The Ab Baahrs trio will be in Austin next Friday. [Link] (Thanks to Pedro Moreno for the pointer!)
A highly distinctive voice from the fertile Dutch jazz scene, Ab Baars brings an idiosyncratic creativity into combination with skill and knowledge of his music’s roots. Though his music has been described as “joyfully obstinate”, it has an undeniable and colorful catchy-ness that stems from its stripped essence. As an instrumentalist, Baars has been influenced by (among others) American Jazz greats like Roscoe Mitchell and John Carter (both of whom he has worked with). As a composer/improvisor/band-leader Baars displays all of the musical characteristics that have come to define the Dutch creative music scene: open forms, varied improvisational strategies, wacky use of juxtaposition, and an unwillingness to treat jazz—or any music—as a fixed art form. Ab Baars is an important member of The ICP Orchestra, the defining group of Dutch jazz.
