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Almost every day we add another photo or video, plus a little story, to this article untill we've covered all the artists that we have in our Vault from 20 years ago, in 2006. We started with this on our drummerszone instagram channel, but on our own website we have a lot more space to talk and share additional stuff like extra photos, videos and music.
For instance, on the socials we can not show the accompanying albums - or any other info that we have on Drummerszone.com. So, let's celebrate 50 years of North Sea Jazz with cool stuff from the Drummerszone Vault.
Harvey Mason
Where do you even begin when writing a caption for Harvey Mason? The photo is him, 20 years ago in 2006, with the all-star band Fourplay playing on the Maas stage at North Sea Jazz in Rotterdam.
Let's highlight some of the coolest names + albums because this drummer is a true hero amongst heroes. Fourplay had Lee Ritenour, then Larry Carlton, Bob James and Nathan East. That's 4 homeruns already.
Among the uncountable amount of releases on his name, there are also several solo albums with all-star line-ups. You can find them on his artist page on drummerszone.com. And a few of them listed with this article.
Harvey is the original drummer of Herbie Hancock's Headhunters, and is the drummer on George Benson's all-time classic Breezin'. He played and recorded with Carole King, Sérgio Mendes, Bill Withers, Robben Ford, and plays on Chers' 1975 album 'Stars' with these drumming legends: Gary Mallaber, Hal Blaine, Jeff Porcaro, Jim Gordon and Jim Keltner.
Two years earlier, some guys on this team also worked on the Seals and Crofts album 'Diamond Girl' - which also features the best from the studio musicians back then:
- Louie Shelton – legendary guitarist and one of the most successful producers ever
- Toto's David Paich on organ and piano
And these guys, plus the incredible Ms. Bobbye Hall on percussion: Jim Gordon, John Guerin, Harvey Mason and Jeff Porcaro.
Just these few facts are already ridiculous when you think of it. Imagine being part of that scene in those days...
Roy Hargrove's The RH Factor
Here's a Holy-Must-See in 2026: also returning to North Sea Jazz after 20 years are Roy Hargrove's The RH Factor - with Jason "JT" Thomas and Willie Jones III. Actually, this is not entirely true, because in 2009 the RH Factor played the festival as well. The photo is from 2006, with Jason Thomas on the drums there.
The 2009 concert, also with "JT" on the drums, had a young Jonathan Batiste on keyboards. Jonathan was member of Roy's Quintet, his Big Band, and The RH Factor. That same Jon Batiste is back at the festival this year with Questlove, The Roots and Bilal. Between 2009 and now, Jon Batiste moved on to win a bunch (8!) of Grammys, and becoming the band leader of Steven Colbert's The Late Show, he is releasing three (!) new albums this June and in August, and he hasn't even turned 40.
But both these drummers have played the festival many times, and with Roy Hargrove. In fact, we actually think Roy Hargrove is the artist that is mentioned the most on the entire festival roster; he's in the highest ranges with Christian McBride, Herbie Hancock, John Scofield and Marcus Miller.
Below are all the events that feature Roy Hargrove, or are about him. The count is 47, including this year's show. Hargrove passed away in 2018, but the celebration of his legacy will be forever.
Roy Hargrove at North Sea Jazz Festival
1987 - Frank Morgan special guest of Trio Rein de Graaff introducing Roy Hargrove
1987 - Frank Morgan special guest of Trio Rein de Graaff, Roy Hargrove
1987 - Scott Hamilton, James Morrison, Roy Hargrove, Ferdinand Povel with Ron Mathews Trio
1987 - Trumpet-No-End: Owens / Hargrove / Morrison / Shaw with Rob Agerbeek Trio
1990 - Roy Hargrove Quintet
1991 - ‘Jazz Futures’ Young, Gifted & Cool featuring Roy Hargrove, Mark Whitfield, Marlon Jordan, Tony
1992 - Roy Hargrove Quintet
1993 - Roy Hargrove Quintet
1994 - Roy Hargrove Quintet & Tenors Of Today
1995 - Roy Hargrove 'Inner Circles'
1996 - Roy Hargrove Quintet featuring Miguel 'Anga' Diaz
1996 - Trumpet Summit featuring Roy Hargrove, Clark Terry
1997 - Roy Hargrove 'Crisol'
1998 - Blowin' Up A Storm; Hargrove, Turrentine, Griffin, Carter
1998 - Roy Hargrove Sextet
1999 - Ayers, Roy Hargrove, Pee Wee Ellis, Jazz-Co-Tech Dancers, a.o.
1999 - New Cool Collective Big Band with special guest Roy Hargrove
1999 - Roy Hargrove Quintet
2000 - North Sea Jazz Party Jam: New Cool Collective Big Band with special guests a.o. Roy Hargrove
2000 - Roy Hargrove Quintet with special guest Jack McDuff
2000 - Roy Hargrove Quintet with the Metropole Orkest
2001 - Jesse Van Ruller Quartet with special guest Roy Hargrove
2001 - Roy Hargrove Qintet
2002 - Clark Terry, Roy Hargrove & Johnny Griffin with the Cedar Wallton Trio
2002 - 'Directions in Music' Herbie Hancock, Roy Hargrove, Michael Brecker
2003 - Femi Kuti & Positive Force special guest Roy Hargrove
2003 - Ramón Valle Quintet featuring Roy Hargrove
2003 - Roy Hargrove Quintet
2003 - The RH Factor featuring Roy Hargrove
2005 - 30th Anniversary Bebop Session Charlie Parker Legacy Band with guests Johnny Griffin, Roy Hargrove
2005 - Dizzy Gillespie All Star Big Band conducted by Slide Hampton with James Moody & Roy Hargrove a.o.
2005 - The RH Factor ft. Roy Hargrove
2005 - The Supersession ft. George Duke Band & special guests: Stanley Clarke, Roy Hargrove, Boney James
2006 - RH Factor feat. Roy Hargrove
2006 - Roy Hargrove Quintet
2007 - Roy Hargrove Quintet
2008 - Roy Hargrove
2008 - Roy Hargrove Quintet
2009 - Roy Hargrove Big Band featuring Roberta Gambarini
2009 - Roy Hargrove Documentary
2009 - Roy Hargrove's RH Factor
2013 - Roy Hargrove Quintet
2015 - Roy Hargrove Quintet
2018 - Roy Hargrove Quintet
2022 - A Roy Hargrove Celebration + Jam Session
2022 - Panel: The Legacy of Roy Hargrove with Erykah Badu, Robert Glasper, Christian McBride and Eliane
2026 - Roy Hargrove's The RH Factor; Lineup:
Renee Neufville (vocals, keyboards); Bruce Williams (alto saxophone); Keith Anderson (tenor saxophone); Jason Marshall (baritone saxophone); Wayne Tucker (trumpet, vocals); Todd Parsnow (guitar); Bobby Sparks II, Brian Hargrove (keyboards); Reggie Washington (bass, vocals); Willie Jones III (drums); Jason JT Thomas (drums, vocals).
Salle de Jonge
Here's Dutch groove king Salle de Jonge, also 20 years ago. From his North Sea Jazz debut in 2006 to the next 20 years, he went on from playing with this band 'Leslie Nielsen' to perform and to produce for Sabrina Starke, Jan van Duikeren and his Fingerprint and jazz guitar giant Jesse van Ruller.
He's also caught playing with the lovely Shirma Rouse, The Pulitzers and The Three Degrees. Oh, and Benjamin Herman, Michiel Borstlap and Alain Clark. To name a few.
In 2024 Salle was awarded the 'Culturele Prijs Goes,' a bi-annual award in recognition of extraordinary talent and cultural inspiration and acknowledgement from the city where he is from.
Last year his first solo project ROBOTKILLER birthed with collaborators like Tom Beek and PAX (the humanoid), who we know from way back with The Kyteman Orchestra and recently gave yours truly a sweet homie hug in the local supermarket - just because he didn't forget you. That's character.
Anyway, ROBOTKILLER is some real and serious sh*t to check out on whichever streaming channels you have running on your devices. Or buy the vinyl. Makes every musician love you more.
He loves to play British Drum Co, Zildjian cymbals, Remo drumheads and vater drumsticks. One of his favorite studios is Simon Akkermans' Epic Rainbow Unicorn Studio. A guy that yours truly plays drums with on their first album recording ever. 700 years ago or so.
History can bring a lot of cool.
The North Sea Jazz Art Posters
In 2006, the North Sea Jazz Festival moved from The Hague to Rotterdam and inaugurated a new tradition: the annual Art Poster Competition. Amsterdam based graphic designer and animator John Beckers was the first to win the contest. (left image)
This year's winner is made by Famke van Thull. That's the middle image.
The first artposter dates back to 1981 and was designed by Polish illustrator Rafal Olbinski and mentioned a telephone and telex number. (right image) He also designed the art poster for the second edition of the festival. The posters are now worth around €250.
(A telex number is an unique identification number assigned to a teleprinter machine on the global Telex network, identified by an Answerback Code. It was not a fax. Telex numbers are in concept comparable to modern handshake protocols like DNS (Domain Name System) for domain names on the internet thingy.)
Anyway, the jury has also selected 14 posters that will accompany the First Prize winner in the exhibition at the North Sea Jazz Festival and in Jazz Cafe Dizzy. The competition is held among students of Rotterdam's Willem de Kooning Academy.
The first festival poster to feature a photo of an artist is from 1979.
Watch all the North Sea Jazz Festival posters here.
Pierre Courbois
Pierre Courbois is one of the first and still living founders of the European Free Jazz scene; a group of musicians who experimented with breaking the traditional borders of music (in short). Inspired by Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor, he was at the front of the movement that put expression before technique and that created a new music scene altogether.
The photo is from 2006, when he played at the North Sea Jazz Festival with his Five-Four Sextet. Featuring Dutch Jazz Icons: Jasper Blom, Toon de Gouw, Ilja Reijngoud, Willem Kühne, Niko Langenhuijsen.
Fast forward to today, 27 June, 2026: the farm in Welsum, the Netherlands, where those first Free Jazz-steps were taken, is on this very day the playground once again to celebrate this movement and its history. Pierre himself is playing to commemorate the Free Music Quintet's album, which the group recorded there for the American label ESP in 1968. This is also in memory of Erwin Somer-the percussionist, keyboardist, vibraphonist, and artist whose farm it actually was, and who is featured on the record as well.
The album had two tracks: No. One and No. Two. Hence the logical title for the album: 'Free Music One and Two.'
So, on this day of writing, Jazz Festival Hoeve Jazz (engl. Farm Jazz) hoevejazz.nl is a fact and has its first lineup with:
TRI-o:
- Taeke Stol - contrabass, Remie Keupink - trumpet and Igor Herstel on piano
The Masha Bijlsma Band:
- Masha Bijlsma on vocals, Hans Kwakkernaat on piano, Ilja Reijngoud on trombone, Taeke Stol on contrabass, and Dries Bijlsma on drums
The Cavemen Jazz Collective:
- Paul Mourus - bass guitar, Ivo Voragen - drums, Wolfram Reisiger - keys, Michiel Poell - trumpet, and Robert Kools tenor sax
and of course: Jazz Group Pierre Courbois
featuring: Pierre Courbois, Jasper van ’t Hof on keys, Stefan Lievestro on bas, and Jesse Schilderink on saxophone
And, just like Questlove, Cheikh Lô, the Roots, Robert Glasper & Christian McBride, Bilal and Jon Batiste, Pierre is playing the North Sea Jazz Festival again in 2026 with his 3GEN3 trio, with Jesse Schilderink (tenor saxophone) and Luciën Matheeuwsen (double bass).
He is 86 years old. What a hero!
Jeff 'Tain' Watts
In 2006 Jeff 'Tain' Watts did two major things at the North Sea Jazz Festival:
There is a DVD, recorded March 30, 2003 at The Bimhuis Jazz Club in Amsterdam of 'A Love Supreme Live in Amsterdam' with the Branford Marsalis' Quartet featuring: Joey Calderazzo on piano, Eric Revis on bass, and Tain on drums. We've linked the regular album to this article. Jeff made a lot of solo albums as well. 'Citizen Tain,' his first, can easily be called a masterpiece.
Jeff also plays on one very special record: 'Black Codes (From the Underground)'. The Black Codes ensemble refers to the legendary jazz groups led by Wynton Marsalis. These ensembles recorded and toured this critically acclaimed 1985 album. It won two Grammy Awards in 1986 ( Best Instrumental Jazz Performance, Individual or Group and Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist), and was inducted into the National Recording Registry in 2023. Personnel on that album are: Wynton & Branford Marsalis, Kenny Kirkland, Charnett Moffett, Jeff "Tain" Watts and Ron Carter on bass on Aural Oasis.
In 2006, we did an interview with Jeff as well, but can't find the tape so fast. We'll keep looking. You see some Zildjian cymbals in the image. That is because his regular Sabians eh... weren't there...
Sideline:
2006 is also the year Nate Smith made his debut at the festival with Chris Potter's 'Underground'.
Here you find a nice and recent article about Nate's appearances with Vulfpeck, José James, The Fearless Flyers and Brittany Howard on drummerszone.com.
Ain't music just awesome?
Zach Danziger
From The Drummerszone NSJ Vault, the incredible Zach Danziger 20 Years ago, playing with the Uri Caine Bedrock Trio, with Tim Lefebvre on bass. In 2016 he returned to North Sea Jazz with the Donny McCaslin Group. We know that Zach is on two albums with Donny McCaslin: 'Blow' (2018) and last year's 'Lullaby for the Lost', which also features Nate Wood, Mark Guiliana, and once again bass phenomenon Tim Lefebvre.
On davidbowieworld.com, Zach is mentioned as a Bowie Collaborators in the wider Blackstar orbit: Zach Danziger appears in Bowie's story indirectly, through the forward-thinking New York jazz community Bowie consciously embraced during his final years. Rather than revisiting nostalgia, Bowie sought musicians connected to the present and future of improvisation, rhythm and electronic texture. Danziger belongs to that same exploratory continuum.
Zach's creativity is endless. He has a duo with one-time Toto keyboard substitute Jeff Babko, called 'The Nine Fifteen O’Clock Movie.' In the video you see them live scoring B movies. As said, his creativity is endless. Jeff Babko's as well, by the way. Check out his work on Simon Phillips his solo albums, for instance.
The Nine Fifteen O'Clock Movie Presents "Basic Cable" - The Sub Fab Two: A Medley
Drummer Zach Danziger & keyboardist Jeff Babko stumble upon, and interpret the music of four lads from a Pool of Liver, through the filter of cornball 1970’s variety “entertainment”.
Recorded live before a studio audience at the El Portal Theater in North Hollywood, April 25, 2025. On his artis page you find more videos of him with The Nine Fifteen O'Clock Movie.
ZachFachts that are also true:
Questlove
Here we see the legendary Questlove in 2013 with The Roots at North Sea Jazz. As many artists do, he is taking a photo of the audience before the show starts. This year, Questlove is back on the festival with a few shows:
In a later post we will talk more about Jon Batiste, and we will mention all those artists across several posts since they are North Sea alumni from an early age.
The first time Questlove played at the festival was July 15, 1995. They played the last show of the day from 00:45 - 02:00 a.m. in the Paulus Potterzaal, back when the festival was still held at the Nederlands Congres Centrum in The Hague. At that time the band was touring in support of their major-label debut album, 'Do You Want More?!!!??!,' featuring Cassandra Wilson and the Electric Light Orchestra.
The Roots host their own festival as well: The Roots Picnic. An annual music and culture festival curated by the legendary hip-hop crew. The 2026 Philadelphia festival took place on May 30 and 31 at the Belmont Plateau in Fairmount Park. The not-so-small headliners were Jay-Z and Erykah Badu. The lineup also had: Kehlani, Brandy, T.I., De La Soul, and Corinne Bailey Rae.
Lucas van Merwijk and his Cubop City Big Band
A while back, Instagram deleted our @drummerszone account for no reason, and without notification. We lost many thousands of followers and started again in 2026 with the drummer who is at the root of Drummerszone.com. Lucas van Merwijk is the reason yours truly wanted to play the drums when he was a little boy. Fast forward to 2006, the year Lucas played at the North Sea Jazz Festival with his Cubop City Big Band program 'Latin Vocal Explosion' - celebrating the first 10 years of the Latin Big Band. It featured on vocals: Lilian Vieira (Zuco 103), Izaline Calister, Yma America and Miguel Montenegro. On percussion there were Nils Fischer and Gerardo Rosales. Lucas played drums and timbales that day.
The album 'Latin Vocal Explosion' is available on the major streaming platforms and you can buy it in his web shop.
Fun fact: the girl on the album cover is Gianna Tam, a very talented singer, drummer, percussionist, dancer and band leader... and stepdaughter of Lucas.
