Drummer & composer
Julian Escobar
Colombian jazz drummer and composer based in the Netherlands. Graduated from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague.
New album
Boundaries Create Freedom
A new album by the Julián Escobar Quartet.
Live
Live at Laak Theater
Julian Escobar Trio featuring Rob van Bavel on piano, at Laak Theater in Den Haag.
About
From Bogotá to The Hague
Julian Escobar is a versatile Colombian drummer and composer based in the Netherlands. In 2025 he graduated from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague with a bachelor in jazz drums and a minor in jazz piano.
He leads his own jazz quartet and plays in bands such as Koen van der Linden Trio and Jordy & The Loon Rangers. He has also performed widely with musicians from his conservatoire years and beyond, including Aaron Diaz, Jack Hudelstone, Tian Yi and Dani Boting.
He started playing drums at five, as soon as he got his first drum kit, and has taken lessons ever since. His curiosity about improvisation led him to jazz, while guitar and piano opened a parallel path into composition. As a young drummer he played jazz venues in Bogotá with his first trio. He earned a scholarship to Berklee College of Music, but chose the Royal Conservatoire.
At the conservatoire he studied with Eric Ineke, Felix Schlarmann and Stefan Kruger, and had lessons with guest teachers Greg Hutchinson and Willie Jones III. He attended masterclasses by Chris Cheek, Pedro Martins, Simon Moullier, Kyle Poole, Ari Hoenig and Matt Penman, sat in on a rehearsal of the Emmet Cohen Trio, and studied piano with Eric Gieben, Bob Wijnen and Rob van Bavel.
Performed with
- Benjamin Herman
- Rob van Bavel
- Matheus Nicolaiewsky
- Steve Zwanink
- Rembrandt Frerichs
- Juraj Stanik
- Udo van Boven
- Pietro Mirabassi
- Cas Jiskoot
- Bob Wijnen
- Arjun Ramdas
- Enrico Le Noci
- Frits Landesbergen
- Simon Rigter
- Ronald Douglas
Work with Julian