Hans 'Big Boy' Dulfer - Male Sax Worker

Guest blogger Richard decided to continue the Dulfer saga!

After the gorgeous compilation by Koen, I felt hungry for more. He played with everyone everywhere, and all the time. Yes, as the title suggests, he had sax on a lot of paid occasions. So here I want to present a selection of his collaborations. 

When I was young, I must have heard Red Red Libanon and dismissed it for being awkward. A strange little tune with steel drums and Caribbean rhythms. Later I found there are two versions, a single one (1977) and an album one (1970). Here is the single version. You can find the album version on Candy Clouds. 

For me, as a young kid, that was game over for Hans Dulfer. In my twenties, I learned about a reunion of the best hardcore punk band ever, Pandemonium. They would do a one-off for the last night of a youth centre in Venlo (Limburg). I had to go, the only and last chance to see Pandemonium live. And what a surprise, not only did they blow me away. They also collaborated with a sax player in what was my first experience with SpeedCoreJazz. 

Back home, I started to get to know that saxman’s work. And it wasn’t easy. Just when I found a hook to his music, he came up with something I was not yet ready for. I did not like rap and hip-hop, and there he was with hip-hoppers and rappers. So after he refused to be in a conventional straight line with my musical taste, I gave up, and I gave in. Hans won. I had to relisten and rediscover his world of music. And what a world. A lot of artists occupy an area and have some excursions outside; not Hans. He can blend in and stand out. 

Here is the selection and a few words about most of them

Polyandri was a short-lived project also known as 1850 with improvisational hippie music with Peter Sjardin; Barrelhouse is a terrific Dutch blues band with Tineke Schoemaker. The first Blues Bastards album seems to be nowhere but among my vinyls. Another example of good music made immortal by one superb session musician. From the mid-eighties we have Tröckener Kecks and Claw Boys Claw. In 1988 Dulfer expanded with High Noon as Reflud, where he discovered the heavy metal side of music. By then his daughter was making a name for herself, and we have them together on her first solo album. A trio of Dutch rock follows with Loveslu, Hallo Venray and Rumble Cats (Stinky type of Rockabilly!)

The nineties brought HipHop-Jazz fusion with Saskia Laroo, Def Real and H.O.P. (Horns of Plenty). With his success in Japan, it was inevitable he would team up over there. Masayoshi Tanaka paired up very well. As we enter the new millennium, we again see Mr Dulfer spreading his musical wings, covering the old and the new.

Lils Mackintosh is beautifully absent, and we miss her still. The Shavers have a go at fake butter, halvarine. Full-on Jazz dance with Soulvation.

We end with a trio of Modern Jazz. True Jazz. Dutch crooner and V.I.P. Gerard Joling proves his quality with the classic What A Difference A Day Makes; Susanne Alt is a young, talented German-born saxophonist and DJ.

Note the Deeldeliers track. One of my favorites with Jules Deelder and Bas van Lier in a beautiful rendition of Brother, Can You Spare Me A Dime.

Enjoy