The Willem Breuker Kollektief is a 10-piece jazz ensemble of mad Dutch that will stop at nothing -- not even onstage nudity -- to entertain themselves and their audience.
"It happens," says Breuker of the antics. A portly 58-year-old who resembles a smaller, more sober Charles Bukowski, Breuker continues, "I think you have to be a free person onstage. I'm not only playing the instruments. There are so many other things to do, so if you can express that, OK. We live only one time, so do it."
Fortunately, the Kollektief's nine middle-aged men and one woman kept their clothes on Monday night at the Star Pines Cafe in Kichijoji. Sure, they tossed off a few harmless gags -- Breuker laid an egg during one of his more squawking solos -- but they mainly stuck to the music to enthrall the packed audience. After playing Nagoya and Kyoto, the Kollektief will return to Tokyo and be joined at a Saturday show by many of Breuker's Japanese admirers, among them saxophonist Kazutoki Umezu and members of Shibusa Shirazu.