Pierre Courbois

Pierre Courbois (1940) is one of the few ‘living legends’ of the Dutch Jazz World. He studied percussion,  composition and piano at the Hogeschool der Kunsten (HKA) in Arnhem. In 1960 Pierre left for Paris and worked with a number of jazz giants (i.e. Kenny Drew, Stan Getz and Johnny Griffin) at the legendary jazz club, the Blue Note. He has taken part in countless international jazz ensembles, toured throughout the whole world and has over time appeared on a great number of albums. He has also played with the legendary saxophonists Ben Webster and Eric Dolphy, the pianists Mal Waldron, Jasper van ‘t Hof and Rein de Graaff, horn players Willem Breuker, Hans Dulfer and Theo Loevendie, the Gunter Hampel Group and the European Jazz Quintet. Courbois was one of the first musicians in Europe to experiment with improvised music or ‘Free Jazz.’ Later he won the famous Down Beat Poll  with his Association PC, the first European ‘Rock-Jazz’ group, that existed 1969-1992. In 1992 Pierre started a quintet under his own name and for the first time in his career performed pieces, composed by himself. Despite the rise of fusion and neo-bop, Courbois has shown with his quintet that the Mingus style of jazz is still full of life. In order to realize his ideas about composition and improvisation, Courbois has brought together one of the most talented ensembles in the Netherlands. The group consists of the musicians of the sextet, except Jasper Blom and Egon Kracht instead of Niko Langenhuijsen). The quintet has recorded Courbois’s compositions on ‘Réouverture’  (1994, re-issued by A-Records in 1996(AL-73070), followed by ‘Live in Germany’ (AL-73071).
”intense swinging music…superior technical quality…a special piece in Dutch jazz.” (Jazz Nu).