Steven Willem Zwanink

Docent Bijvak Contrabas

'Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creative.'

Charles Mingus

About the Teacher

Canadian jazz bassist Steven Willem Zwanink (b. 1984) comes from Vancouver, Canada. In 2002 Steven was accepted to undertake his Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance at McGill University in Montreal. After a chance encounter with virtuoso Norwegian bassist Steinar Raknes in 2004, Steven decided to take a brief hiatus from his undergraduate studies in order to take lessons from Steinar Raknes at the Trondheim Conservatory of the Norwegian Institute of Science and Technology. In 2007 Steven graduated from McGill University. In 2008 he moved to The Netherlands where he studied briefly with Frans van der Hoeven, Hein van de Geyn and Clemens van der Feen at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, having completed a Master of Music degree in 2014. Since his arrival in the The Netherlands, Steven has performed regularly with some of the top musicians and ensembles on the Dutch jazz scene. Over the past several years, Steven has also performed at venues great and small all over the world. As one of the top jazz bassists in The Netherlands, Steven has had the opportunity to perform with visiting international artists such as Roy Hargrove, Peter Bernstein, Greg Hutchinson, Jazzmeia Horn, Lucy Yeghiazaryan, Harold Mabern, Dick Oatts, Larry Coryell, and Joe Farnsworth. Steven has been teaching double bass at ArtEZ Conservatory in Zwolle since 2021.