Werner Janssen

After my graduation form the Eindhoven University of Technology as a mathematician in 1991 I started at the Hilversum conservatory the maincourse jazz saxophone. My teachers were Ferdinand Povel, Albert Beltman and Jasper Blom. I graduated in 2000 as a Master “Playing lead-alto in a big band”. I specialised in doubling and now I play all saxes and clarinet, flute and piccolo. I had lessons and masterclasses from Dick Oatts, Wynton Marsalis, Jerry van Rooyen, Chris Potter, Mike Mainieri, Jiggs Wigham and Bill Dobbins.

My main influences as a jazz saxophone player are Charlie Parker, Phil Woods, Cannonball Adderley, Dick Oatts and Ferdinand Povel. But I also like different kinds of music, whether tango music, Portuguese fado, Spanish folk music, spiritual music from India, or crossover projects between classical and jazz music. My favourite classical composers are Bach, Mahler and Stravinsky.

As a sub in the Metropole Orchestra I had the chance to work with Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Ray Brown, John Clayton, Vince Mendoza, George Duke, Maria Schneider, Dave Liebman and Steve Vai. I also work with the WDR Big Band (Cologne, Germany), the Dutch Jazz Orchestra, the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw, Wil Salden’s Glenn Miller Orchestra, the Dutch Navy woodwind band and the Beau Hunks Saxophone Soctette. Amomg the national artists whom I worked with, are Lee Towers, Helmut Lotti, Frans Bauer, Blof, Robert Long, Trijntje Oosterhuis, Paul de Leeuw and Ernst-Daniel Smid.

Because I specialised in doubling woodwinds I was asked to perform in musicals like “Annie”, “Chicago”, “There’s no business like showbusiness”, “Grace” and the road opera “Buwalsky”. I also played in TV shows like “Musicals in Ahoy”, the “Musical Award Gala” and “Reiziger in Muziek”.

I’m also a member of the tango trio (optional duo or quartet) “Consorcio Fuente Y Caudal” and the jazz ensemble (duo, quartet or quintet) “Jazz-Eaters Lounge”, together with the talented piano player Orjan Graafmans.

One of the things I like to do most is teaching. I teach maincourse Jazz saxophone at the DJAM, a private school for jazz music in Amsterdam. I like to inspire people who are interested in jazz improvisation and offer them a personal lesson. I also give workshops from saxophone section to jazz improvisation to an educational concert “history of jazz and the role of the saxophone“.