Ab Baars and Ig Henneman Perform Compositions and Improvisations for Autumn:

Next Friday at Studio 101, Houston music enthusiasts will be getting a very special treat, as acclaimed Netherlands’ musicians Ab Baars and Ig Hennemen perform their “Autumn Songs”, a program which has been described by Baars as “compositions and improvisations inspired by poems on autumn in all its different meanings.”

Nameless Sound will be hosting the event on October 19th at 8 pm, which will be located on Spring Street at Studio 101. The general admission is $13, but you can get in for $10 with a student I.D. Minors get in for free.

These Dutch instrumentalists have accomplished much in their long spanning careers, and their respective pedigrees range from film composition to performing in the definitive Dutch jazz group, the Instant Composer’s Pool Orchestra.

Both artists are from Amsterdam, which I just recently visited (it’s awesome), and will be performing as a duo, with Baars on tenor saxophone, clarinet, and the shakuhachi (a traditional Japanese bamboo flute, I had to look that up.) Henneman will be performing on the viola.

Baars has performed in Houston on several occasions. Once with his own trio, and another time with the ICP Orchestra. This will be Henneman’s Houston and Nameless Sound debut, so we should make her feel welcome and show them our good southern hospitality.

Henneman has been making music for over fifty years, and in that time, she has traversed through genre after genre, and composed for an equally wide array of performance situations. Her music has been described as “open-minded…with a meticulous attention to detail, with no wasted notes.”

Baars, whose music has been described as “joyously obstinate,” has been performing since the age of 15, and as a composer, has displayed an “unwillingness to treat music as a fixed art form.”

I am including a performance that I found on Youtube of the duo from 2024. I have not yet heard their performance of “Autumn Songs,” but if the experience is anything like this video, then you can be sure to expect the unexpected.

Video Here