Best Jazz Joints
From Sydney, Australia, Colin came for the girl and stayed for the music. The quality, quantity and diversity of music, by both local and touring acts, can keep a punter like Colin out all week. He's been accused of being not decisive enough when picking his musical 'tribe'. Fact is, he love all genres equally on the proviso the music is executed with quality. That's why Colin can be found at indie gigs, hip-hop shows, jazz nights, punk concerts and dance parties all around Amsterdam.
Amsterdam swings
Fitting in smoothly with the relaxed, bohemian nature that Amsterdam exudes, on the thin cobble-stoned streets, and in the creaking buildings lit by neon signs, it's easy to imagine jazz swinging effortlessly across the city.
Local trios jam in the corners of intimate bars and cafes nightly you happen upon when looking for a tasty cocktail. Dutch groups, on the country's circuit, blow hard through mid-sized venues.
International names drop in to the world-class Bimhuis (and occasionally the Muziekgebouw and Concertgebouw) to compound already cemented clout, that quality jazz lives here.
A jazz great's legacy
Famous for his smooth style, American trumpeter Chet Baker fell to his death from his hotel room window on the Zeedijk in the Red Light District on 13 May, 1988. You can visit a plaque to commemorate his death on the street by Hotel Prins Hendrikkade.
IJAZZ, you jazz, we all jazz
Set across the River IJ at NDSM/Docklands in early June, IJAZZ brings the freshest jazz, funk and soul to Amsterdam.
International guests include Incognito, The All Star Jazz Crusaders, Oleta Adams, Matt Bianco, while on the local front expect Kyteman, Wouter Hamel, Sabrina Starke, Room Eleven (pictured) and plenty more - as in the entire Young Talent Stage. With such a cross-section from the Jazz community, it's fun for young and old. Festival website: www.ijazz.nl
New and improvised
Amsterdam's Jazz scene is supported by the likes of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam as well as other organisations, agencies and of course the venues. The most prominent, Bimhuis Amsterdam's premier jazz venue. From 1974-2004 it was based on the Oude Schans, regarded as one of the best jazz venues in the world. American saxophonist Branford Marsalis showed his love for it by selecting the site as his stage for a 2003 DVD 'A Love Supreme Live in Amsterdam'.
The old venue closed soon after but the new venue opened next to the Muziekgebouw on the River IJ. Its program remains diverse, mixing mainstream jazz with more challenging elements such as improvisation. For Amsterdam jazz lovers it boasts over 300 shows a year.
Other venues
Jazz Café Altoplays live jazz seven nights a week, it's just what you want from a jazz café, small, dimly lit and ready to serve you til late.
De Badcuyp, Centrum voor Muziek (Centre for Music) mixes jazz, blues, soul, funk, latin, world music and hip hop into its agenda. Split over two levels there's room to dine and room to dance with different events on most nights of the week.
Sugar Factory offers live jazz every Sunday with the Wicked Jazz Sounds ensemble to an enthusiastic young crowd who know their big band from their bebop and recognise the link to soul, hip hop and drum 'n' bass.
The Cotton Club is synonymous with jazz all around the world courtesy of its New York forefather. Amsterdam's Cotton Club, one of the city's oldest jazz bars is an intimate venue on the Nieuwmarkt near the Red Light District with live jazz on Saturday afternoons.
Brix on the Wolvenstraat offer free jazz on Sunday afternoons and Monday Night Jazz Club with Rene van Beeck & friends from 20:30.
Bourbon Street Blues Club is hard to miss when strolling down Leidsekruissstraat, around the corner from Leidseplein - the Blues Brothers are dancing on the roof. Live blues and roots music play every night of the week with free entry before 23:00 most nights.
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