Photo: Inge Justa

I am an Amsterdam born (1962) composer/arranger, pianist en percussionist. I’m interested in many music genres (of which jazz, R&B, en salsa are the most important), but blending them is what I like most. My main influences are: Miles Davis, Weather Report, Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, Lalo Schifrin, Steely Dan, Al Jarreau, George Duke, Jobim, Tito Puente, Carlos Santana.

Between my ninth and sixteenth I took classical piano lessons.(I would rather play the drums, but as my family lived in an apartment, this didn’t seem a great idea). From my teens I played keyboard in various pop, jazz and fusion bands. In 1998 I decided to take myself seriously as a drummer and took percussion lessons (conga, timbales and smaller percussion). During this lessons I gained knowledge of Cuban and Brazilian music, which also enabled me to broaden my field as a composer.