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One reason the Dutch improvising scene has been vital and much-envied for three decades is that musicians have organized themselves, to create their own venues, win government support, and get their records distributed. That last impulse sparked Toondist, a consortium of independent labels, whose output demonstrates the amazing diversity and singularity of new music from the Netherlands. Take for example Fred van Duynhoven’s drum-set renditions of bird calls on P.J.J., or sound-poet Jaap Blonk’s superhuman repertoire of vocal sounds, documented in varied settings on Kontrans. Or Wolter Wierbos’s brash and brainy virtuoso trombone, heard solo (on DATA and ICP), and in Misha Mengelberg’s ICP Orchestra, one of Holland’s flagship ensembles, celebrated for its mix of plush melodies, rarefied improvising strategies, and collective rumbles.

Juxtaposition looms large in Dutch music—witness the myriad improvising strategies heard in close proximity on the Bimhuis label’s October Meeting CDs, or the vast range of improvising strategies available to tenor saxophonist Tobias Delius’s quartet with Han Bennink and Tristan Honsinger. The worlds of composing and improvising intersect in Holland, too, allowing for plausible hybrids. Consult the recorded works of pianist Guus Janssen, whose trio discs on GeestGronden (Zwik, Lighter) combine chamber-music subtleties with jazz-band thrust. Or Ig Henneman’s settings of modern Dutch poets (Indigo) or Emily Dickinson on Wig: her contemporary music is invigorated by interpreters who improvise, like ICP Orchestra saxophonist and clarinetist Ab Baars, whose own stark trio (on Wig or GeestGronden) combines structural clarity with blunt sonorities.

This heady atmosphere influences next-generation jazz composers like piano and cheap-synth wizard Cor Fuhler, and Michiel Braam, whose big band’s Goes Bonsai explores mutable forms that his musicians shape in performance, and who’s made one of the new century’s wittiest, dancingest piano/bass/drums records, Colors. The lyrical Italian clarinetist August Forti feels the pull of the theatrical humor that characterizes much Dutch music, with his quintet Gravitones (for T).

It’s difficult to generalize about music so broadly conceived, but the excitement of discovery is behind all of the above, and so much more from this cluster of labels. Featured along the way are such outstanding outlanders as Sunny Murray, Anthony Braxton, Herb Roberston, Mats Gustafsson, Lori Freedman, Gerry Hemingway, Mark Dresser, Frank Gratkowski, Oren Marshall, Michael Zerang, John Zorn . . . musicians drawn to the strength of Dutch musicians’ vision. Shouldn’t you know what they know?

--Kevin Whitehead 2002

Somehow, when people start a good thing, others latch on, and after sever years of Toondist a dozen more labels have jumped on the distribution bandwagon. Harking back to Mr Whitehead's words, the ICP is still one of the flagships of the Dutch scene, and one of the originators of banging your own drum (and not just in the literal sense). Three of the ICP mainstays, reedist Michael Moore, trombonist Wolter Wierbos and bassist Ernst Glerum have joined with their own labels, Ramboy, Dolfijn and Favorite Records. Moore's Ramboy features the whole scope of his work, from the rock-infused The Persons to the chamber music of Fragile or Bering and the eclectic ramblings of Available Jelly. As well as a third solo trombone CD Dolfijn features the result of Wierbos's intimate houseboat concerts, Deining. Glerum proves his tremendous skills, both as an instrumentalist (also on piano) and as a composer. The various incarnations of his Omnibus bands on Favorite just go to show.
Another bass virtuoso, Raoul van der Weide (known for his work with Guus Janssen), started Casco Records to issue the debut album of the protean As If Trio. It ranks among the best of those small, one-man-one-disc labels, but of course time will tell with how many releases Casco, WLJWC or Vindu will end up under their belts. The latter, by the way, are the vehicles for the music of reedsman Jan Willem van der Ham and pianist Nico Huijbregts, respectively. They feature Trio Continuo's modern take on the baroque continuo concept, and Huijbregts' inimitable solo piano improvisations.
Huijbregts' debut, Let Me Tell You, was released by ic disc.nl, headed by Nijmegen saxophonist and composer Bo van de Graaf, best known for his work with I Compani. This medium-sized ensemble takes film music by Nino Rota, Gato Barbieri and others, as well as original compositions by its leader as a starting point for improvisations. It proves how viable a European base for improvised music can be. European is also the number one characteristic for the music featured on Evil Rabbit Records. Pianist Albert van Veenendaal and bassist Meinrad Kneer can boast of French, Italian and German artists on their roster, as well as major Dutch improvisors. The artwork of their sleeves is remarkable, to say the least. A small hole in the all black cover turns into a larger hole once the insert card and the CD itself are removed, and the viewer/listener tumbles down the rabbit-hole into a musical Wonderland.
'Deep down' is a also an appropriate classification for the bass saxophone, the weapon of choice for Klaas Hekman, who runs Strotbrock Records. Here we can find his solo CD Yolo and albums by his Surinam crossover band De Nazaten. Other crossover musics can be heard in the catalog of Sean Bergin's Pingo. The South-African expat sax man is joined by Brazilian guitarist Rogério Bicudo for two albums, and his New Mob is featured with its most recent outings.
Guitarist Corrie van Binsbergen also likes to cross over into uncharted territory, where both rock and chamber music creep into the improvised music mix. The growing catalog of her Brokken Records features CDs by violinist Tineke de Jong's quartet and trombonist Andy Bruce's Rigidly Righteous, as well as her own quartet CRAM. The drummer of that band, Arend Niks, leads his own band New Niks and presents his releases on No Can Do Music.

With 21 important independent labels Toondist has become a force to be reckoned with, both in the Netherlands and abroad. It just goes to show that being fully self-sufficient together does pay off.

--Herman te Loo 2010