Hans Dulfer

Hans Dulfer (1940) is one of Holland’s best-known and most versatile tenor saxophonists. Closely following the latest trends, he still maintains that he is a typical jazz musician. For many years he chose to operate as a stage performer par excellence, putting recording on the back burner. When, in the nineties, he finally became serious about recording, large-scale success followed in the Netherlands and he attained star status in Japan.

In 1990 Hans was appointed director of Amsterdam’s famous pop music concert hall Paradiso, but he left after a year because of an internal disagreement. Hans subsequently presented jazz radio shows like ‘Streetbeats’, ‘Hothouse’ and ‘In the Midnight Hour’ for Dutch broadcaster VPRO. In 1992, together with the Surinam Music Ensemble led by Eddie Veldman, Dulfer presented the ‘Kid Dynamite Suite’, a tribute to the legendary tenor saxophonist Kid Dynamite from Surinam. In 1993 Hans received the North Sea Jazz Bird Award and soon after this he decided to change his musical direction.

In 1995 Hans recorded a dance music album, titled ‘Big Boy’. This album led to the hit single ‘Streetbeats’ and Hans became ‘world famous in Japan’. In response to the success in Japan, Hans recorded ‘Hyperbeat’ for his fans there and it became the best-selling instrumental album of the year. The music on the new album ‘Dig!’ (1996) was comparable with the music of ‘Big Boy’. For the single ‘Dig!’ from the album, a video clip was produced. ‘Dig!’ was a big success in several European countries, but especially in Japan. Hans toured in Europe, played at the Danish festival Roskilde and performed in the Far East. Throughout the years Hans has kept recording and performing in the Netherlands and internationally.

In 2015 Dulfer celebrated his 75th birthday with a spectacular musical party featuring his daughter Candy and a host of guest musicians at Amsterdam’s pop music hall ‘De Melkweg’. On his birthday, Hans received the Andreaspenning of the City of Amsterdam, an acknowledgement of his contribution over the years to jazz music in Amsterdam and to the genre in general.