 * 1996: The Instant Composers Pool 30 Years (Instant Composers Pool)
 * 1998: MiHa (Instant Composers Pool)
 * 2001: Four in One (Songlines Recordings), with Misha Mengelberg Quartet (Dave Douglas, Brad Jones, Han Bennink)
 * 2004: Senne Sing Song (Tzadik)
 * 2003: Bootleg (Hum Ha Records)
 * 1987: Tropic Of The Mounted Sea Chicken (Splasc(H) Records), with Misha Mengelberg, Michele Lomuto, and Unknown Artist
 * 1991: Noci...Strani Frutti (Live At Europa Festival Jazz) (Leo Records), with Ernst Reijseger
 * 2001: White Widow (Ramboy Recordings), with Alex Maguire and Mark Helias
 * 2003: Chat Room (Leo Records)
 * 2011: Coup de Grace (Blacksmith Brother)
 * 2008: Television (Ayler Records)
 * 1970: The Topography of the Lungs (Incus) with Derek Bailey
 * 2002: The Grass Is Greener (psi)
 * 2006: Circus (Instant Composers Pool), with Tristan Honsinger, Misha Mengelberg, and Ab Baars
 * 1979: Yi Yole (Instant Composers Pool), with Misha Mengelberg
 * 1983: Regeneration (Soul Note), with Steve Lacy, Kent Carter, and Misha Mengelberg
 * 1966: Lover, Come Swing With Me (Philips), with Pim Jacobs, Ruud Jacobs, and Wim Overgaauw
 * 1969: European Echoes (FMP)
 * 1996: Irène Schweizer & Han Bennink (Intakt Records)
 * 2015: Welcome Back (Intakt Records)
 * 2013: Beach Party (Barefoot Records)
 * 2003: Live (Thirsty Ear), with Matthew Shipp, Evan Parker, J Spaceman, and William Parker
 * 2011: Two for Two (Intakt Records)
 * 1988: Spots, Circles, and Fantasy (FMP)
 * 2005: Transparancy-Wolk No. 3 (Rikordings)