In February 2024, Spinifex recorded new material and documented it on video. The album UNDRILLING THE HOLE, recorded by Vincent de Bast at Werkplaats Walter in Brussels, is due to be released on 4 October 2024.
The new repertoire ripened beautifully during the tour in December '23 that brought the ensemble to Belgium, Germany, Ukraine, Hungary, Austria and Czech Republic.
Tobias Klein - alto sax, Bart Maris – trumpet, John Dikeman - tenor sax, Jasper Stadhouders – guitar, Gonçalo Almeida - bass guitar, Philipp Moser – drums

In January 2024 I was in residency at OSSO Associação Cultural at the village of São Gregório, close to the city of Caldas da Rainha, Portugal. The resulting work is a solo bass clarinet piece with video projection. Next live performance of the piece 10 May 2024 at POM, Eindhoven.

My chamber music works are now published by BabelScores
Currently available are the reed quintet 'Clay', 'Kengboginn' (harpsichord/bass clarinet), 'SteinHolzGummiWasser' (percussion/bass clarinet) and 'vermutung' (accordion/bass clarinet). More to come!
An exception is my composition Leichte Überlappungen for 2 bass clarinets from 2018 that has been published by ALEA, a publisher in the US specializing in music for the bass clarinet.
Most of these pieces have been recorded beautifully by bass clarinettist Fie Schouten for the CD Chambery.

Marta Warelis - piano
Frank Rosaly - drums & percussion
Tobias Klein - bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet

Tobias Klein, Marta Warelis and Frank Rosaly first played in trio in 2020. Right from the start, there was a remarkable chemistry between them — intense and relaxed at the same time — and very personal. Sharing this music with an audience is a great pleasure. There is a cd coming out on Relative Pitch in May 2024. Enjoy the video of the Bimhuis concert:

Lothar Ohlmeier – bass clarinet, tenor saxophone
Tobias Klein – bass clarinet, alto saxophone

From the nineties onward, Lothar Ohlmeier and Tobias Klein have collaborated in numerous bands and projects. But it wasn't until 2023 that they embarked on recording as a duo. Their album 'Left side right' captures their profoundly personal and intuitive exploration of this musical format, presenting five improvisations recorded in a single afternoon, each left entirely unedited. "... an outstanding duo disc of fascinating musical conversation." (Jan Granlie, salt-peanuts.eu)
"... with the intimacy of chamber music and the radical imagination of free spirits. Every breath contains beauty. "(Rinus van der Heijden, jazznu.com)
"From the first notes ... the listener gets carried away into the enchanting sound world that is created by the harmonics of the two bass clarinets." (Herman te Loo, Jazzflits.nl)

In 2022, Spinifex toured with SPINIFEX SINGS and released the album in November 2022. The project features Priya Purushothaman (from the US, based in Mumbai) and Icelandic singer Björk Nielsdottir. The octet played the première at the Amsterdam Bimhuis, and also played at Moers Festival (DE) and Que Jazz E Este (Viseu, PT) among other places. The album was recorded at Studio Namouche in Lisbon and is available as a CD and also as a double vinyl at Trytone and Bandcamp.

“Spinifex Sings is an intense and profound musical adventure by the always exciting Spinifex… will reward minds and ears that seek discovery.” Best of 2022, albums Antonio Branco, jazz.pt
“…what an energetic life-affirming mix of flavours it is…” Vital Weekly

The new cd by Oguz Büyükberber / Tobias Klein, titled Live At De Roze Tanker, was released in September 2022. The music was recorded live in June 2021 at De Roze Tanker in Amsterdam. The cd features the Büyükberber/Klein set at the Tanker in its entirety, from the first note to the last: two bass clarinets and nothing else.
"Their clever and creative improvisations do a remarkable job of creating an ensemble out of just two instruments... This is an outstanding recording.” (Robert Rusch, Papatamus)

In 2021, Spinifex released the cd "Spinifex Beats The Plague" (available on Trytone and Bandcamp).

On 28 January '23 Spinifex performed at Saalfelden, enjoy the video:

Dalgoo released their 3rd CD 'Liberté Égalité Fraternité' in January 2021 on the Jazzwerkstatt label.

"...this is musical communication at a very high level...this has become a brilliant recording... and we get to hear four extremely talented, exciting and creative musicians." Jan Granlie (Salt Peanuts)
“…all this is fun, is exciting, touching.” (Werner Siebert, Jazzpodium)
“…clearly the journey itself is really the destination. This serenity and casualness is another great strength of this band.” (Freistil)
"...very varied in style, but exceptionally cleverly constructed... and, above all, excellent improvisational technique.” (Andrzej Nowak, Spontaneous Music Tribune)

Tobias Klein - alto saxophone, bass clarinet
Lothar Ohlmeier - tenor saxophone, bass clarinet
Meinrad Kneer - double bass
Christian Marien - drums

Kitchen Orchestra from Stavanger, Norway, invited me to play a concert program of my music with them at Maijazz Festival, Stavanger, on 14 May 2022.

Tobias Klein and Oguz Buyuukberber presented a quartet with Ches Smith (drums & vibraphone) and Rie Watanabe (percussion & vibraphone) as part of the Basklarinet Festijn 2020/2021. They performed live at HotHouse in Leiden on 18 December 2021, and in a live-stream from the Bimhuis in Amsterdam two days earlier. The live-stream is still online:

In 2019/2020 I composed three piano pieces for three fantastic pianists: Pauline Post, Keiko Shichijo and Taavi Kerikmäe.

The album VERTICAL TRANSPORT has now been released by Trytone digital-only in their series NEWNOTES series.





thanks to Fonds Podiumkunsten and Investeringsfonds Muziek for funding

Bugpowder (fka Omelette) plays Ornette Coleman pieces from the 70s and 80s (and an odd one from the 60s). The quartet has recently released a cd on Trytone. It was listed at the top of the best-of-2021 list by Andrey Henkin in The New York City Jazz Review.
"There are qualities in Klein’s alto saxophone sound—wistfulness, flexible tuning, restless curiosity and ‘through-improvisation’— suggesting deep immersion in Coleman’s art.... Kimman, Stadhouders and Renfrow contribute to the synergistic ambiance." (Tom Greenland, The New York City Jazz Review, april 2022)
"A beautiful hommage to Ornette Coleman" (Ken Vos, Jazzism)
"... exciting alto saxophone playing over guitar, bass, and not least Renfrow's drumming that is driving and good..." Jan Granlie, Salt Peanuts
"If you like adventurous and visceral free jazz, this is for you." (Cees van de Ven, Draai om je oren)
"The sparkling and maverick quality of Coleman's music from that era is beautifully expressed on this album..." (Ben Taffijn, Nieuwe Noten)

Tobias Klein - alto sax/bass clarinet
Jeroen Kimman - guitar/bass
Jasper Stadhouders - bass/guitar
Tristan Renfrow - drums

I recently composed CLAY for the renowned Calefax Reed Quintet, as part of their concert program 'De Nieuwe Wereld volgens Dvorák'. The premiere of CLAY was at the Calefax live-stream concert at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam on 26 April. The live-stream is still available at classic.nl. It is necessary to open an account and the stream costs €5.

"A great combination" (Ben Taffijn, Draai om je oren)

Claron McFadden - voice
Kristina Fuchs - voice
Oguz Büyükberber - (bass) clarinet
Tobias Klein - (contra-)bass clarinet

37FERN released their eponymous album in the fall of 2020 (Trytone).
"37Fern is a fascinating album...Each track is like a new world to discover. All of the works are composed by one or more of the members of the performing ensemble and are each fascinating in their own way." (Madelyn Moore, clarinet.org)

= CD on Clean Feed: LIVE AT THE BIMHUIS =

"It has been nothing short of very pleasant and exciting to be invited to the Bimhuis with the excellent trio Almeida Duynhoven Klein." (Tor Hammero, Nettavisen, Norway)

"Adventurously they launch themselves into the universe, while always remaining firmly grounded, a paradox which renders their music indestructible." (Herman te Loo, Jazzflits)

I've been teaming up with Goncalo Almeida on double bass and legendary Dutch drummer Martin Duynhoven, the Boy Edgar Prize laureate of 1984. It's an acoustic trio inspired by all kinds of free adventurous music of the last 50 years...

chamber music compositions by Tobias Klein for bass clarinet

Performed by Fie Schouten – bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet, together with:
Jelte Althuis - bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet
Goska Isphording - harpsichord
Bart de Vrees - percussion
Tarmo Johannes - flute
Taavi Kerikmäe - piano
Marko Kassl - accordion

Available at Bandcamp (digital download) or send a mail to info@bassclarinet.nl

“This album is truly outstanding… a welcome addition to the world of contemporary music… The musical language is modern but has every expressive musical element one would hope to hear … beauty presented in a language that reflects the world in which we live …” Spencer Prewitt (The Clarinet)
"Joyous enchantment coming from the sounds ... the work of a playful mind" Erik Voermans, Parool
"Klein balances smoothly amidst the boundaries between contemporary composed, jazz and world music." Joep Christenhusz, NRC ****
"Tobias Klein presents himself as an original composer ... he presents very distinctive compositions that push the world of contemporary classical music somewhere else." Petr Slaby, Unijazzu Kulturni Magazin