In 1999 Haye Jellema (1981, the Netherlands) went to Amsterdam to study jazz drums at the famous Amsterdam Conservatory. Here he made the jazz repertoire his own, and also Haye’s interest for world music was developed here as he took courses in Latin, Brazilian and African percussion. Among his teachers were Martijn Vink, Marcel Serierse and Lucas van Merwijk, and later on he took lessons with Peter Erskine, Bill Stewart and Jeff Ballard.
Since his graduation in 2005 as a Master in Music Haye is known for his Big Band and smallgroup playing, but he’s also regularly seen in the pop scene and in the recording studio. Right after his graduation he was asked to become part of the team of drum teachers at the Amsterdam Conservatory, where he’s taking care of the student’s drum technique, he leads the rhythm section of one of the Big Bands, and he’s a Masters research advisor.
Playing-wise Haye has made quite a career in the past decade. His broad interests and dedicated musicianship drew the attention of a lot of ears. You can hear his playing live and on cd’s with for example Sven Ratzke, Mathilde Santing, the Glenn Miller Orchestra or the modern jazz small group Traeben. In 2016 the band VinnieVibes (where Haye plays the drums) was elected to play the prestigious Young Vips Tour in the Netherlands, and in 2018 they released their most recent album ‘Live at the North Sea Jazz Festival’.
Besides that Haye has been the drummer of a weekly Dutch tv-show for 10 years, and with the Konrad Koselleck Bigband he plays a steady gig at the world famous Bimhuis every 2 months. And Haye has been working with a lot of international artists/groups like the Metropole Orchestra, the NDR-bigband, Joey Calderazzo, Herb Geller, Jazzorchestra of the Concertgebouw, Dick Oats, Bob Mintzer, Jesse van Ruller, Erik Vloeimans, Benjamin Herman a.o.