Bernard Berkhout

Bernardus Johannes Berkhout (born 18 April 1961, Santpoort, the Netherlands) is a family doctor, best known as a jazz clarinetist.

From 1992 until 2005, he worked as a doctor of orthopaedic medicine in Amsterdam (Kliniek Jan van Goyen Kade, Medisch Centrum Noord).

Berkhout was discovered in the 1980s by the pianist Pim Jacobs, who presented him on Dutch television as a soloist with The Metropole Orkest under Rogier van Otterloo, together with the clarinettist Eddie Daniels.

He read a book by Lewis Erenberg called Swingin’ the Dream about the role of popular music in the Great Depression.

He chose the format of clarinet-soloist with a big band as exemplified by Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw in the 1930s and 1940s.

There is now also a smaller Music Project called "Bernard Berkhout and Friends" which meets once a month in a Club and play together Jazz.