Dutch jazz refers to the jazz music of the Netherlands. The Dutch traditionally have a vibrant jazz scene as shown by the North Sea Jazz Festival as well as other venues.

In the Netherlands jazz began around 1919 to 1921. By the late 1920s the Dutch jazz group The Ramblers performed with Coleman Hawkins among others. Later Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington would perform in the nation sparking further interest.

Still there was some discomfort with the jazz clubs and fear the musicians would be corrupting on Dutch women. In addition to that the staffs were often Surinamese and racial aspects came into play at times. The clubs also had Surinamese musicians like Teddy Cotton.

At least at first jazz in the Netherlands was not curtailed by Nazi Germany's occupation. In 1940 the US was not yet at war with Germany so the music was given a degree of freedom. Still restrictions on Jewish musicians had some effect and caused the Ramblers to fire several musicians. In some cases though Dutch jazz musicians aided Nazi propaganda at this point.

Charles Parker, Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), also known as Yardbird and Bird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer.

Parker acquired the nickname "Yardbird" early in his career and the shortened form, "Bird", which continued to be used for the rest of his life, inspiring the titles of a number of Parker compositions, such as "Yardbird Suite", "Ornithology", "Bird Gets the Worm", and "Bird of Paradise."

Parker was a highly influential jazz soloist and a leading figure in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuosic technique, and improvisation. Parker introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas, including rapidly passing chords, new variants of altered chords, and chord substitutions. His tone ranged from clean and penetrating to sweet and somber. Many Parker recordings demonstrate virtuosic technique and complex melodic lines, combining jazz with other musical genres, including blues, Latin, and classical.

Parker was an icon for the hipster subculture and later the Beat Generation, personifying the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual, rather than an entertainer.

Susanne Alt (born 1978) is a jazz saxophone player and composer based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Susanne Alt was born in Würzburg, Germany, in 1978, to Hans-Joachim and Maria Alt. Hans-Joachim is a composer, poet and piano teacher, and Maria is a guitar teacher. After studying classical piano and guitar with her parents, Susanne began playing the saxophone in 1991, and successfully participated in several saxophone competitions. Between 1993-1995, while still in high-school, she started taking lessons in classical saxophone at the Meistersingerkonservatorium Nuremberg, and was a full time student there during the 1995-96 academic year. During this year Susanne began practicing in jazz music, and later that year, after winning the "Siemens-Jazz-Förderpreis" she moved to the Netherlands to continue here studies at the Hilversums Conservatorium. (The school was later merged into the Conservatorium van Amsterdam).

Postgraduate studies brought her back to Germany, where she enrolled in the Berlin University of the Arts in 2000. She formed her own ensemble, the "Susanne Alt Quartet" in 2003, and in the following year released her debut album, Nocturne at Bimhuis, Amsterdam.