Recording & Performing

"I first met Jelmer a few years back, as I was looking for a bass teacher to improve my grooves and general knowledge of the bass instrument. Jelmer is a nimble person, great musician, passionate about bass and keys, and a passionate communicator. When it came to coming up for groovy and impactful bass lines for the main track of my EP (Pyrame - "A Fine Life"), it was obvious that I would involve him. It surely was the right choice and his work had a great impact on the song which found later a publishing deal with Universal Production Music Germany. I can only recommend Jelmer when it comes to bass, keys, or general questions about music theory or live performances."

David Naville - Pyrame, Great White Shark

"I hired Jelmer de Haan to play bass on my studio album (Shadow Boxing – release date tba), as he was referred to me by my producer. I asked him to record notated music, as well as compose his own parts in a jam-style, pre-recording environment. He approached my music in a way that was honestly and carefully balanced between brain-machine-note-learner-sight-reader and curious-heart-"what about this?"-excited. Jelmer de Haan travels through internal landscapes with music being both his grandfather and grandson, and as a result of his devotion, my experience of making music with Jelmer was profound."

Daniel Bellefeuille - Composer, Singer, Pianist

"Jelmer has been a dream to work with!
We recorded two songs in a very short notice session and he was very well prepared and had a crucial contribution to the creative part, regardless to say that he nailed the written parts. Very easy to communicate with and simply professional."

Katerina Stanishlevikj - Singer (Katerinha)

“I worked closely with Jelmer in 2017-2018, as he was the main bass player of my band "Cecilie Sadolin", when I lived in Germany. We played several gigs in Berlin during that time, and he was a main part of the release of my debut album "Pseudo Random" - a hybrid of jazz electronica, contemporary classical and pop music.

During that time, I experienced Jelmer as a great bass player with strong musical ideas. He was very versatile and multidisciplinary in his play, spanning from groovy funk into exploring more abstract contemporary soundesigns. Jelmer even had a collection of personal kitchen aids and tools to use for this kind of music. He had an open mind to the more "free" works I made, which included live improvisations with strings and electronics, and he managed to bounce back and forth between an artistic approach to the more skilled and craft-based way of playing.

Jelmer is also a great friend and a good problem solver. He takes his professional relationships seriously, and is always eager to do more than expected. He invests himself, his knowledge and time 100% when committing to projects. He even booked several gigs for us during my release, and took a massive part in the booking-process from the beginning. Jelmer is the best to have on a team, no question.“

Cecilie Sadolin - Singer, Composer

"Jelmer has been working on the MS Zuiderdam for 2 months as first hire. He is a talented musician, and always prepares sets and shows very well, and always shows up earlier than expected. He is a great person to work with and follows directions positively. He has been a great asset to the band, and he is a good team player, I am looking forward to work with him again."

Yeonae Nam Ooms - Musical Director, Pianist

(Holland-America Cruise Lines)

"I met Jelmer in 2017, back when he was part of the house band of two of the greatest jam sessions in Berlin: the Urban Base jam at the Greenhouse, and the Noize Fabrik session.

Ever since then, we have worked together and partaken in various projects, and he is my go-to bass player because of his undoubtable talent, impeccable taste, versatility, professionalism, and last but definitely not least, his high level of humanity. I always learn a lot from him and his approach to the industry, and I would recommend him to everyone."

Laura Lloreta - Event Organizer (Noize Fabrik, Made in Berlin), Singer (Relatiiv)

“Jelmer is extremely professional. He is always willing to find the appropriate sound and is able to adapt to many different styles of music. He is punctual and is fun to hang out!“

Julia Selbherr, Guilherme Castelhano - Molly's Peck

"It was great to work with Jelmer. We did a preproduction for a EP, where we wrote the basslines with a midi-bass. Jelmer played it exactly as we imagined it and made it sound really authentic, despite the really abstract chord- and rhythmical changes. I totally recommend working with him as he also recorded everything at his home studio and gave us the files on time. Great job! I'm looking forward to further collaborations!"

Hannah König - Singer-Songwriter (Waleh)

“I've had the pleasure of working with Jelmer de Haan on several projects in the past couple of years - both in the studio and on stage - and I'm still always baffled by his professionalism and his competence. Jelmer is a complete musician, full of experience, master of his trade and extremely reliable. I believe him to have a perfect balance in bringing his own initiative and skills to a project, while staying well on track and delivering more than satisfactory results tailored to the brief. 1000% recommend.“

Garfive - Producer, Singer

"I've had the great pleasure to work with Jelmer on 4 of my tracks for a live-video-session. It was simply wonderful. I got to know an incredible bass player with amazing (!) groove and feel for the music! Jelmer helped us a lot with his experience, professionalism and calmness. Thank you Jelmer!"

Niklas Bruhn - Papa Ute

"I met Jelmer at an event show in 2017 for which we we were asked to prepare about 20 cover songs in one rehearsal without having met before, playing for 20 different young talented singers. As a drummer it was very easy-going and inspiring to work with him as a bass player and so I asked him to join my Berlin ska pop folk band CURRAO in which I am the singer and frontman. Jelmer has been an integral part ever since being an important contributor in the process of arranging the grooves of our songs for recording as well as for live concerts. He is always motivated and good fun on stage. What I appreciate most is that he is a very professional and reliable member of our band."

Tom Baumann - CURRAO

Teaching

"Der Musikunterricht bei Jelmer ist wie für mich gemacht!
Am Anfang fiel es mir nicht ganz leicht damit anzufangen, durch seine freundliche und ruhige Art aber, habe ich mich dort sehr schnell wohl gefühlt. Sicherlich trägt auch die helle, angenehme Atmosphäre in seinem Studio dazu bei.

Besonders gefällt mir seine Auswahl der Lieder und Übungen, weil sie auf mein Können abgestimmt sind, jedoch immer auch etwas Neues bieten, das mich fordert. An Beispielen aus unterschiedlichen Musikrichtungen bauen wir die benötigten Fähigkeiten (Rhythmus, Timing, Harmonie, Improvisation, etc.) Stück für Stück aufeinander auf. Damit komme ich Woche für Woche zügig aber gemütlich voran. Nach mittlerweile 2 Jahren kann ich schon sehr viel besser (Bass-)Gitarre spielen und habe eine Menge über Musik gelernt.

Es ist halt Unterricht bei einem richtigen Musiker, der nicht mit viel blah blah…, sondern die Sachen am Bass vormachen und zeigen kann, bzw. mir auch am Klavier Zusammenhänge erklärt und vorspielt (mir ist Theorie und Gehörbildung wichtig).

Wenn ich dann vorspiele (oder wir zusammen etwas spielen) zeigt er mir Tipps und Tricks, wie es leichter, spielerischer gelingt und klingt.

Oft sind es dabei die vielen kleinen Details, die den entscheidenden Fortschritt bringen, auf die man so aber selbst gar nicht kommen würde…

Meine zahlreichen Fragen beantwortet Jelmer geduldig und auch so, dass ich es verstehe. Ich mag die Art, wie er Musik vermittelt oder wenn er ein paar Kunststücke aus seiner Trickkiste zaubert. Ich habe durch ihn viele neue Bands und Songs kennen gelernt und damit auch meinen Musikgeschmack und meine Hörgewohnheiten erweitert.

Danke für die coole Zeit!."

Roman - Student E-Bass