humble heroes | ack van rooyen | soft shoulders

The legendary trumpet- and flugelhorn player Ack van Rooyen was born in 1930. In 1946 he traveled to Indonesia with his brother Jerry and the Tom van der Stap Bigband. They heard a music style that would change their life forever: bebop. In 1949 Ack graduated with honors from the Royal Conservatory The Hague. He then traveled to New York where he, his brother and pianist/trumpet player Rob Pronk listened to great jazz heroes on 52nd Street. Back in The Netherlands the Van Rooyen’s formed a jazzband called ‘Boptet’. Ack also participated in Het Gelders Orkest and after that he worked as a studio musician at Radio Hilversum.

The list of people he worked with is endless. To name a few: Aimé Barelli Orchestra (Parijs), Peter Herbolzheimer Big Band, WDR Big Band, Dutch Jazz Orchestra, Metropole Orchestra, SFB Bigband, Süd-Deutscher Rundfunk Orchestra, Clark Terry Orchestra, Gil Evans Orchestra en de Clarke-Boland Bigband.

He also played with several legendary musicians: Miles Davis (Montreux festival), Lee Konitz, Dizzy Gillespie, Steve Gadd, Gil Evans, Kenny Clarke, Nils Henning Orsted Petersen.

Ack van Rooyen was the co-founder of ‘United Jazz & Rock Ensemble’ and for years he formed a duo with pianist Jörg Reiter. In 2006 he was also knighted ‘Ritter der Ronnenburg’ by Wolfgang-Ernst Fürst zu Ysenburg und Büdingen. As a jazz trumpet teacher he was connected to the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and nowadays he still gives workshops and concerts throughout Europe.

This piece is called ’Soft Shoulders' by Fritz Heiek and Ack van Rooyen.

Music
Flugelhorn: Ack van Rooyen
Piano: Juraj Stanik

Recorded on March 26, 2019

humble heroes © is a production of Dutch Performers House at Exalto Studio's Haarlem
Executive producer: Corine Haitjema
Production: Daniela Solano
Sound: Bart Wagemakers
Video: Pieter Hoogland, Marieke Schoenmakers

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