Benjamin Herman (

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, 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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

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 the key of E, smaller tha ...

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 in ...

and

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

. He also has a radio show on Radio 6 (Netherlands).

Biography

Herman comes from a family of six children. His twin brother Jonathan works as a film 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 a festival held annually on the second weekend of July in the Netherlands at the Ahoy venue. The festival moved to Rotterdam in 2006 after the demolition of the Statenhal in The Hague where it was originally held. ...

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

Hilversum Hilversum () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is ...

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 Sout ...

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 piano, jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the Jazz standard, standard jazz repertoire, includ ...

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 A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music a ...

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

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

and

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

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 ...

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 tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere and which produces sustained hurricane-force winds of at least . This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, accounting for a ...

, Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw,

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, Hans Teeuwen, C-Mon & Kypski,

Chef'Special Chef'Special is a Dutch indie pop band from Haarlem, North Holland. The band'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 have r ...

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

Michel Camilo Michel Camilo (born April 4, 1954) is a Dominican pianist and composer. He specializes in jazz, Latin and classical piano work. Background and career Camilo was born into a musical family and as a young child showed aptitude for the accordion ...

Paul Weller John William Weller (born 25 May 1958), better known as Paul Weller, is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame in the late 1970s as the guitarist and principal singer and songwriter of the rock band the Jam, alongside ...

, 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 figu ...

. In 2012, Herman released the album ''

Deal In cryptography, DEAL (Data Encryption Algorithm with Larger blocks) is a symmetric block cipher derived from the Data Encryption Standard (DES). Its design was presented by Lars Knudsen at the SAC conference in 1997, and submitted as a proposa ...

'', which is also the soundtrack of

Eddy Terstall Eddy may refer to: * Eddy (surname), surname used by descendants of a number of English, Irish and Scottish families * Eddy (given name), male given name * Eddy (fluid dynamics), the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the flu ...

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

, Joost Kroon,

Manuel Hugas Manuel may refer to: People * Manuel (name), a given name and surname * Manuel (''Fawlty Towers''), a fictional character from the sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'' * Manuel I Komnenos, emperor of the Byzantine Empire * Manuel I of Portugal, king of Po ...

, Carlo de Wijs and The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Benjamin Herman released a new solo album, ''

Café Solo A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargile ...

'', 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 ''

'' 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 Joost () was an Internet TV service, created by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis (founders of Skype and Kazaa). During 2007–2008 Joost used peer-to-peer TV (P2PTV) technology to distribute content to their Mozilla-based desktop player; in la ...

, 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 * 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 Feel may refer to: *Feeling Music Bands * Feel (New York band), a 1980s dance and R&B band * Feel (Polish band), a pop rock band Albums * ''Feel'' (Feel album), 2007 * ''Feel'' (George Duke album) or the title song, 1974 * ''Feel'' (Glenn Hughe ...

* 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 Dutch male saxophonists Living people 21st-century Dutch saxophonists 1968 births 21st-century Dutch male musicians Dutch male jazz musicians