You can truly call Rotterdam drummer and composer Mark Schilders a natural born drummer. The Dutch percussionist first sat behind a drum kit at age five and was taught by percussion legends like Amir Ziv and Jim Black at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York. At a still very young age Schilders was already a member of renowned jazz groups like The New Rotterdam Jazz Orchestra, Reinier Baas' More Socially Relevant Jazz Music Ensemble, Jeroen van Vliet's Moon Trio and the Maarten Hogenhuis Trio. He also won the Princess Christina Jazz Concours (2008) and the Erasmus Jazz Prize (2011). At North Sea Jazz Schilders, who alternates between living in Rotterdam and New York, will perform his latest project Fabrik, where he improvises with his four-member band in a quest for - to him - recognizable elements in modern jazz music: song, calm, texture and groove.
