Ad Colen (born Geleen, The Netherlands, 12 July 1961) is a Dutch jazz musician, tenor and soprano saxophone player and band leader of the Ad Colen Quartet.

In his formative years he played a variety of instruments, concentrating on the guitar for several years, before discovering his everlasting love: the saxophone. In 1990 he graduated from the Hilversum Conservatorium as a jazz musician, under the tuition of Adri van Velzen, Albert Beltman and Ferdinand Povel. Later on he went to New York to study with Dick Oatts. His talent was already in demand in the professional arena.

It was Colen’s versatility that attracted attention. Modern jazz, Big Band, funk, rock and Afro Caribbean music have all passed through his repertoire. With different groups and projects hetoured the United States, Morocco, Austria, Finland, Sweden and Greece .

Since 1997 he has released 4 albums with his jazzquartet where he showed his capabilities as a composer and saxophoneplayer.

In 1997 the Ad Colen Quartet released their debut album “Naked” (Via Records). On “Naked” they are accompanied by Michiel Borstlap, winner of the Thelonius Monk Award 1997.‘Eyes Wide Open’ was the next cd that the quartet ( Rob van Bavel, Erik Robaard and Chris Strik ) released in 2000.
The album ‘Bitter but Sweet” was released in march 2005 also by Ad’s own label Sweet Briar Music.
Starting from September of 2008, Ad Colen got to work with a new quartet. The new Quartet consists of Gé Bijvoet (winner of the soloist award at the NOS Meervaart Jazz Festival). He was joined by bassist Wiro Mahieu, (winner of the Wessel Ilcken prize) and drummer Yonga Sun (winner of the Dutch Jazz Competition). The new cd 'Free’ was a result of this collaboration and was released in 2009.

Ad Colen Quartet:

Averse to insularity , he soaks up, sponge-like, all sorts of influences from jazz, modern classical music, country & western, world music, and modern pop music. With his compositions Ad Colen searches for new angles and hooks to furnish the traditional jazz quartet with a new sound. Spark is its proof.

Ad Colen’s jazz quartet is nationally and internationally celebrated for its fresh, personal, and varied sound. The American jazzreview.com called the previous CD Free “a piece of art,” while the German Jazzpodium called this CD an example of progressive Dutch jazz. With his new CD Spark, Colen builds upon this and at the same time indicates new nuances. The result is listening music that is open, accessible, narrative, and vivacious. Jazz like jazz is meant to be: adventurous, groovy, and lyrical.

An important part of the sound is formed by the input and teamwork of the musicians. Gé Bijvoet (Soloists Prize NOS Meervaart Jazz Festival) is a self-willed pianist who always adds his own twists to the music. Wiro Mahieu (winner Wessel Ilcken Prize) is one of The Netherlands’ best contrabassists who excels in his groove, technqiue , and lyrical performance. Yonga Sun (winner Dutch Jazz Competition) connects perfectly to this with his enormous creativity and groove. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.