Hans 'Big Boy' Dulfer - Tenormadness from the Low Countries

Where to start with Hans Dulfer? He has been active as a saxophone player, writer, anarchist, hustler, radio presenter, enfant terrible, and God knows what else….

I guess his daughter, Candy Dulfer, is probably better known abroad than he is!

Some basic info:

Musically, Dulfer has always moved ahead of things. He played psychedelic free jazz and created the first Dutch world music. He was the first jazz musician to collaborate with house DJs. And he reached pop star status in Japan with the unique mix of heavy guitars, beats, and sax of the Big Boy album. He was a pioneer of the Dutch jazz scene, organizing legendary concerts at Paradiso, advising the North Sea Jazz Festival, and co-founding the BIMHUIS. Up to this day, Dulfer prefers playing live, at the most unusual places, and with relentless energy.

Somewhere in the 1990s, I received one of his books, DumDum, from a friend, and although I was completely unfamiliar with him at that time, it was a fun read. It covers many subjects: baseball, jazz, Chet Baker, Dexter Gordon, jazz movies, speed metal, all mixed with a serious amount of kicking against sacred cows in the music industry…

About 10 years ago, a few second-hand Dulfer CDs started appearing at a second-hand stand in Bangkok, and as I remembered his name vaguely, I bought them, of course.

Both ‘Big Boy’ (1994) and ‘Dig’ (1996) were pleasant surprises, kind of energetic Jazz-Funk-Hip-Hop, and there was even a Japanese hit track: ’Streetbeats’!

I decided to do some backtracking and see what else he had done, which turned out to be plenty! During the 1960s, he was playing his sax with various ensembles, and the 1970s saw not only his first album as a leader with Ritmo Natural, combining Latin sounds with jazz, but also his collaboration with Roswell Rudd.

In 1980, he participated in the soundtrack of 'Cha Cha', an uneven movie which starred Herman Brood, Nina Hagen, and Lena Lovich!

A year later, Dulfer & The Perikels was released, which featured a very young Candy playing along.

During the 80s and 90s, he played along with various non-jazz Dutch bands such as Barrelhouse, Tröckener Kecks, Loveslug, and Maximum Bob.

How Hans became hugely popular in Japan is unclear to me, but his wild instrumentals went over well!

In 2021, Hans celebrated his 80th(!) birthday with a series of concerts, impressive, check out this one: 'Live vanuit P60'.

Anyway, I hope you will like this little compilation of his work.