Tijs Klaassen
picked up the double bass at the age of 19 during his second year at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. Switching from bass guitar to completely focus on the instrument he loves the most. He studied at the faculty with jazz teachers Ernst Glerum, Frans van der Hoeven, Ruud Ouwehand and classical teacher Peter Leerdam. In the last four months of 2017 he studied with David Wong at the Boyer College of Music and Dance in Philadelphia. During his stay in the United States he took private lessons with Ron Carter, Orlando Le Fleming, Rick Rosato and Ben Street. He finished his master studies in 2018 magna cum laude.

Bassist Tijs Klaassen graduated with full honours in 2018 after having studied at the Conservatorium of Amsterdam and the Boyer College of Music in Philadelphia. Since then he has been touring and recording with renounced jazz musicians from the Netherlands such as Theo Loevendie, Yuri Honing, Peter Beets, Mete Erker, Jasper Blom and Henk Meutgeert.

‘The horns create gorgeous textures, the bass levitates, piano harmony transcends into synthesizer sounds and strong rhythms change into polyrhythmic percussion’ – Emil Roes, Jazzism

Tijs’ own band embodies his personal view on bringing the sound of the classic jazz quintet to the modern age. A vision that creates full artistic freedom for every musician within a carefully constructed musical framework. Compositionally the band is very inspired by the sounds and techniques of classical composers such as Messiaen, Theo Loevendie, Ravel and Alban Berg. Trough it’s use of arco bass melodies, woodwind instruments and synthesizers, the band achieves a very unique sound in it’s arrangements. Each band member is contributing to a very personal ensemble sound. All of them are among the most praised young Dutch jazz musicians and composers of their generation.

‘Introvertive sensitive compositions that include impressive bursts of energy, played loosely and freely within the strong containments of the arrangement’ – Tom Beetz, Jazzflits

The band won the Keep An Eye The Records Award in 2018 which enabled them to record and release their debut album ‘Clavius’. This critically acclaimed record was released in 2019 at the Bimhuis and received great reviews. Recently the band won the Sena Performance award at the Dutch Jazz Competition 2020. Their second record ‘Nostalgia’ will be released in 2022 on Zennez records.