Interview with a Dutch jazz musician
Picture by: Allard Willems.
Dion Nijland (1970) studied double bass at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. Since graduating in 1999, he has become an increasingly prominent member of the adventurous jazz scene in the Netherlands. He is currently playing in the ensembles Deon, HOT – Het Orgel Trio (The Organ Trio), Vanbinsbergen Playstation, Colen, City Maps, Buisonic, Utrechts Jazz Archipelago and Indra. For over 10 years, he was a member of Dimami, Talking Cows and the Bende van Drie, while also playing in the Amsterdam based collective Spinifex, the Jazzopera Miles and Tram 7, the children’s show Maanschaduw (Moon Shadow) and the musical-theatre performances De Wereld een Draad (The World a Threat), TOM, Ghost Note, Woyzeck, Pushkin Paradise and Brel. For Dimami, he composed 5 CDs. The group went on the Young Vip tour in 2006. With Talking Cows he played in Germany, France, Portugal, Chile, Bolivia and Turkey. Very recently, Dion has started a new group known as DEON. With the group, Dion shows his love for grooves and improvisation. Furthermore, he is currently part of the Utrecht-based musicians collective GIST.
In 2008, Dion was Artist-In-House for a month in the province of Utrecht (in what was known as SJU). In 2012 he was Musician in Residence at the JIN in Nijmegen. From 2017 to 2019 he was a member of the BUI collective; an initiative that hosts improvisation events in Utrecht. In 2011 he was vice president of Vereniging U Jazz for a year, founded shortly after the closure of the SJU Jazzpodium in Utrecht. Dion has been a senior lecturer in double bass at the ArtEZ Conservatory in Arnhem since 2014.
Playlist:
– Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am, Charles Mingus
– Almighty Organ, Het Orgel Trio
– Works for cello and piano, Musica Nostalgica, Alfred Schnittke
– The shape of jazz to come, Eventually, Ornette Coleman,
– Anthill, Dion Nijland
– Grillkijker ll, Astronotes
– One by One, Wynton Marsalis+ Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers
– Cream, Inga Luhning
