Rob Pronk
Robert "Rob" Pronk (* 3. January 1928 in Malang , Java , Indonesia ; † 6. July 2012 in Munich ) was a Dutch jazz - band leader , arranger , pianist and composer .
Life
Pronk is of Indonesian origin. His father was a railroad engineer. As a child he was fascinated by jazz music when he heard Duke Ellington's " Mood Indigo " on the radio (Ellington later remained his role model). At the age of 8 he received his first piano lessons. He learned to arrange in the early stages from Jerry van Rooyen , whom he already met in Indonesia, where he was on the road for the musical support of the troops, and then mainly self-taught. In 1947 he went to Holland with his brother Ruud (a drummer), where he studied economics (with a bachelor's degree) in Rotterdam, but then trumpet , piano and music theory at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague . In 1949 he had his first engagement on a ship as part of a student exchange program. He first played drums in a swing band, but then switched to the piano. In 1949 he visited New York with the brothers Jerry and Ack van Rooyen , with whom he also played in a “Rob Pronk Boptet” and introduced the modern jazz that had been appropriated in New York . In 1951, his Boptet was at times fully integrated into Ernst van't Hoff's orchestra , with whom he toured Spain. In the same year he dissolved it and worked in Hamburg (Alvino Garcia Orchestra) and in 1952 with Wally Bishop. He then worked with Toon van Vliet and Cab Kaye (1956 in a sextet) and performed with Lars Gullin in 1955 . At the end of the 1950s he played as a trumpeter in the Kurt Edelhagen Orchestra, where he also became one of the main arrangers (from 1958). There he arranged for Benny Carter on one occasion . From the 1960s he was arranger with the Metropole Orchestra , for which he wrote over 1200 arrangements in over 30 years. From 1975 to 1996 he was also a frequent guest conductor of the Metropole Orchestra. He also arranged for example for Jerry van Rooyen's big band (recorded in 1971). In his own words, his role models in arranging are Billy May , but also Bill Holman , Al Cohn , Quincy Jones and Gil Evans . He also taught arrangement and composition at the Rotterdam Conservatory.
As a pianist he accompanied a. a. Dexter Gordon , Don Byas , Johnny Griffin , Conte Candoli (recorded on MPS 1975 with Rosolino, Candoli), Zoot Sims , Frank Rosolino and Åke Persson (recorded with the latter three for Carousel in Stockholm in 1952). In 1955 Columbia released a recording with his own trio and in 1956 he was involved in the Jazz behind the dikes recordings (Philips). In 1957 he recorded with Bud Shank and Gary Crosby for World Pacific. For the Swedish label Sonet recorded "In Goodman's Land" with Sylvia Vrethammar and Georgie Fame in 1983 and in 1988 Basie tracks arranged for four guitars ("String Along with Basie"). In 1964 he arranged for Marlene Dietrich for EMI. He also wrote the arrangements for the album Tatort - The Songs by Manfred Krug and Charles Brauer .
In 1981 he won the Nordring Radio Prize and in 1988 the Blaupunkt Music Award.
His sister Babs Pronk (* 1929) was a jazz singer who also performed a lot with him, for example in his Boptet in the 1950s and with the Kurt Edelhagen Orchestra.
Web links
- Literature by and about Rob Pronk in the catalog of the German National Library
- English / Dutch biography in Jazzmasters in the Netherlands
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Pronk, Rob |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Pronk, Robert (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch jazz musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 3, 1928 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Malang |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 6, 2012 |
| Place of death | Munich |