Benjamin Herman (

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, 9 May 1968) is a Dutch

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

musician. He is best known as an

alto saxophonist The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

and as leader of the jazz band New Cool Collective. Herman also plays the

C-melody saxophone The C melody saxophone, also known as the C tenor saxophone, is a saxophone pitched in the key of C one whole tone above the common B-flat tenor saxophone. The C melody was part of the series of saxophones pitched in C and F intended by the ins ...

and

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

. He also has a radio show on

Radio 6 (Netherlands) NPO Radio 2 Soul & Jazz is a digital radio station from Netherlands Public Broadcasting (NPO). It launched as NPO Radio 6 on 4 September 2006, when it took over from the Concertzender (now operating independently), its musical format is mainly ...

Biography

Herman comes from a family of six children. His twin brother Jonathan works as a director. His mother is Dutch; his father was a rabbi and worked as a psychotherapist. At the age of eight, Herman and his family moved to the Netherlands. At the age of twelve, Herman started playing the saxophone. At thirteen, he was already performing on the professional club circuit. Within a few years, Benjamin had played all over the world with various groups and initiated his own projects. When he was seventeen, Herman played for the first time at the

North Sea Jazz Festival The North Sea Jazz Festival is an annual festival held each second weekend of July in the Netherlands at the Ahoy venue. It used to be in The Hague but since 2006 it has been held in Rotterdam. This is because the Statenhal where the festival w ...

.Biography on Allmusic.com
/ref> Herman studied at the

Hilversum Hilversum () is a city and municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is the largest urban centre in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller towns. Hilvers ...

Conservatory, from which he graduated

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

in 1991. In that year, he was the only European selected for the ''

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", "B ...

Competition''.''FESTIVAL JAZZ INTERNATIONAL ROTTERDAM 2005'' on kkunst.com (in Dutch)
/ref> He also studied at the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory in New York City. The school offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition, as well as a bachelor's in mu ...

in New York. In 1993, Herman founded New Cool Collective, an eight-piece band with influences from

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

music.New Cool Collective
/ref> He composes the music for this band, as well as the bigger New Cool Collective Big Band, and is also the leader of both. In 2011, New Cool Collective released its twelfth album, ''Eighteen''. Benjamin Herman has played with musicians such as

Jan Akkerman Jan Akkerman (born 24 December 1946) is a Dutch guitarist. He first found international commercial success with the band Focus (band), Focus, which he co-founded with Thijs van Leer. After leaving Focus, he continued as a solo musician, adding ja ...

Candy Dulfer Candy Dulfer (born 19 September 1969) is a Dutch jazz and pop saxophonist. She is the daughter of jazz saxophonist Hans Dulfer. She began playing at age six and founded her band Funky Stuff when she was fourteen. Her debut album ''Saxuality'' ( ...

Wouter Hamel Wouter Hamel (born 1977) is a Dutch Pop singer. He released his debut album ''Hamel'' in March 2007. Hamel's style has been compared to Jamie Cullum's.

Trijntje Oosterhuis Judith Katrijntje "Trijntje" Oosterhuis (; born 5 February 1973) is a Dutch singer and songwriter. She formed the band Total Touch in 1990 with her brother Tjeerd Oosterhuis before she started as a solo singer. She represented the Netherlands in ...

Jesse van Ruller Jesse van Ruller (born 21 January 1972) is a Dutch jazz guitarist and composer. He won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Guitar Competition in 1995 and has recorded several albums as a leader and more as a sideman. Early life Van Ruller wa ...

Typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

Misha Mengelberg Misha Mengelberg (5 June 1935 – 3 March 2017) was a Dutch jazz pianist and composer.Feather, Leonard & Gitler, Ira (2007) ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'', p. 459. Oxford University Press. A prominent figure in post-WWII European Jazz ...

Pete Philly & Perquisite Pete Philly & Perquisite was a hip hop duo from Amsterdam, Netherlands consisting of Pedro Philip Monzón (born May 28, 1980 in Aruba) as the MC/vocalist and Pieter "Perquisite" Perquin (born 1982 in Amsterdam) as the cellist, producer a ...

Hans Teeuwen Hans Eduard Marie Teeuwen (born 3 March 1967) is a Dutch people, Dutch comedian, musician, actor and occasional Film director, filmmaker. His work has been described as Surreal humour, absurdist, apolitical and Off-color humor, confrontational. ...

C-Mon & Kypski C-mon & Kypski is a Dutch musical group from Utrecht. The band consists of four members: Thomas Elbers alias '' Kypski '' discjockey, producer), Simon Akkermans alias '' C-Mon '' (dj, producer), Daniel Rose ( (bass) guitar) and Jori Collignon (ke ...

Chef'Special Chef'Special is a Dutch indie pop band from Haarlem, the Netherlands. Chef'Special's lineup consists of lead vocalist Joshua Nolet, guitarist Guido Joseph, bass player Jan Derks, keyboard player Wouter Heeren and drummer Wouter Jerry Prudon. They ...

Dr. John Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019), better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer and songwriter. His music encompassed New Orleans blues, jazz, funk, and R&B. Active as a session musician from t ...

Michel Camilo Michel Camilo (born April 4, 1954) is a Grammy-award winning pianist and composer from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He specializes in jazz, Latin and classical piano work. Camilo lists some of his main influences as Chick Corea, Keith Ja ...

Paul Weller Paul John Weller (born John William Weller; 25 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame with the punk rock/ new wave/mod revival band the Jam (1972–1982). He had further success with the blue-eyed soul m ...

, and

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 fig ...

. In 2012, Herman released the album ''

Deal A deal, or deals may refer to: Places United States * Deal, New Jersey, a borough * Deal, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * Deal Lake, New Jersey Elsewhere * Deal Island (Tasmania), Australia * Deal, Kent, a town in England * Deal, ...

'', which is also the soundtrack of

Eddy Terstall Eddie or Eddy may refer to: Science and technology *Eddy (fluid dynamics), the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid flows past an obstacle *Eddie (text editor), a text editor originally for BeOS and now ported to Linu ...

s move of the same name. Herman recorded this album with

, Joost Kroon, Manuel Hugas, Carlo de Wijs and The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Benjamin Herman released a new solo album, '' Café Solo'', in July 2013, featuring Ernst Glerum (bass) and Joost Patocka (drums). His album ''Live'' (release date 24 January 2014) has Herman and his quartet playing on the occasion of De Kring’s 90th anniversary. His previous album '' Café Solo'' already included two tracks of those recordings and now, due to popular demand, the other tracks have been made available. ''Live'' also features two tracks from a concert Herman gave with his trio in November 2013 during Jazzfest at Amsterdam’s Studio/K. Besides his usual rhythm section of Ernst Glerum and Joost Patočka, Herman is accompanied by the Spanish pianist Miguel Rodríguez, who has been the house pianist for De Kring sessions for the last 1.5 years. Benjamin Herman’s 16th solo album ''

Trouble Trouble may refer to: Film and television * ''Trouble'' (1922 film), an American silent comedy-drama film directed by Albert Austin * ''Trouble'' (1933 film), a British comedy film * ''Trouble'' (1977 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Trouble'' ...

'' is released on 11 July 2014. In a new departure for the multi-talented saxophonist, his latest solo disc is a joint project with 24-year-old Daniel von Piekartz. For the first time in his career, Herman has devoted an entire album to vocal numbers. “''Daniel originally planned to play on two tracks. He is incredibly musical and ideas just kept flowing... we didn’t want it to stop'',” Herman recalls. Von Piekartz plays and sings on eight of the ten tracks.

Discography

Albums and singles released by Benjamin Herman. "Artist" denotes with whom or in which formation Benjamin Herman released the album or single.

Awards

* 1991 –

Wessel Ilcken Prijs The VPRO/Boy Edgar Award, is an annual award given to a Dutch jazz musician, composer, or bandleader. The individual must have made significant contributions to the Dutch jazz scene over a significant period of time. The award is a sculpture by Dutc ...

* 2000 –

Edison Award The Edison Award is an annual Dutch music prize awarded for outstanding achievements in the music industry. It is comparable to the American Grammy Award. The Edison award itself is a bronze replica of a statuette of Thomas Edison, designed by ...

with New Cool Collective, best jazz album (''BIG'') * 2001 – Heineken Crossover Award with New Cool Collective * 2001 – De Gouden Notekraker with New Cool Collective * 2005 –

best jazz album (''Heterogeneity'') * 2005 – Feel Good Jazz Award * 2006 – VPRO/Boy Edgar Prijs * 2008 – Equire Magazine Best Dressed Man 2008Esquire – Benjamin Herman
* 2008 –

best jazz album (''Campert, de Tijd Duurt Eén Mens Lang'') * 2017 –

with New Cool Collective, best world music album (‘'New Cool Collective Big Band featuring Thierno Koite'’)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herman, Benjamin Dutch jazz saxophonists Male saxophonists Living people 21st-century saxophonists 1968 births 21st-century male musicians Male jazz musicians