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Harm van Sleen

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Harm van Sleen

(born December 31, 1965) is a Dutch singer/songwriter, bass player, pedal steel guitarist, and music teacher. His father's job as a soil surveyor takes the family to many different countries; as a child, Harm lives in Syria, India, Algeria, Zambia, and in the USA. At an early age his passion for music is apparent; initially, a love for the record player and the albums in his parents' collection: Chopin, Schubert, Nina Simone, Gerry Mulligan, Nat King Cole, Bob Dylan, The Beatles - a small but eclectic collection. Soon Harm starts making his own music, mostly on guitar. When living in Brookings, South Dakota, he is encouraged to play acoustic bass in the string orchestra and electric bass with the jazz band and the high school chorus, and thus discovers his first love: the BASS. When in high school, in the USA and later in Holland, he joins various bands, and starts writing his first original songs.

1984-1989: musical education

Studies bass at the Hilversum Conservatory; teachers include Jan Hollestelle , Marcel Schimscheimer and Theo de Jong . During these years he records several demos and a single with Burt & The Brand-New Lifestyle (a strange pop group from Utrecht) and does a few shows in Germany with the jazz funk band Good 2C, memorable not for the music but for the numerous incidents involving ladies of the night (of uncertain gender), knife-carrying club owners, car accidents, and confrontations with the law.

1989-present: bands, schools, albums

After obtaining his diploma, he joins, on bass, Jaap Dekker's Jazz & Boogie Set (from 1989 - present), Capelino (from 1993 - present), Mr. Boogie Woogie & The Firesweep Bluesband (1994-2002), Dicky Greenwood Band (1995 - present), and more recently Anke Angel , Lisa Otey Trio , and the Wouter Kiers Trio . Also he performs as a freelance musician, working with Rob Agerbeek , Jean-Pierre Bertrand , Julien Brunetaud , Laura Chavez , Johnny Ferreira , Oene van Geel , Grapes of Grain , Candye Kane , Grams & Krieger , Kiers & De Vries , Philip Kroonenberg , Lowlanders , Lils Mackintosh , Mazzeltov , Karen Neumann , Pee Bee & The Night Train , Pinetop Perkins , Frans Poptie , Sake , Tom Salisbury , Martijn Schok , Robbie Trumpet Smith , Spinvis , Jeroen Sweers , Two In A Room , Andre Valkering , Boris Vanderlek , Diane Van Deurzen , Dirk Jan Vennik , Billy Watson , Dani Wilde , Dana Winner , and many others.
Harm appears on many albums , at numerous festivals and concerts in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, Germany, France, Spain, Andorra, Switzerland, and the USA. Bandleader of THE SLEEN GANG . Solo cd Bassman's Holiday ; Sleen Gang cd In Harm's Way .
Composer of songs for various projects, including a tutorial about the evolution of popular music Mag Die Radio Wat Harder?!! . His songs appear on albums by Capelino , Mr. Boogie Woogie & The Firesweep Bluesband , Dicky Greenwood Band , and Lisa Otey . The song Gossip entered the Top 20 in the Unisong International Songwriting Contest in the Jazz/Blues category, and Brown Paper Bag received an honorable mention in the 13th Billboard World Song Contest . Several songs are featured in the musical Parijs and in various projects for elementary schools.
Bass teacher at Het Klooster in Woerden. Freelance author for Bassmagazine .

Current performance schedule

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 1/13/2008
Band Website: www.harmvansleen.nl
Band Members: The Sleen Gang has a different line-up for almost every gig, depending on the availability of the musicians. Hey, we're all hard-working pros! Most of the time it's Erik Rutjes or Albert Wiggenraad on guitar, Inigo Grimbergen or Robin Hafkenscheid on drums, Frans Heemskerk or Ton-Herman Melis on keyboards, sometimes augmented with Peter van den Bos on violin and/or Wouter Kiers on saxophone. There's always me on bass and vocal.
Influences: Too numerous to mention, but they include Elvis Presley, The Band, Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa, Steely Dan, Oliver Nelson, Charles Mingus, Todd Rundgren, The Tubes, David Bromberg, Allen Toussaint, The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Dicky Greenwood, Lisa Otey, Wouter Kiers, Anke Angel, Eric-Jan Overbeek, Jaap Dekker, Capelino, Grams and Krieger, Tom Salisbury, Randy Newman, Dr. John, Cate Brothers, John Simon, Grateful Dead, glamrock, funk, Top 40 radio, Gerry Mulligan, Chopin, Ravel, Geoff and Maria Muldaur, Paul Butterfield's Better Days, and so on. How's that for eclecticism?
Sounds Like: A blues band performing pop songs with a jazz attitude. Or a singer/songwriter performing self-penned traditional songs. Or a mixture of weird experimental stuff and more familiar stuff. Or... well, just give it a listen.
Record Label: Unsigned

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