Wouter Wierda

saxophonist, composer, producer, teacher

Wouter Wierda started to play music when he was 15 years old. By 18, he made a mark by securing the 3rd prize at a prestigious Benelux saxophone competition. During his time at the conservatory, Wouter had the opportunity to study under the tutelage of jazz luminaries like Toon Roos, Jan Menu, and Piet Noordijk.

Wouter's performances are diverse, ranging from festivals to clubs, theaters and glamorous events. He shared stages with a variety of famous Dutch artists and bands like: Glennis Grace, Lange Frans, Stanley Burleson, Lone Roosendaal, Alex Klaassen, George Baker, LA The Voices, RTL5 show orkest, Lowlands Revue Orchestra, Groove Troopers, De Tour, Funckarma, Agogo, Textures, Coparck, de Ome Cor Show, The Wild Party and Aristo's Bigband.

His debut album, 'Water Music,' struck a chord particularly in England. His distinctive saxophone sound and compositions have been featured across various platforms, including CD, radio, television, and movies.

A foray into composing for television spurred Wouter to further his education, leading him to pursue a master's degree in music technology with a focus on composition and production. During his post-graduation study, he developed a system that enabled him to control synthesizers in an expressive way with his saxophone.

November 2012 marked the release of "NEOBASH!", an album that encapsulated his talents as a musician, composer, producer, and bandleader. The project received glowing reviews and led to a series of successful concerts.
NEOBASH! NEOBASH! combineert de rauwe energie van hip-hop met de sophisticated sound van jazz .. Visit site
Musica Favela Favela Musica Foundation organizes benefit concerts and cultural activities for children in the Netherlands. The yield is free music education offered to children in slums .. Visit site
First Circle In my first professional band we enjoyed to play together, just for the sake music. This project concluded into the CD 'Water Music' .. Visit site
Automotive A freeform jazzbeat project of Funckarma in collaboration with Wouter Wierda which resulted into the CD 'The Digil Parker Project' .. Visit site
Freelance
spArrow Jazz Trio Het populairste lounge jazz trio van Nederland. De moderne hippe beats uit de computer zorgen voor een controleerbaar volume en een hi-fi geluid ..Visit site
Jazz Ambience Eigentijdse jazzy achtergroundmuziek, hippe lounge beats met zangeres en saxofoon ..Visit site
Lounge DJ and sax Speciaal voor kleinere gezelschappen: saxofonist speelt met hippe lounge beats uit een Apple laptop! ..Visit site
Fabulous Jets Are u ready for Lift-Off? Freek "The Escalator" Kroon (drums), Elvis "The Monkey" Sergo (hammond), Wouter "Wired" Wierda (saxofoon) zijn The Fabulous Jets ..Visit site
Jazzkeizers Zowel sfeervol op de achtergrond als swingend op de voorgrond, maar altijd vol overgave en plezier, spelen de jazzkeizers bekende en minder bekende jazzstandards, ballads en (pop-)liedjes." .. Visit site
B3 Lounge Twee muzikanten op het podium met het geluid van een complete band ..Visit site
Agogo DE sprankelende coverband van dit moment, die vol energie, passie en enthousiasme een feeststemming creeert om op te dansen ..Visit site
Tour De Funk De Amsterdamse coverband Tour de Funk heeft een ongeevenaarde live reputatie opgebouwd ..Visit site
The Wild Party De musical The Wild Party speelde in 2008 voor uitverkochte zalen in M-Lab. Vandaar dat deze succesproductie in 2011 een kleine tournee door Nederland maakt! ..Visit site
Secrets Funky jazz uit het repertoire van the crusaders, eddie harris and herbie hancock & the headhunters ..Visit site
‘A very talented saxophone player, composer and bandleader. I think Wouter Wierda’s music has the essential ingredients of good modern jazz. There is honesty, personality and expression of a variety of moods., and above all swing, sound and soul‘ (Toon Roos)

De combinatie van funk, jazz, hiphop en sound design is van zeer hoog niveau. Een ware multiculti-mix die zijn weerga niet kent. Een feest voor thuis, maar misschien nog wel meer voor een avondje uit.' (MusicMaker)

‘Zeer muzikaal. Kunstenaar‘ (Piet Noordijk)

‘Wouter Wierda, a phenomenal composer and an even more startling soprano/tenor player.‘ (JazzUK)

Saxofonist Wouter Wierda kan veel meer dan alleen toeteren, hij is ook bedreven in componeren, arrangeren en produceren. Wierda zorgt wel dat hij niet in herhaling valt; bij iedere track liggen de accenten net even anders. (Festivalinfo.nl)

'De grooves staan als een huis, de grote hoeveelheid strakke blazerspartijen, de messcherpe raps en de saxpartijen van Wouter Wierda zijn om je vingers bij af te likken. Voeg daarbij de composities en naadloze arrangementen van Wouter Wierda, die ook de zeer goede geluidsproductie verzorgde. Wow, waanzinnig goed! (Muziekwereld 2012)
WHY SAXOPHONE AND ELECTRONICS?

The expression possibilities of the instrument the saxophone are enormous. However, there have been so many groundbreaking saxophonists in history that I have the feeling that the bottom line has been pretty much exhausted. No matter how hard the saxophonist tries, at a given moment the tones of a saxophone cannot be sharper or warmer, louder or softer in volume, louder or softer, higher or lower, faster or slower.

The timbre can be influenced with effects such as filters, distortion and delay, the dynamics can be determined with dynamic processing, the articulation can be influenced with envelopes (filters), among other things, the pitch can be manipulated with pitch shifters, vibrato and detune, and delays can suggesting, among other things, waterfalls of notes.

With the help of 'loopers' or interactive software, the saxophonist can even store, process, play and then respond to his own material in real-time. I am interested in saxophone and electronics because not much has been done in this area and hopefully there is still a lot to discover. I hope that the interaction between saxophonist, saxophone and electronics, within different musical contexts, inspires new musical ideas for playing and composition.

HISTORY

Pioneer Eddie Harris has been using the 'electric saxophone' in his music since 1968. The legendary Bob Moog even built a four-oscillator synthesizer especially for Eddie Harris, controlled by Eddie of course through his saxophone and a pitch follower. I also use the same principle in my own set-up.

Other electric saxophonists: Sonny Stitt, Cannonball Adderley, John Klemmer, Ian Underwood, David Jackson, Wilton Felder, Michael Brecker, Seamus Blake, Chris Cheek, Joshua Redman.

Some well-known electric saxophonists in the Netherlands: Jasper Blom, Maarten Ornstein, Henk Spies, Luc Houtkamp and Jorrit Dijkstra.

SETUP

Microphones

I use two microphones. To control effects and synthesizers, I use a contact microphone on my mouthpiece for a clean and stable signal, free of crosstalk and insensitive to feedback. This system is inadequate to amplify the acoustic sound nicely, so I use a 'normal' microphone for this.

Equipment

I opted for one 19" rack instead of separate guitar effects. My set-up is rock steady, easy to transport, clear in terms of controlling, 'cool' to look at. Moreover, I spend relatively little time setting up and dismantling. I use a multi-effect with all the usual guitar effects and in which I can program my own routings. Using the pitch tracker in the Clavia G2, I control oscillators with my saxophone signal. I use envelope followers to add extra expression: FM modulation, filtering, resonance, etc.

Routing

A midi merger gives me the opportunity to control the G2 with both an EWI wind controller and the saxophone. With the midi controller I can call up the G2 patches in the G2. With the expression pedal I can control parameters of both the multi-effect and the G2.

WIND CONTROLLER

I recently purchased the AKAI EWI 4000s. That is a (powered) midi controller and certainly not an acoustic instrument like the saxophone. The EWI has a built-in synth and a MIDI out, so you can control virtually any synthesizer or sampler. You will then have to program it.

It is possible to imitate other wind instruments, but the result usually does not withstand comparison.

In combination with good patches, the wind controller is a particularly expressive instrument and suitable for playing (synth) solos and (orchestral) parts, for example.

Playing polyphonically is possible, but this is more complicated than with guitar or keyboards.

The instrument offers the saxophonist the opportunity to practice without bothering the neighbors and to work with sound in a different way than with the saxophone, but somewhat comparable to keyboards.
Wouter Wierda
Phone: +31(0)6 301 75 455
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