Piet Noordijk

Dutch jazz alto saxophonist and clarinetist, born May 25, 1932 in Rotterdam, Netherlands, died on October 8, 2011. Noordijk studied at the Rotterdam Conservatory between 1950 and 1954. He graduated cum laude on clarinet. On alto saxophone, he is self-taught. In the beginning of the 1950s, Noordijk got hooked on jazz music. His main influence was Charlie Parker. During the German occupation it was forbidden to listen to jazz music in public. That didn’t prevent Noordijk’s older brothers from playing jazz at home. Music was what kept the Noordijk family going. After the war, Piet started studying the clarinet at the Rotterdam Conservatory. To his disappointment, he couldn’t play jazz at the Conservatory. He had to wait until the 1950s, when he started playing in nightclubs, with a varied repertoire. He got more and more studio jobs, and ended up working as a studio musician. In the 1960s, Noordijk played with the legendary Mischa Mengelberg/Piet Noordijk Quartet. He still considers the concert they gave at the Newport Jazz Festival to be a milestone in his career. In 1965 he was awarded the Wessel Ilcken Award, an important jazz award in the Netherlands. In the 1970s, Piet Noordijk worked with all kinds of bands. In 1978 he became lead alto player with the Metropole Orchestra, and a much sought-after soloist. He played under conductors such as Enrico Morricone, Robert Farnon, Rogier van Otterloo, Jerry van Rooyen, Rob Pronk and Henk Meutgeert. He remained with the orchestra until 1992. He was also a frequent guest with other (television) orchestras like The Skymasters and The Ramblers. During the North Sea Jazz Festival 1987 Piet Noordijk was awarded with the prestigious Bird Award. The jury called him ‘an alto and clarinet player without a peer in Dutch post war jazz music’.