Saturday 9th April 2022, 17:00 uur – Krizz Krazz through Fred’s Platenkast. Voor alt player Piet Noordijk Charlie Parker was the undisputed number one. But Parker had to share that honour with…
…Frank Sinatra! That comparison Volkskrant journalist Frank van Herk didn’t see coming in his interview with Noordijk (1997) . Noordijk: “What is number one in jazz music? Timing, of course. There aren’t many jazz musicians with the timing of Frank Sinatra.”
After studying clarinet at the Rotterdam Conservatorium in the 50’s and graduating cum laude, Noordijk played among other things in nightclubs and the Hilversum broadcasting studios. He was lead-altist with orchestras such as the Skymasters, the Metropole Orkest and Boy’s Big Band. In the 60’s he’s the frontman of the legendary Misha Mengelberg/Piet Noordijk Quartet, which became one of the most famous combo’s in Dutch jazz history. He plays with Great Americans: Ben Webster, Nina Simone, Dexter Gordon, Wynton Marsalis. So many collaborations, the record and cd list endless.
In the magazine Jazz Bulletin there’s a lengthy article about the Mengelberg/Noordijk Quartet, by Ben Zwanink ( maker of this Newsletter). The following quote from that article about Noordijk: “Piet is an overenergetic, wound up playing bop-altist with an immaculate architectural intuition for the construction of long solos. His musical stream of ideas is traceable to a trusted bebop-source, but this never leads to rehashing of standard formulas. A dynamic musical language in which he tells his own story and its never the same twice in a row.”
In this hour of ‘Krizz Krazz’ through Fred’s Platenkast you’ll hear two pieces from Piet Noordijk Quartet Live (VARA JAZZ), with Rob Madna , Harry Emmery and Eric Ineke.
Thereafter three other recordings – go to De Gids.
Krizz Krazz – a programme by Fred Dubiez
(Illustration – wall painting by Dick Matena, Oude Binnenweg in Rotterdam.)
