See also:
Hans Dulfer official website

Born May 28, 1940, in Amsterdam, Hans Dulfer touched his first TENOR SAXOPHONE in the mid-fifties. Behind this choice was his strong belief that the tenor was the most powerful, widest ranging instrument around at the time. To see a parallel with one side of the man's character, is not far from the point. Notorious big sound tenor players like Ike Quebec and Big Jay McNeeley are among his heroes, their stage acts the pure and powerful examples of the kind of showmanship Dulfer adored and adopted for himself.

At seventeen Dulfer embarked on a musical career that stretches itself to this very day. Jazz was his first love and it will be his last. Mind you, not the dull cocktail jazz of established tastes, but its grassroots mentality of social comment in music. This, as Dulfer likes to spell out, is not limited to a specific historical period, but an eternal truth about jazz. Along the way Dulfer picked up just about anything that was musically hip -he even tuned in to punk attitudes only to find out that he had been a punk at heart all his life.

His bands HEAVY SOUL INC. and REFLUD (DULFER spelled backwards), were notorious in clubland. Many top musicians in their own right now, have played in one or two of Dulfer's bands. In turn, Dulfer contributed to national top bands in the jazz, rock and blues field. International stars regard him as their friend.

Dayjobbing was a bare necessity for a jazz musician who supports a family of three. Slowly but surely though Dulfer reached the point where he could wave goodbye to his longtime occupation of selling cars - a job in which he excelled to the point of twice winning the national GM Car Seller Award. In 1990 he was appointed general director of the famous rock venue PARADISO (the continental home of the ROLLING STONES and DAVID BOWIE) in Amsterdam. Here he instituted club nights for the hip hop and jazzdance scenes, a futuristic approach for a rock club. In the same year his formation of the group TOUGH TENORS caused an uproar all over the country for its loudness and its often unpredictable output. Dulfer just LOVES his reputation.

His work as a BAND LEADER and NATIONAL NIGHTTIME RADIO DEEJAY completely absorbed him after leaving the alien world of club management. Dulfer was on his way to be a well respected member of the musical establishment. The board of the North Sea Jazz Festival gave him the prestigious BIRD AWARD in 1993 to mark his outstanding contributions to jazz life in Holland.