Jazz arrived in the Netherlands in the early-1920s. After its humble beginnings, it developed in a multifaceted musical practice that has won international acclaim. Numerous talented musicians are active here, as soloists, and as leaders or members of larger ensembles and collectives.

The music they make runs the entire gamut, from early jazz to swing, from improvised music to cross-overs with other genres. In addition, a number of Dutch conservatories have excellent jazz departments, that have become transnational breeding grounds: at some schools more than two-thirds of the student population is non-Dutch.

Composers
Many Netherlands-based jazz musicians are active as composers as well, yet their work has hardly ever been published in print. Such compositions can be found on records and CDs only, but these tend to be difficult to find. Often these recordings are made on small labels with limited distribution, and often they are long out of print.

Enter the NL Real Book project. The NL Real Book seeks to make jazz works from the Netherlands available, in order to facilitate performance, arranging, study, analysis and education.

Walter van de Leur 

Initiator and editor NL Real Book, professor of jazz and improvised music (University of Amsterdam and Amsterdam Conservatory) and senior researcher Rhythm Changes