Willem Hellbreker

Willem Hellbreker is a prominent player of straight-ahead jazz in the Dutch jazz-scene. He plays hardbop and mainsteam-jazz as played by Dexter Gordon, Hank Mobley and Stan Getz. He also composes which gives his music a contemporary sound. He is well in demand by many dutch bigbands. Willem studied saxophone at the Rotterdam Conservatory. In ’94 he toured through the USA and played with Bob Brookmeyer and preformed in the famous jazzclub the Village Vanguard in New York . He studied at the Berklee college of music in Boston, USA. In ’95 he gave a concert with Rotterdams Philharmonic Orchestra and Stevie Wonder. Recently he toured through Russia with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Finalist of the Nederlands jazzconcours ’96 en winner of the Dordrecht jazz-price. Willem Hellbreker Quartet played on the Northseajazz festival of 2001. Since then he recorded 4 cds under his own name Willem plays or has played with Stevie Wonder, Bob Brookmeyer, Bert van den Brink, John Engels, Erik Vloeimans, Denise Janah, Deborah Carter and is currently a member of the Holland Bigband.