"Saxophonist Daniele D'Agaro sounds like a natural match for great expat bebop trumpeter Benny Bailey on their 1999 album, Hidden Treasures (Nota). The two recorded nine rare compositions by saxophonist Don Byas; D'Agaro does an excellent job evoking the full-bodied tenor sound of the 40s and 50s, even as the swift rhythm section--including drummer Han Bennink--helps ground the music in the here and now. But that's just one trick in D'Agaro's bottomless bag. Gentle Ben, recorded with American bassist Mark Helias and Italian drummer Umberto Trombetta "Gandhi" and released the same year on the same label, includes a traditional Portuguese tune, a version of Monk's "Four in One," and a slew of catchy originals, all of which demonstrate D'Agaro's equal ease with playing straight and playing out there. Born in 1958 in Udine, Italy, near the Slovenian border, D'Agaro discovered jazz and improvised music in his teens, and before long he was working with Italian avant-gardist Andrea Centazzo. In addition to the tenor, he plays the clarinet, an instrument that lets him reveal his heritage in a folksy, melodic style. In 1983 he moved to Amsterdam, where he formed the trio Lingua Franca with cellist Tristan Honsinger and bassist Ernst Glerum; the group has done everything from interpreting Italian folk tunes to collaborating with a Senegalese singer. He returned to Udine in 1996, where he now leads, among other projects, the trio with Helias and Trombetta. For his Chicago debut D'Agaro will be joined by trombonist Jeb Bishop, bassist Kent Kessler, and drummer Tim Daisy; they'll improvise for most of the show, but reportedly they might throw in a Byas tune or two. Wednesday, July 18, 7 PM, Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western; 773-276-3600."

"Drummer and multi-instrumentalist Han Bennink was born in Zaandam near Amsterdam in 1942. His first percussion instrument was a kitchen chair. Later his father, an orchestra percussionist, supplied him with a more conventional outfit, but Han never lost his taste for coaxing sounds from unlikely objects he finds backstage at concerts. He is still very fond of playing chairs.

In Holland in the 1960s, Bennink was quickly recognized as an uncommonly versatile drummer. As a hard swinger in the tradition of his hero Kenny Clarke, he accompanied touring American jazz stars, including Sonny Rollins, Ben Webster, Wes Montgomery, Johnny Griffin, Eric Dolphy and Dexter Gordon. He is heard with Gordon on the 1969 album "Live at Amsterdam Paradiso" (on the Affinity label) and with Dolphy on 1964s "Last Date" (PolyGram). At the same time, Bennink participated in the creation of a European improvised music which began to evolve a new identity, apart from its jazz roots. With fellow Dutch pioneers, pianist Misha Mengelberg and saxophonist Willem Breuker, he founded the musicians collective Instant Composers Pool in 1967. Bennink anchored various bands led by Mengelberg or Breuker, and appeared in their comic music-theater productions.

Bennink attended art school in the 1960s, and is also a successful visual artist in several media, often constructing sculpture from found objects, which may include broken drum heads and sticks. He has designed the covers for many LPs and CDs on which he appears. Bennink is represented by Amsterdam's Galerie Espace, and has been the subject of several one-man shows, including one at the Gemeente Museum in the Hague in 1995.

In 1966, Bennink played the US's Newport Jazz Festival with the Mengelberg quartet. From the late 1960s through the '70s Bennink collaborated frequently with Danish, German, English and Belgian musicians, notably saxophonists John Tchicai and Peter Broetzmann, guitarist Derek Bailey and pianist Fred van Hove. Bennink, Broetzmann and van Hove had a longstanding trio well documented on FMP Records. There Bennink also showcased his talents on clarinet, trombone, soprano saxophone and many other instruments, also featured in a series of solo albums he began in 1971.

Bennink's many recordings from the 1980s include sessions with Mengelberg's ICP Orchestra (where he remains), South African bassist Harry Miller, soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy, trombonists Roswell Rudd and George Lewis, and big-bandleaders Sean Bergin and Andy Sheppard.

From 1988 to'98 Bennink's main vehicle was Clusone 3, with saxophonist and clarinetist Michael Moore and cellist Ernst Reijseger, a band noted for its free-wheeling mix of swinging jazz standards, wide-open improvising, and tender ballads. Clusone played Europe and North America, West Africa, China, Vietnam and Australia, and recorded five CDs for Gramavision, hat Art and Ramboy.

Nowadays he is frequently heard with tenor saxophonist Tobias Delius's quartet and in a trio with pianist/keyboardist Cor Fuhler and bassist Wilbert de Joode, and he still collaborates occasionally with jazz luminaries such as Johnny Griffin, Von Freeman and Ray Anderson.

A conspicuous feature of Bennink's musical life since the 1960s is the spontaneous duo concert with musicians of many nationalities and musical inclinations; in the '90s he recorded in duo with among others pianists Mengelberg, Irene Schweizer and Myra Melford, guitarist Eugene Chadbourne, trumpeter Dave Douglas and tenor saxophonist Ellery Eskelin.

Since 2008 Han Bennink has his own Han Bennink Trio consisting of Han Bennink, Joachim Badenhorst on clarinet and Simon Toldam on piano."