Henk Meutgeert

Henk Meutgeert (born December 12, 1947 in Kampen ) is a Dutch jazz big band leader, pianist, arranger and composer.

Live and act

Meutgeert studied piano with Rudie de Heus and arrangement with Frans van Elsen at the Zwolle Conservatory . As the pianist of the big band "Skymasters" and of various radio and TV orchestras, he accompanied many jazz greats and internationally known musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie , Eartha Kitt , Mel Tormé , Freddie Hubbard , Lee Konitz and Toots Thielemans . He is the founder and leader of the Netherlands Concert Jazz Band. From his “New Concert Big Band”, founded in 1996, the “Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw” emerged after a number of successful appearances in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw (as was the accompaniment of Joe Henderson in 1996). It is directed by Meutgeert and has performed monthly at the Bimhuis in Amsterdam since 1997 and has accompanied Lee Konitz, Eric Vloeimans , Misha Mengelberg , Han Bennink , Michiel Borstlap , Bud Shank , Peter Less and Georgie Fame , among others . Five live CDs of the orchestra were released between 1999 and 2007 (the first was nominated for the Edison (music award) ).

As a composer, he works a lot for TV productions, sometimes interpreted by his big band, and makes commissioned compositions for various orchestras. In 1989 he wrote “Nature in Concert” for the singer Madeline Bell and the Metropole Orkest and compositions for the 1000th edition of the live jazz radio program “Tros Sesjun” in 1992 (in which Candy Dulfer also participated). In 1994 he wrote the suite "Eburnian Elephant Songs" for the European Broadcasting Union .

In 1999 he received the Bird Award at the North Sea Jazz Festival .

Web links

• Meutgeert at Jazzmasters of the Netherlands
• Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw