Biography
Among the electric guitarists prominent within the Dutch creative music arena stands Corrie van Binsbergen, distinguished whether she pursues jazzy improvisations, avant-garde compositions, or straightforward rock energy. A passionate soloist carrying traces of Zappa, she earns recognition chiefly through her leadership of two vigorous yet demanding ensembles that still draw audiences: Corrie en de Brokken and the twelve-piece Corrie en de Grote Brokken, the latter blending pop and rock vocalists into an off-kilter fusion of jazz, rock, blues, funk, and additional styles. Across her professional path, the 1999 Boy Edgar Prijs recipient has also created scores for theater, dance, silent film, spoken word, and opera, while serving as artistic director of Stichting Brokken, an organization that has mounted interdisciplinary productions featuring her work alongside that of numerous other Dutch artists.
Tiel, Netherlands, welcomed her birth in 1957, after which she finished classical guitar training at the Utrechts Conservatorium in 1983. Shortly afterward she began working with Dutch improvising musicians and performed for the first time at Amsterdam’s Bimhuis. She assembled the initial lineup of Corrie en de Brokken in 1986, joining saxophonist Tobias Delius, trumpeter Angelo Verploegen, bassist Hein Offermans, and drummer Arend Niks, with trombonist Joost Buis arriving soon after. The ensemble reached the North Sea Jazz Festival in 1987, and in the ensuing years van Binsbergen turned to composition and performance in dance and related settings, among them Klaas ten Holt’s all-guitar group Seven Slowhands, whose self-titled album appeared in 1988, before the band issued its debut recording, Alles Beweegt, on the Bvhaast label in 1990.
Following the 1991 birth of her daughter, van Binsbergen withdrew from fronting her own groups yet remained active in assorted Dutch ensembles until she relaunched Corrie en de Brokken in 1995 with saxophonist Frans Vermeerssen, saxophonist and vibraphonist Hans Hasebos, trumpeter Felicity Provan, bassist Offermans, and drummer Charles Huffstadt. The refreshed unit made its concert debut with an exploratory and engaging program at the Bimhuis in May 1995, later documented on the 1996 Bvhaast release Live!
That same year she established the aforementioned Stichting Brokken production entity, and in December the expanded Corrie en de Grote Brokken delivered their first public performance in the Netherlands. The roster comprised pop and rock vocalists Bob Fosko, Beatrice van der Poel, and Wouter Planteijdt, the last also serving as guitarist, together with van Binsbergen, Verploegen, Hasebos, Offermans, Niks, trombonist David Rothschild, saxophonists Jasper Blom and Rutger van Otterloo, and keyboardist Dionys Breukers. Throughout 1997 the larger ensemble carried its high-octane, theatrical, Zappa-inflected avant jazz-rock-blues presentation to multiple European festivals and halls while issuing the two-disc self-titled debut on the Via label. Van Binsbergen closed the decade with further undertakings spanning dance, improvisation, and rock, among them two 1999 albums: the rock-oriented quartet effort Vanbinsbergen and Links — Ouvrir Ici, which featured pianist Albert Van Veenendaal, percussionist Joshua Samson, and a string trio; she also appeared as guest soloist with the Jazz Orchestra of Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.
In 2000 Corrie en de Grote Brokken delivered their second album, Kado Uit de Hel!, a live document of a van Binsbergen “mini-opera” later reissued by Buzz Records in 2007, alongside the self-released Brokstukken. Additional Zappa-related and unrelated endeavors filled the ensuing period, including Stichting Brokken presentations of “Literary Concerts” pairing writers and poets with musical settings. The guitarist and bandleader returned in 2005 with another Grote Brokken recording, Het Land Is Moe, issued by Challenge Records, and simultaneously formed the new group CRAM, uniting (C)orrie with saxophonist (R)utger van Otterloo, drummer (A)rend Niks, and bassist (M)ick Paauwe. She launched her Brokken Records imprint in 2008, which debuted that year with the CRAM album For a Dog.
Brokken Records subsequently brought forth several further van Binsbergen titles. The opera Over de Bergen, composed by van Binsbergen and featuring Belgian actor and director Josse De Pauw, appeared on the label in 2010. Marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 1986 establishment of Corrie en de Brokken, the 2011 Corrie en de Grote Brokken release Vier! assembled a mixtape-style retrospective drawn from the earlier albums Corrie en de Grote Brokken, Kado Uit de Hel!, and Het Land Is Moe; van Binsbergen herself edited and sequenced the material to produce, in her liner-note words, a “whole new and energetic record” and a “groovy, greatest hits, guitar album.” Subsequent personal transitions prompted a reflective phase captured on the 2013 Brokken Records album Self Portrait in Pale Blue, consisting of restrained solo guitar improvisations and soundscapes.
Tiel, Netherlands, welcomed her birth in 1957, after which she finished classical guitar training at the Utrechts Conservatorium in 1983. Shortly afterward she began working with Dutch improvising musicians and performed for the first time at Amsterdam’s Bimhuis. She assembled the initial lineup of Corrie en de Brokken in 1986, joining saxophonist Tobias Delius, trumpeter Angelo Verploegen, bassist Hein Offermans, and drummer Arend Niks, with trombonist Joost Buis arriving soon after. The ensemble reached the North Sea Jazz Festival in 1987, and in the ensuing years van Binsbergen turned to composition and performance in dance and related settings, among them Klaas ten Holt’s all-guitar group Seven Slowhands, whose self-titled album appeared in 1988, before the band issued its debut recording, Alles Beweegt, on the Bvhaast label in 1990.
Following the 1991 birth of her daughter, van Binsbergen withdrew from fronting her own groups yet remained active in assorted Dutch ensembles until she relaunched Corrie en de Brokken in 1995 with saxophonist Frans Vermeerssen, saxophonist and vibraphonist Hans Hasebos, trumpeter Felicity Provan, bassist Offermans, and drummer Charles Huffstadt. The refreshed unit made its concert debut with an exploratory and engaging program at the Bimhuis in May 1995, later documented on the 1996 Bvhaast release Live!
That same year she established the aforementioned Stichting Brokken production entity, and in December the expanded Corrie en de Grote Brokken delivered their first public performance in the Netherlands. The roster comprised pop and rock vocalists Bob Fosko, Beatrice van der Poel, and Wouter Planteijdt, the last also serving as guitarist, together with van Binsbergen, Verploegen, Hasebos, Offermans, Niks, trombonist David Rothschild, saxophonists Jasper Blom and Rutger van Otterloo, and keyboardist Dionys Breukers. Throughout 1997 the larger ensemble carried its high-octane, theatrical, Zappa-inflected avant jazz-rock-blues presentation to multiple European festivals and halls while issuing the two-disc self-titled debut on the Via label. Van Binsbergen closed the decade with further undertakings spanning dance, improvisation, and rock, among them two 1999 albums: the rock-oriented quartet effort Vanbinsbergen and Links — Ouvrir Ici, which featured pianist Albert Van Veenendaal, percussionist Joshua Samson, and a string trio; she also appeared as guest soloist with the Jazz Orchestra of Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.
In 2000 Corrie en de Grote Brokken delivered their second album, Kado Uit de Hel!, a live document of a van Binsbergen “mini-opera” later reissued by Buzz Records in 2007, alongside the self-released Brokstukken. Additional Zappa-related and unrelated endeavors filled the ensuing period, including Stichting Brokken presentations of “Literary Concerts” pairing writers and poets with musical settings. The guitarist and bandleader returned in 2005 with another Grote Brokken recording, Het Land Is Moe, issued by Challenge Records, and simultaneously formed the new group CRAM, uniting (C)orrie with saxophonist (R)utger van Otterloo, drummer (A)rend Niks, and bassist (M)ick Paauwe. She launched her Brokken Records imprint in 2008, which debuted that year with the CRAM album For a Dog.
Brokken Records subsequently brought forth several further van Binsbergen titles. The opera Over de Bergen, composed by van Binsbergen and featuring Belgian actor and director Josse De Pauw, appeared on the label in 2010. Marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 1986 establishment of Corrie en de Brokken, the 2011 Corrie en de Grote Brokken release Vier! assembled a mixtape-style retrospective drawn from the earlier albums Corrie en de Grote Brokken, Kado Uit de Hel!, and Het Land Is Moe; van Binsbergen herself edited and sequenced the material to produce, in her liner-note words, a “whole new and energetic record” and a “groovy, greatest hits, guitar album.” Subsequent personal transitions prompted a reflective phase captured on the 2013 Brokken Records album Self Portrait in Pale Blue, consisting of restrained solo guitar improvisations and soundscapes.
Albums
