Corrie van Binsbergen

Pseudonyms

CVB4

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Corrie van Binsbergen

Corrie van Binsbergen (Tiel, 31 August 1957) is a versatile and in demand guitarist, composer and leader of her own bands like Corrie en de (Grote) Brokken, Vanbinsbergen and Links. As a student of the classical guitar at the Utrecht Conservatory she starts playing in various bands and ensembles, ranging ...
Full biography

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Instruments

basgitaar, gitaar

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Biography Corrie van Binsbergen

Corrie van Binsbergen (Tiel, 31 August 1957) is a versatile and in demand guitarist, composer and leader of her own bands like Corrie en de (Grote) Brokken, Vanbinsbergen and Links. As a student of the classical guitar at the Utrecht Conservatory she starts playing in various bands and ensembles, ranging from pop to chamber music and dance productions to the house band of a TV show and even the circus. This broad musical background shines through in her music, which defies categorization. It is a synthesis of jazz, rock, funk, composed and improvised music, influenced by Frank Zappa. She is awarded the VPRO/Boy Edgar Prijs (the major Dutch jazz award) in 1999.

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Played in

2 Be Two   gitaar
Corrie & De Grote Brokken   gitaar
CRAM   componist, gitaar
Girls Talk   gitaar
Girls Wanna Have Fun   gitaar
Haas & The Guitarbandits   gitaar
Ice Nine   gitaar
Kenvermogen  
Knvb   gitaar
Lazybones   gitaar
Seven Slowhands   gitaar
Utrechts Improvisatie Laboratorium (uil)   gitaar
Vanbinsbergen   gitaar

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1981 - 1982

Corrie van Binsbergen is the guitarist and bass guitarist for the theater production Is Die Kruk Vrij? by cabaret performer Frans Halsema, who likes to surround himself with female musicians. One season alone comprises some 110 theater shows.

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1983 - 1987

Van Binsbergen finishes her studies of the classical guitar at the Utrecht Conservatory in 1983. In 1984 she becomes a member of UIL, the Utrechts Improvisatie Laboratorium, featuring pianist Albert van Veenendaal, saxophonist Dick de Graaf and bassist Eric Calmes. It is with this band that she makes her debut at the Amsterdam Bimhuis. In 1984 and 1985 she puts in experience as bass guitarist in saxophonist Rosa King's band Four Roses and the group Three Times A Lady. In 1986 she starts her own outfit Corrie & De Brokken (the name is a pun on the 1960s Dutch singer and Eurovision Song contestant Corrie Brokken), originally as a quintet featuring trumpeter Angelo Verploegen, saxophonist Tobias Delius, drummer Arend Niks and bassist Hein Offermans. Trombonist Joost Buis joins a year later. They are immediately invited to perform at the North Sea Jazz Festival. She writes the music for a dance production by dancer Annemieke Keurentjes: Seven Notes On A Gentle Step. In 1985 she takes a course in teaching pop music, organized by Stichting Popmuziek Nederland and trains as a band coach in the province of Drenthe.

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1988 - 1989

She starts working with artists from other disciplines, like Dansez Maintenant with dancer Annemieke Keurentjes for Het Danslab, and Geen Deel, a dance concert for three dancers and three musicians, performing in the Netherlands and Italy. Seven Slowhands, a production by Klaas ten Holt, involves seven guitarists using the same type of guitar (including Klaas ten Holt, Vincent van Warmerdam, Franky Douglas and Corrie van Binsbergen). They perform in the Dutch club circuit. The album Seven Slowhands is consequently released. In 1989 the group tours for two months in Russia, China, Mongolia and Indonesia. Van Binsbergen also performs with Corrie & De Brokken during this year.

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1990

Corrie & De Brokken’s debut album, Alles Beweegt, is released by BVHaast, and the release is supported by performances in the Dutch clubs. She receives her first composition commission from the Fonds Scheppende Toonkunst (Fund for Creative Music) to realize productions with Corrie & De Brokken. She gives a workshop at the Edam jazz club Mahogany Hall and teaches ensemble classes at the jazz department of the Amsterdam Conservatory. In December she starts teaching at the Utrecht Conservatory, giving classes in electrical guitar to students of the classical guitar.

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1991

Commisioned by the NPS Jazz Marathon Van Binsbergen writes all of the material for the project Bits & Pieces, a nonet featuring a brass quartet (Joost Buis, Henk Koekkoek, Chris Abelen and Felicity Provan) and drummer Michael Vatcher.

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1992 - 1994

After the birth of her daughter, Jasja Offermans, in 1991 she puts her own productions on the backburner. She does, however, participate in other people’s projects and keeps teaching. She plays in jazz clubs with saxophonist Vera Vingerhoeds’ ensemble Lazybones (featuring drummer Martin van Duynhoven and bassist Ernst Glerum), the Chris Abelen Quintet, and the trio De Helling (with drummer Bart van Helsdingen and mallets player Hans Hasebos). In the pop club circuit she performs with the all women band Girls Wanna Have Fun. She receives a composition commission for the European Women in Music Congress, to be performed in Remscheid, Germany.

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1995

The second edition of Corrie & De Brokken is a sextet consisting of saxophonist Frans Vermeerssen, trumpeter Felicity Provan, Hans Hasebos, Hein Offermans and drummer Charles Huffstadt. The first performance is a festive night concert on 5 May 1995 at the Bimhuis, broadcast by NPS radio. She also joins the quartet KNVB (Kool, Niks, Vingerhoeds, Binsbergen – the name is a pun on the Dutch soccer association) with which she tours Africa: Burkina Faso and Mali, including the Jazz Festival Ouagadougou. The band is also joined by various African top musicians, including kora player Toumani Diabate.

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1996

The Corrie & De Brokken CD Live! is released, containing a registration of the new line-up’s first concert. The guitarist also starts Corrie & De Grote Brokken, a collaboration with pop musicians (singer Bob Fosko, guitarist Wouter Planteijdt, singer Beatrice van der Poel) and jazz musicians. The try-out for this twelve piece band is on 13 December 1996 at De Kade in Zaandam. Late December the band is featured at Willem Breuker’s festival Klap op de Vuurpijl.

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1997

Corrie & De Grote Brokken perform at both jazz and rock stages. They are also featured at festivals like the North Sea Jazz Festival and Paaspop. In October the band’s eponymous debut album is released. Corrie van Binsbergen performs the music bassist Tony Overwater writes for the dance production Eter/Ether by dancer Anouk van Dijk. In the spring she is a member of the Gene Carl Band for the dance production Below Paradise by the Rotterdam Scapino Ballet. After the summer she collaborates with the Scapino Ballet once again, performing the music of John Cale for the production Nico.

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1998

She starts three new ensembles, each aimed at a specific part of her work: Brokken Vijf (mainly improvised music, with drummer Alan Purves, keyboardist Dionys Breukers, guitarist Anton Goudsmit and Joost Buis); Links (an improvising trio with Albert van Veenendaal and percussionist Joshua Samson, combined with a classical string trio); and Vanbinsbergen (a quartet performing more rock-like music, consisting of Anton Goudsmit and bass and drum brothers Gerry and Harry Arling). She also performs the music for the second part of the dance production Eter/Ether by dancer Anouk van Dijk, this time written by composer Calliope Tsoupaki. The Holland Festival invites Van Binsbergen to write arrangements of Joni Mitchell songs, including Marcie (from Mitchell's 1968 debut album) for the Mondriaan String Quartet.

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1999

Corrie van Binsbergen is awarded the VPRO/Boy Edgar Prijs (the major Dutch jazz award) for her creativity, craftsmanship and versatility. New albums by Links (Ouvrir Ici) and Vanbinsbergen (untitled) are released. The band Vanbinsbergen performs at the North Sea Jazz Festival. She is a guest soloist with the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw, and on the occasion of the opening of the ‘s Hertogenbosch Muziekcentrum she is one of the musicians performing the composition Cobra, written and conducted by the American saxophonist John Zorn. Film director Jonathan Herman makes a TV portrait of the guitarist for NPS. She tours with the Scapino Ballet production of Nico.

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2000

For Corrie & De Grote Brokken she composes a second program: the mini-opera Kado Uit De Hel!, taking the band on an extensive theater tour. As part of the Holland Festival’s Frank Zappa special she performs the solo concert I Wasn't Talking (an answer to Zappa's Shut Up And Play Your Guitar) and Zappa's Music For Low Budget Orchestra, for which she is joined by the Ebony Band, conducted by Werner Herbers. She writes a composition for musicians and live controlled computer animations by Rachel de Boer, entitled Staafmannetjes. On her own label she releases a CD by Corrie & De Grote Brokken containing previously unreleased live and studio recordings, entitled Brokstukken.

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2001

Corrie van Binsbergen is increasingly commissioned to write compositions, for instance for the VPRO’s children’s TV program Villa Achterwerk (Jamamba), for the Amsterdam Filmmuseum (Hintertreppe, ein Kammerspiel) and for the Jazz Connection Tour by the Ricciotti Ensemble (Krantenkoppen). She gives a workshop for the Rotterdam Jazz Project and joins the group Drummers Double Bill (featuring bassist Arjen Gorter and the drummers Robbie Verdurmen and Arend Niks).

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2002

She starts the quartet CVB4 (with Ernst Glerum, drummer Nout Ingenhousz and keyboardist Pieter Jan Cramer), which performs at the new Amsterdam jazz club De Pompoen and at the European Jazz Festival in Athens, Greece. The latter concert is broadcast by NPS radio. She is invited as guest programmer for the Crosslinx Festival at the Utrecht Muziekcentrum Vredenburg and the Muziekcentrum Enschede, for which she produces concerts by the British pianist-composer Django Bates with the Asko Ensemble. Commissioned by the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble she writes seven pieces for this wind ensemble, in which she herself is the soloist. The Filmmuseum commissions her to write music for Fritz Lang’s epic film classic Metropolis.

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2003

Van Binsbergen organizes a series of concerts at the Bimhuis, combining literature and music. It features an eleven piece band plus writers Remco Campert, Toon Tellegen, Manon Uphoff and Kees van Kooten. At the Zappa Memorial in Harderwijk, a festival commemorating the tenth anniversary of Frank Zappa’s death, she performs More Stories From The Girl Who Wasn't Talking, a self-composed solo concert for guitar plus sound and visual samples, in collaboration with Rachel de Boer. For a concert by the Asko Ensemble at the Amsterdam Paradiso she arranges Zappa’s Outside Now Again and writes a new composition dedicated to Zappa, entitled The Magic Sock. For the Rosa Ensemble’s Zappa program she composes Zoot-Suit For Rosa. The Holland Festival and the NPS commission her to write Movements For Electric Guitar & Orchestra, performed by the Radio Symfonie Orkest. The Filmmuseum commissions her to write a new composition for their Biënnale. She composes new music for the silent film Erdgeist, in collaboration with Ivo van Hove.

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2004

The theater program Schrijvers In Concert (Writers in Concert, featuring Toon Tellegen, Remco Campert or Kees van Kooten) tours the Netherlands and Belgium. Publishing house Rubinstein releases the audio book Trein naar Pavlovsk en Oostvoorne, containing the show with Toon Tellegen.

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2005

A second series of literary concerts is staged at the Bimhuis, featuring the following poets and writers: Josse de Pauw, Renate Dorrestein, Ramsey Nasr, Rascha Peper, Erik Jan Harmens, P.F. Thomése, Hagar Peeters and Jules Deelder. There are more performances with Toon Tellegen. Audio books with Remco Campert (Als In Een Droom) and Kees van Kooten (Live Gelezen En Gespeeld) are also released, this time by publisher De Bezige Bij. Corrie & De Grote Brokken’s third show goes on tour, and their new CD is called Het Land Is Moe. She writes On A Dark Dark Cloud 9 for the ZAPP String Quartet, The Fifth Element for the Electra ensemble, and Elementaire Deeltjes for the Mondriaan String Quartet & Loeki Stardust Recorder Quartet. Later that year she is invited to the Rencontres Musicales de Rabat in Morocco. Here she performs with singer Touria Hadraoui and three Dutch musicians, who will later form her new band CRAM: saxophonist Rutger van Otterloo, drummer Arend Niks and bassist Mick Paauwe.

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2006

A regular band with Toon Tellegen has materialized: Het Wisselend Toonkwintet, which goes on tour. There are also two new audio books: by Renate Dorrestein & Corrie van Binsbergen Band entitled Het Duister Dat Ons Scheidt (published by Contact), and by Josse de Pauw & Corrie van Binsbergen Band entitled Werk (published by Rubinstein). Together with actress Yolande Bertsch and singer Frédérique Spigt the guitarist performs in the musical theater production Lucy in the Sky, directed by Titus Tiel Groenestege. For whistler Geert Chartrou Van Binsbergen composes November, a piece that is included in his album Ornithology. In the fall she starts programming a series of Brokkenconcerten at the Amsterdam venue Zaal 100, where she stages musical meetings between musicians from different musical backgrounds. CRAM performs in Venice and in the Dutch clubs. At the occasion of the opening of The Media Experience at the Hilversum Beeld en Geluid museum she guests with Jaap Drupsteen’s band Tom Push. Corrie & De Grote Brokken perform at the VPRO festival Jazz Op Het Dak. She plays her solo program I Wasn't Talking at the Zappanale in the German town Bad Doberan.

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2007

The audio book Dierenverhalen by Het Wisselend Toonkwintet is released by Rubinstein. Van Binsbergen is commissioned to write new compositions: L'Atlantide for the Filmmuseum Biënnale; Thursday 12th for the Belgian big band Flat Earth Society; Grow With The Flow for Tetzepi; and Silent Movements for the Asko Ensemble.

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2008

Van Binsbergen tours with her music for the silent movie l'Atlantide, featuring Moroccan singer Touria Hadraoui. With CRAM she performs in Brazil, and in the Netherlands she gives a series of concerts featuring Touria Hadraoui and CRAM. She starts her own label Brokken Records. The first release is the CRAM album For A Dog. She starts the student orchestra BrokkenFabriek, a pool of young musicians whose line-up may vary each month, as is the case with its band leader (Van Binsbergen herself, Oene Van Geel, Anton Goudsmit, Guus Janssen, Michael Moore, Ernst Reijseger or Michiel Braam). She also initiates the annual Brokken Festival at the Bimhuis, featuring highlights of the Zaal 100 roster. She receives commissions for new compositions for the Imperial City Orchestra (De Avonturen Van O), the David Kweksilber Big Band (Hemel) and the Asko Ensemble plus Barbara Hannigan (Side Note: Howard Report, page 30).

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2009

She performs at the Brokken Festival and tours with Drummers Double Bill + CRAM + Talking Cows under the tile 3DubbelDutch. The audio book Wonderbaarlijke Maand by Ramsey Nasr & Corrie van Binsbergen Band is released by De Bezige Bij. The album reaches the Top-3 of newspaper NRC's list of best audio books of the year.

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2010

Josse de Pauw and Corrie van Binsbergen write the opera Over De Bergen, featuring sixteen musicians from the worlds of chamber music, pop and jazz (including classical soprano Claron McFadden, reed player David Kweksilber, singing sisters Vera en Beatrice van der Poel and saxophonist/singer Sean Bergin). She starts the new trio Van Binsbergen/Offermans/Sun (with bassist Hein Offermans and drummer Yonga Sun) for a series of concerts in November, featuring international guests like trumpeter Matthias Schriefl and trombonist Gianluca Petrella.

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Discography Corrie van Binsbergen

In the discography you will find all recordings that have been released listed chronologically. We restrict ourselves to the title, the type of audio, year of publication or recording, label, list of guest musicians, plus any comments on the issue.

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Photos Corrie van Binsbergen

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Video Corrie van Binsbergen

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