Dion Nijland (1970) has been playing double bass since he turned 17. At this moment he is a member of several groups playing jazz, improvised and contemporary music such as DEON, Stroove String Trio, HOT (Het Orgel Trio), Frans Vermeerssen Trio, Utrecht Jazz Archipel and Indra. Besides these groups Dion has his solo-project I Play Me.
Recently Dion was part of groups such as City Maps (led by Steven Kamperman), Vanbinsbergen Playstation, Dimami (together with Miguel Boelens and Makki van Engelen), Talking Cows and De Bende van Drie. Not to forget MOA (by Koen Boeijinga), Colen (led by Ad Colen) and Buisonic (led by Joost Buis). In 2006 Dimami took part in ‘The Young VIPs Tour’ with, among others, Anton Goudsmit on guitar. A highly acclaimed cd was released, containing Dion’s compositions. He has played with a wide variety of groups in France, Germany, Chile, Bolivia, Iraq, Turkey, India, Portugal and the USA.
In 2006 he took part in the Oostpool Theatre Group production Brel, featuring Jeroen Willems in the title role. In 2009 he joined The RO Theater group in the theater play Woyzeck and shortly after did a large tour with the dance company Station Zuid in a piece called Ghost Note: a danced tribute to jazz.
As a double bass playing improviser he was Musician in Residence in his hometown Utrecht in 2009, as well as in Nijmegen in 2011. Dion studied double bass at ArtEZ Conservatory Arnhem and the Sweelinck Conservatory Amsterdam.
He himself now teaches double bass at ArtEZ conservatory in Arnhem since 2014.
For already more then 20 years Dion is coaching and conducting jazz groups and giving workshops in several cities in The Netherlands.