It has been an extraordinary year for saxophonist Benjamin Herman. One honorable event follows after the other. Not so long ago, for instance, he received the prestigious Boy Edgar Prize, which is considered the most important Dutch award in jazz and improvised music. Next to that his acclaimed CD The Itch came out, he was invited to put together his own program for a Rotterdam jazz festival, he toured with Paul Weller, played everywhere in the world with his own big band New Cool Collective and traveled to Brazil and Argentina with his quartet. Herman is at home in many styles: from dirty power jazz, groovy soul jazz and big band swing to heavy funk. The Itch is a project with guitarist Anton Goudsmit (nominee for the Paul Acket Award), bassist Ernst Glerum and one of Holland's most famous drummers, Han Bennink. And the result sounds like a combination of rockabilly jazz and Hawaii swing, which fits so well in the sweltering atmosphere of a good Tarantino movie.
