Red Light Jazz Dinner 2026

The Red Light Jazz Dinner is the highlight of every edition of the festival of the same name. This exclusive evening on the final day of the capital’s premier jazz festival will once again take place in the atmospheric Olofskapel (Olof’s).

Upon arrival, guests are welcomed as VIPs and escorted to their reserved seats at six-person tables. The chef of the NH Collection Barbizon Palace Hotel, of which Olof’s is a part, has created a refined three-course menu especially for the occasion, accompanied by carefully selected wines.

During dinner, a DJ provides a relaxed jazz soundtrack. After dessert, a live concert by New Cool Collective follows.

At their first Red Light Jazz performance at Olof’s in 2014, New Cool Collective was al-ready known as a tight-knit band, perfectly attuned to one another.

The story of the band begins in 1993 at Amsterdam’s Soul Kitchen, where bandleader Ben-jamin Herman and DJ Graham B collaborated. While Graham B was spinning records and Benjamin Herman played saxophone, the foundation was laid for what would later grow into the eight-piece New Cool Collective. Their signature sound: an energetic blend of jazz, dance, Latin, salsa, afrobeat and boogaloo.

With the albums Soul Jazz Latin (1997) and More Soul Jazz Latin Flavors Nineties Vibe (1998), the band broke through to both listeners and club audiences. Their combination of Latin rhythms, DJ culture, and influences from post-bop and hard bop proved both distinc-tive and infectious.

In the 1990s, New Cool Collective received several awards, including an Edison Jazz Award, the Gouden Notekraker and the Heineken Crossover Music Award. In 2002, the album Bring It On was released on Sony Music, featuring guest contributions from Geike Arnaert and Andrew Roachford.

As pioneers within the Dutch jazz scene, they were not immediately embraced by everyone. Jazz purists considered their music too energetic and unconventional. When a younger audi-ence discovered the band, a new chapter began, and New Cool Collective succeeded in appealing to a broad audience.

In the decades that followed, the band became a mainstay, releasing dozens of albums and collaborating with a wide range of artists, from Matt Bianco to saxophonist Thierno Koité of Orchestra Baobab. In addition, they have received awards for their music, audience acclaim, and even a style prize for the impeccable wardrobe of Benjamin Herman.