Joost Lijbaart

Amsterdam-based drummer Joost Lijbaart has long ranked among the fixtures of European jazz through extensive session work with a wide array of artists. Born in 1967, he took up the instrument at the age of seven. After earning an honors diploma from the Hilversum Conservatory in 1991, he issued his first recording just five years later: the 1996 album Star Tracks, credited to the Yuri Honing Trio. He remained with that ensemble for more than two decades and appeared on over five of its releases. Additional outlets for his playing have included his own quartet Group of Friends, a duo alongside Wolfert Brederode, the ensemble Batik, and the free-improvisation trio Under the Surface, which also features Sanne Rambags and Bram Stadhouders. In 2016 he began instructing students in entrepreneurship at both the Conservatory in Amsterdam and the Prins Claus Conservatory in Groningen.