Reinier Baas

“From a country of irreverent and provocative jazzmen like Holland (homeland of fanciful “giants” as Han Bennink, Misha Mengelberg or Willem Breuker) comes the passionate talent of young guitar wizard Reinier Baas.” ¹ He has been in charge of ‘The More Socially Relevant Jazz Music Ensemble’ since 2010, with which he toured in Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Europe. His second album with the quintet earned him the prestigious Edison Award in 2013.

His latest record – ‘Reinier Baas vs. Princess Discombobulatrix‘ – is a partly improvised mostly instrumental opera, for which he teamed up with world renowned illustrator Typex and a group of 14 classical and jazz musicians. For this album, Baas was awarded a second Edison in 2017.

Reinier has been granted composition assignments by November Music Festival and the North Sea Jazz Festival in 2015. In 2017, he was the Artist In Residence of the Südtirol Jazzfestival. In 2018, the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam gave him a carte blanche, which resulted in the ‘Gigantic Chamber Music Mini Festival’ – a program premiering his first String Quartet. As a soloist, he has performed with the Metropole Orchestra, New Rotterdam Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw and Pynarello. As a sideman, he has performed with Han Bennink, Gregory Porter, Hans Teeuwen, Ben van Gelder and Benjamin Herman. Baas is on faculty at the Conservatory of Amsterdam and Siena Jazz in Italy.