Ilse Huizinga

Originating from the Netherlands, Ilse Huizinga has built a career as a skilled jazz vocalist whose albums have maintained a consistently high standard, centering mainly on classic material. Piano study began for her at age six, followed at seventeen by classical voice lessons, yet jazz held far stronger appeal. She recalls keeping recordings by Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Abbey Lincoln, and Billie Holiday with her at every turn. A year spent in Australia preceded her completion of a public administration degree at the University of Amsterdam, after which she turned fully to music and studied at the Conservatory of Amsterdam from 1993 to 1996. Regular appearances across Europe find her most often joined by an ensemble that includes her husband, pianist and arranger Erik Van Der Luijt. Her opening pair of self-produced albums, Out of a Dream and Voices Within—the latter featuring five vocal overdubs—were followed by The Sweetest Sounds and Easy to Idolize on the Daybreak label. Maxanter released Beyond Broadway, while The Club Sessions appeared as a Japan-only issue and Foreign Media issued the duet collection Intimate Jazz Sessions with Erik Van Der Luijt.