Joris Roelofs, born 1984 in Aix-en-Provence (France), raised in Amsterdam (Netherlands), plays saxophones, clarinet and flute. He started to play classical clarinet at the age of six, and then started the alto saxophone at the age of twelve. He has been a member of the Vienna Art Orchestra since 2005. Joris also plays lead alto in the Jazz Orchestra Of The Concertgebouw in the Netherlands. He graduated in 2007 as a Master of Music at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. In 2001 Joris won the Pim Jacobs Price, and in 2002 he was given the first price of the Princes Christina Concours for Jazz. In 2003 he received, as a first non-American, the Stan Getz/Clifford Brown Fellowship Award in the US, organized by the International Association Of Jazz Education (IAJE). The IAJE also honored him with a ‘First Level’ price. In 2004 Joris received the first price of the prestigious Deloitte Jazz Award in the Netherlands, a Dutch Award for young musicians who are just about to start their international carrier. In 2008 he was selected for the Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition. Among others, Joris played with Ari Hoenig, Eric Harland, Aaron Goldberg, Lionel Loueke, Reginald Veal, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Lewis Nash, Greg Hutchinson, WDR Big Band, Matt Penman, Johannes Weidenmüller, John Marshall, Gary Smulyan, Ralph Peterson, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Pete King, Sonny Fortune, Christina Branco, and Alegre Correa. As a soloist he performed with the Orkest van het Oosten (classical) and Jazz Orchestra Of The Concertgebouw (jazz), among others. Also he recorded as a special clarinet soloist with the Metropole Orchestra. As a leader he performed twice at the North Sea Jazz Festival, several times at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and Smalls Jazz Club in NYC, among other places. In october 2008 he did a European release tour with Ari Hoenig, Aaron Goldberg and Johannes Weidenmüller to promote his debute album ‘Introducing Joris Roelofs’. This CD was recorded in New York for Wolfgang Muthspiel’s record label Material Records. He just finished his second tour in october with Aaron Goldberg, Greg Hutchinson and Reginald Veal. Joris also plays in a trio with Jesse van Ruller and Clemens van der Feen, and is currently one of the candidates for lead alto in the WDR big band, in Cologne.
As a sideman Joris has been playing at a large number of international jazzfestivals and jazzclubs, all over the world. Joris moved to New York City on March 4 2008.
He studied with Ferdinand Povel, Jasper Blom, Dick Oatts, Ari Hoenig and Sal Mosca.
