De Zes Winden

Pseudonyms

The Six Winds

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De Zes Winden

The ensemble De Zes Winden (The Six Winds) emerges from De Vier Winden (The Four Winds), an improvising saxophone quartet founded in 1976 by the Eindhoven based baritone saxophonist Ad Peijnenburg (Eindhoven, 4 October 1950). The four standard saxophones, from soprano to baritone are represented in the group. After eight ...
Full biography

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Members

Mariëtte Rouppe van der Voort   saxofoon
Dies le Duc   sopraansaxofoon
Kazutoki Umezu   altsaxofoon
Andrew White   tenorsaxofoon
Ad Peijnenburg   baritonsaxofoon
Klaas Hekman   bassaxofoon
Full list... Summarized list

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Former members

Horst Rickels   sopraansaxofoon
Jan Willem van der Ham   altsaxofoon
Frank Jongen   tenorsaxofoon
Gilius van Bergeijk   saxofoon
John Tchicai   altsaxofoon, tenorsaxofoon
Bill Smith   saxofoon
Paul Termos   altsaxofoon
Frans Vermeerssen   altsaxofoon
Full list... Summarized list

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Biography De Zes Winden

The ensemble De Zes Winden (The Six Winds) emerges from De Vier Winden (The Four Winds), an improvising saxophone quartet founded in 1976 by the Eindhoven based baritone saxophonist Ad Peijnenburg (Eindhoven, 4 October 1950). The four standard saxophones, from soprano to baritone are represented in the group. After eight years Peijnenburg decides to extend the band into a sextet, by adding the highest (sopranino) and lowest (bass) saxophones. This makes the line-up unique in the world. Because some group members are from abroad De Zes Winden works project based, with an annual tour.

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1976

Even before the start of the major American saxophone quartets (World Saxophone Quartet, ROVA) baritone saxophonist Ad Peijnenburg decides to assemble an improvising saxophone quartet: De Vier Winden. Without a rhythm section, but featuring the four standard saxophones: soprano (Horst Rickels), alto (Jan Willem van der Ham), tenor (Frank Jongen) and baritone (Peijnenburg). All group members provide compositions, which are usually quirkier than the groove based repertoire of many American saxophone ensembles.

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1984 - 1986

It seems so obvious, but no one has done it before: Peijnenburg extends his ensemble into a sextet, adding a sopranino and bass saxophone and christens it De Zes Winden. The Hague based Gilius van Bergeijk is the sopranino player, and Rotterdam Klaas Hekman takes care of the bass saxophone. This line-up is soon shaken up, however. Canadian Bill Smith is the new man on sopranino, Dies le Duc comes in on soprano, and John Tchicai (the Danish-Congolese horn player who worked with Roswell Rudd and John Coltrane) is featured on alto, switching to tenor later on. With Paul Termos on alto the line-up remains stable for two years. The band records its first LP: Live At The Bim And More. The international make-up of the group forces Peijnenburg to operate De Zes Winden (now also called The Six Winds) on a project basis. Every year the group meets for a couple of weeks to rehearse completely new material (by all group members) and tour with this repertoire.

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1988 - 1990

Frans Vermeerssen is Paul Termos's successor; he can be heard on the second LP, Elephants Can Dance, which was recorded during a tour of Canada. The album is released by the Canadian Sackville label.

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1990 - 1998

In a period of rest and consolidation Mariëtte Rouppe van der Voort is the new sopranino player. She coincidentally plays Van Bergeijk's old horn. This line-up records three CDs: Man Met Muts, Anger Dance and Manestraal.

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1998 - 2010

Vermeerssen and Tchicai leave the group. Their replacements are the Japanese altoist Kazutoki Umezu and the American tenorist Andrew White. This formation can be heard on the last CD released by BVHaast: Number Six. In the summer of 2002 De Zes Winden tours Japan. The Japanese label Ohrai Records releases the recordings on two CDs, released in 2004: Komoro and Maihama.

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Discography De Zes Winden

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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