Han Bennink (born April 17, 1942) is a Dutch jazz drummer, clarinetist and percussionist. April 17 is the 107th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (108th in leap years). ... 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... Jazz is an original American musical art form that originated around the start of the 20th century in New Orleans, rooted in African American musical styles blended with Western music technique and theory. ... A session drummer at practice A drummer is a musician who plays the drums, particularly the drum kit, marching percussion, or hand drums. ... A clarinetist (sometimes also spelled clarinettist) is a musician who plays the clarinet. ... Percussion instruments are played by being struck, shaken, rubbed or scraped. ...

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, Sonny Rollins and Eric Dolphy (he can be heard on Dolphy's final studio recording, Last Date (1964)). Place with a railway station, in the municipality Zaanstad Zaandam is the largest town of the municipality. ... Classical music is a broad, somewhat imprecise term, referring to music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of, European art, ecclesiastical and concert music, encompassing a broad period from roughly 1000 to the present day. ... Two soprano clarinets: a B♭ clarinet (left) and an A clarinet (right, with no mouthpiece). ... Dexter (Keith) Gordon (February 27, 1923 - April 25, 1990) was a New York tenor saxophone musician. ... An early Rollins picture graces the cover of Volume One Theodore Walter Sonny Rollins (born September 7, 1930 in New York City) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist. ... Eric Allan Dolphy (June 20, 1928 – June 29, 1964) was a jazz musician who played alto saxophone, flute and bass clarinet. ...

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 and clarinetist Michael Moore and cellist Ernst Reijseger. He has often played duos with Mengelberg and collaborated with him alongside other musicians. Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the taste of the musicians involved, and not in any particular style. ... Misha Mengelberg (born June 5, 1935) is a Dutch jazz pianist and composer. ... The Newport Jazz Festival is a music festival held every August in Newport, Rhode Island. ... Willem Breuker (b. ... Peter Brötzmann (born March 6, 1941) is a German free jazz saxophonist. ... Michael Moore (born December 4, 1954) is an American-born jazz musician (clarinet, saxophone) and composer who has resided in the Netherlands since 1982. ... Ernst Reijseger (born 13 November 1954 in Bussum, Netherlands) is an improvising cellist who started playing at 8, went on to study classical music with Anner Bylsma before turning to jazz and other improvised music in the 1970s. ...

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 luminaries including Derek Bailey, Conny Bauer, Don Cherry and Alexander von Schlippenbach, as well as more conventional jazz musicians. Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the taste of the musicians involved, and not in any particular style. ... Free jazz is a movement of jazz music characterized by diminished dependence on formal constraints. ... Derek Bailey pictured at the Vortex Club, Stoke Newington, 1991. ... Konrad Conny Bauer (born July 4, 1943) is a world-renowned free jazz trombonist. ... Don Cherry (18 November 1936 - 19 October 1995) was an innovative jazz trumpeter probably best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman. ... Alexander von Schlippenbach (* 1938 in Berlin) is a German jazz pianist and composer. ...

Han Bennink enjoying a cheese and tomato sandwich in Austin Texas April 2006

Bennink's style is wide-ranging, running from conventional jazz drumming to highly unconventional free improvisation, for which he often uses whatever 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). He is also a talented multi-instrumentalist, and on occasion his recordings have featured his playing on clarinet, violin, banjo and piano. Image File history File links Benninkcheesetomatosandwich. ... Image File history File links Benninkcheesetomatosandwich. ... Two soprano clarinets: a Bâ™­ clarinet (left) and an A clarinet (right, with no mouthpiece). ... This does not cite its references or sources. ... A four-string banjo For other uses, see Banjo (disambiguation) The banjo is a stringed instrument of African origin, early or original examples sometimes being called the gourd banjo. One predecessor to the banjo is called the Akonting. ... A grand piano, with the lid up. ...

Han is the brother of the saxophonist Peter Bennink.

External links

• Biography and discography from the European Free Improvisation Pages
• Han Bennink website
• FMP releases
• Home of the ICP Orchestra