From April 1-17, the Amsterdam-based Instant Composers Pool (ICP) Orchestra will bring the cream of the Dutch jazz scene to 12 American cities. In one form or another, the ICP Orchestra has been playing and touring since 1967. By now, the group has released 50 recordings, most recently 2009’s ICP Orchestra.

Today’s nine-piece incarnation of the group includes Han Bennink (pictured above) on drums, Michael Moore on clarinet and alto saxophone, Ab Baars on clarinet and tenor saxophone, Tobias Delius on clarinet and tenor saxophone, Thomas Heberer on trumpet, Wolter Wierbos on trombone, Tristan Honsinger on cello, Ernst Glerum on bass and Mary Oliver on viola and violin.

Bennink, the group’s leader, is one of the central figures of modern jazz in Europe. Combining drama and wit with iconoclastic virtuosity and rhythmic imagination, his performances are a feast for the eyes as well as the ears. Over the years, he has collaborated with everyone from Eric Dolphy and Johnny Griffin to Myra Melford, Dave Douglas and Eugene Chadbourne. Summarizing the musician in Modern Drummer magazine, Ken Micallef wrote, “[Bennink] explodes every drummer cliché, rambunctiously devouring free-jazz bombast and subtle trad swing.”

In a review published in The Chicago Tribune, critic Howard Reich wrote of the ICP Orchestra itself: “If there was a facet of jazz expression that the ICP Orchestra didn’t address Wednesday night at HotHouse, it probably wasn’t worth mentioning. Practically every twist on the music — from 19th-century ragtime to 21st-century free-form experimentation — eventually came to the fore, and considering that this magnificent Dutch band has been swinging for decades, the sheer vitality of its explorations into American and European jazz vocabularies may have caught some listeners by surprise. Jazz organizations that last this long don’t typically convey as much intellectual curiosity, stylistic reach and technical daring as the ICP band did in every piece on its first set. Each of the evening’s many miniatures, in fact, bristled with strange and provocative juxtapositions of style and musical language, a blues lament giving way to a series of fierce dissonances, an easy swing tempo abruptly interrupted by passages of seeming rhythmic anarchy. … Long may they thunder.”

The band’s upcoming tour includes stops in Colorado Springs, Seattle, Oakland, Portland, Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Brooklyn, Buffalo and Montreal. For more details, including specific tour dates, times and venues, go to www.ICPorchestra.com.