Tim Kliphuis

Who is Tim Kliphuis?

Tim Kliphuis is a Dutch violinist renowned for mixing gypsy jazz with classical and folk music.

He first became known during his student years in Amsterdam in 1999, when he joined Belgian gypsy guitar legend, Fapy Lafertin. Kliphuis toured Europe with Lafertin's Quintet and featured on three CDs before deciding on a solo career in 2004.

He was classically trained at the Amsterdam Conservatoire and started his career as a gypsy jazz violinist in the style of Stéphane Grappelli. Other influences include saxophonist Stan Getz, guitarist Joe Pass and violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. In 2006, Kliphuis started combining classical, folk and world music with gypsy jazz and performing regularly outside the jazz world, in classical halls such as the Concertgebouw and folk festivals including Celtic Connections.

An internationally touring musician, he has recorded with Angelo Debarre and performed with Martin Taylor, The Rosenberg Trio, Paulus Schäfer, Richard Galliano but also celtic traditional musicians Frankie Gavin and Charlie McKerron. All his recent projects feature a mix of genres and are performed at classical, folk and jazz venues worldwide.

Kliphuis has hosted string improvisation workshops at festivals and other venues in America, South Africa, Japan, UK and Europe. He is the best-known tutor for the violin style of Stéphane Grappelli, having written the best-selling book "Stéphane Grappelli Gypsy Jazz Violin". Since 2010, he hosts an annual gypsy jazz camp in the Netherlands in August: Grappelli Camp NL and since 2012, he is a professor of Jazz violin at the Conservatoire of Tilburg in the same country. Also in 2012, he released his second book "Grappelli Licks".