BIMHUIS

This guide to BIMHUIS in Amsterdam follows the musicians who founded the Professional Union of Improvising Musicians in 1971, including Hans Dulfer, Misha Mengelberg, Willem Breuker and Willem van Manen, and their scramble in 1974 to raise the money for a room of their own. You'll hear about the abandoned furniture store they stripped to bare concrete, the unlikely lender who topped up their funds, and the touring jazz greats who found their way here once word of the place spread. The venue has stood on the IJ waterfront since 2005, in what the guide calls its second life.