Rob Pronk: The Bebop Years - Studio Sessions 1950-1957 [NJA 2001] - The Netherlands Jazz Archive

 © Copyright ® Steven Cerra, copyright protected; all rights reserved.

Over the years, many venues in Europe recorded performances by visiting American Jazz luminaries during the heyday of the modern version of the music from 1945-1970. Many of these recorded performances have been subsequently released on compact disc, replete with photographs, detailed insert notes and a variety of extra features including bonus tracks and interviews.

Ronnie Scott’s club in London has offered a series of CD releases as has FiniJazz in Italy, Kongreshaus in Zurich, Jazzhaus from Liedenhalle in Stuttgart, the Gitanes - Verve Jazz Paris series, Europe 1 radio programs Musicorama, For Those Who Loved Jazz and live performances at the Olympia Theater and the American in Sweden Series from appearances at the Konserthus in Stockholm.

Many of the German Radio Orchestras such as the North German Broadcasting [NDR] in Hamburg and Hanover, the West German Broadcasting [WDR] in Cologne and the South Western Broadcasting [SWR] in Stuttgart and Baden-Baden-Freiburg have issued recordings on which American Jazz musicians have appeared as guest artists.

Over the past few years, this august group has been joined by the Netherlands Jazz Archive [Nederlands Jazz Archief] which is releasing a superb series of “treasures of Dutch Jazz” that features an impressive roster of both American and Dutch Jazz artists.

You can view the full catalogue by clicking on this link - Netherlands Jazz Archive [Nederlands Jazz Archief]. Unfortunately, not all of the inventory ships outside Europe but you can access international distribution via www.dustygrooves.com and www.jazzmessengers.com.

Thanks to the generosity of producer Frank Jochemsen and Jan Brouwer of the NJA office and help from drummer, band leader and Dutch Jazz Legend Eric Ineke, the editorial staff at JazzProfiles was sent review copies of three of the recordings in this series. We’ve created a continuing feature on the blog to offer more information about each of these CDs.

Let’s begin with Rob Pronk: The Bebop Years - Studio Sessions 1950-1957 [NJA 2001].

As the Jazz author and critic Mike Hennessey has observed on Rob:

“For a man who has written more than 1,200 arrangements for Holland's magnificent Metropole Orchestra, played trumpet in the band of Kurt Edelhagen, piano with Dexter Gordon, Don Byas, Johnny Griffin, Conte Candoli, Frank Rosolino, Zoot Sims and Ake Persson, to name just a few, and written arrangements for recordings by Rob McConnell, Pepper Adams, Hank Jones, Bill Perkins, Benny Carter, Buddy DeFranco, Toots Thielemans, Clark Terry, Lee Konitz, Lew Tabackin, Claudio Roditi, Andy Martin and dozens more, Robert "Rob" Pronk is a musician whose level of recognition falls far short of his talent and accomplishments.”

With Rob Pronk: The Bebop Years, the music on this recording gives the listener the opportunity to understand Rob’s Jazz roots before all of the activity in the above statement by Mike came about. Indeed, in some ways, the music on this archival recording goes a long way toward explaining how and why Rob Pronk was able to accomplish all of these achievements later in his career.

Here are some specifics about the music on this CD from Bert Vuijsje insert notes.

Rob Pronk: The Bebop Years

“The Rob Pronk Sextet played a major role in Dutch jazz in the 1950s. However, the group, featuring Ruud Brink, Jerry van Rooyen, Rob Madna and Dick van der Capellen, never recorded an album. The Dutch Jazz Archive is therefore pleased to fill this gap with this CD: three never previously released sessions from 1957 showcasing the sextet's core, sometimes joined by other top talents such as Herman Schoonderwalt, Harry Verbeke, Toon van Vliet, Ack van Rooyen, Ruud Jacobs and Cees See…..

It is somewhat of a mystery why the Rob Pronk Sextet never made a record, in view of all the positive attention and high praise bestowed on them. In 1955-56 Pronk fulfilled a modest role in the projects Jazz From Holland and Jazz Behind The Dikes. (Two piano trio pieces on Jazz From Holland and two recordings as pianist/arranger for the Dutch All Stars; for Jazz Behind The Dikes he was involved in only two tracks on the third LP of the series, as trumpet player and arranger with the Wessel Ilcken All Stars.) His own sextet, however, never saw the inside of a record company's studio. 

After Rob Pronk's death on 6 July 2012, his personal archive was bequeathed to the Dutch Jazz Archive. Here we found three recording sessions from 1957, which had been located before in the archives of the Wereldomroep (RNW - Radio Netherlands Worldwide). Most of the members of the Rob Pronk Sextet feature prominently in these recordings: in addition to the sextet's leader on trumpet they are the then just 19-year-old Ruud Brink on tenor sax, trumpet player Jerry van Rooyen, pianist Rob Madna, bass players Dick Bezemer and Dick van der Capellen, and Rob Pronk's younger brother Ruud on drums.

They are sometimes complemented or replaced by a number of top talents from the Dutch jazz scene of those days: saxophone players Herman Schoonderwalt, Harry Verbeke and Toon van Vliet, trumpet player Ack van Rooyen, bass player Ruud Jacobs and drummer Cees See. This music has never before been released on record (three of the thirteen tracks were only featured on the LP box Dutch Light Music issued by RNW, which was not commercially available). The bands, successively named Dutch Jazz Combo, Orkest Rob Pronk, and Rob Pronk Combo, actually illustrate - between January and October 1957 - the transition from West Coast Jazz to hard bop, with Al Cohn's East Coast Jazz, much admired by Rob Pronk, as a stepping stone. We at the Dutch Jazz Archive are proud to now make this essential addition to Jazz From Holland and Jazz Behind The Dikes available to jazz aficionados everywhere. Singer Babes Pronk did not take part in these sessions, but we have unearthed a performance by her as well and added it to this CD as a bonus track- In February 1950, Rob Pronk, playing the piano, made two private recordings on acetates, accompanied by bass player Hans Tan and drummer Jan Opgenhaeffen. Boplicity is an instrumental trio piece: I’ll Remember April is sung by the then 20-year-old Babes Pronk. 

The remaining four bonus tracks feature Rob Pronk in prominent American company. These are the very first recordings he made, in Stockholm in 1953, The Boyd Bachman band was on tour there, with Ack and Jerry van Rooyen and Rob Pronk in the trumpet section, and on 23 August 1953 Stan Kenton gave two concerts there. 'I knew all these musicians from their records. Of course, I had to go see them. Ack too, and Jerry as well, I think', Rob Pronk recalled in 2007. Between the two performances ('We had to see both shows, obviously') he met Kenton's trumpet player Conte Candoli. When he and Ack returned to their seats, the Swedish bass player Simon Brehm - also founder/owner of the Karusell record label - approached them. Rob Pronk: 'He says: "After the second show we will be making recordings." And he says: "Ehm, I need a pianist." And Ack said, pointing a thumb at me: "There's one sitting right here." That's how it went. For me it was quite sensational of course, to play with all these stars.'

On 23 August two pieces were recorded by tenorist Zoot Sims, with Rob Pronk on piano and Kenton band members Don Bagley and Stan Levey on bass and drums, respectively. The pieces were I'm In The Mood For Love and Rough Chance On Love, the latter being an improvisation on the chords of the song Taking A Chance On Love. 'Oh, I remember now that Zoot Sims asked: "How does the bridge go?" Ha ha, he didn't know. I had to show him on the piano. "Oh yeah, okay now", Zoot said.' On 25 August there was another session with three trombone players, Frank Rosolino, Bob Burgess and the Swede Ake Persson, and again Don Bagley and Stan Levey. The two titles were Monotones (a blues theme by Persson) and Don't Blame Me. 'We did that last piece in a number of takes, so I had to play an intro each time. Don Bagley said: "Where do you get that from, a different intro each time?" I'll never forget that; that was fun.

'I wasn't intimidated, but I was impressed and stimulated. It's the only way, just play it like you play it, that's what you're there for. I can't even remember if I was getting paid. I guess so, but that aspect was completely irrelevant. Playing with those big stars, that was it.’”

BERT VUIJSJE

Jazz journalist and author of Rita Reys: Lady Jazz (Thomas Rap, Amsterdam. 2004) and Ado Broodboom trompet (In de Knipscheer, Haarlem, 2017). He also wrote the chapter on the Netherlands in The History of European Jazz (Equinox Publishing. Sheffield. UK. 2018).

English translation Leo Reijnen

And here’s the entire piece on Rob by Mike Hennessey from the Jazzmasters of the Netherlands website.

Rob Pronk: Weaver Of Musical Spells -

For a man who has written more than 1,200 arrangements for Holland's magnificent Metropole Orchestra, played trumpet in the band of Kurt Edelhagen, piano with Dexter Gordon, Don Byas, Johnny Griffin, Conte Candoli, Frank Rosolino, Zoot Sims and Ake Persson, to name just a few, and written arrangements for recordings by Rob McConnell, Pepper Adams, Hank Jones, Bill Perkins, Benny Carter, Buddy DeFranco, Toots Thielemans, Clark Terry, Lee Konitz, Lew Tabackin, Claudio Roditi, Andy Martin and dozens more, Robert "Rob" Pronk is a musician whose level of recognition falls far short of his talent and accomplishments.

A self-effacing man with a most appealing sense of humour, which manifests itself from time to time in his charts, Rob Pronk has dedicated himself to Jazz and associated music forms since he gave up studying economics in 1949 to become a professional musician.

Born in Malang, Indonesia, on January 3, 1928, Rob did not have great exposure to Jazz music in early childhood because his father, a railway engineer, was a fan of Charlie Kunz and Victor Sylvester. However, at the age of six he did hear Duke Ellington's "Mood Indigo" on the radio and was immediately hooked.

Rob's mother sang and played a little piano, and it is typical of Pronk that he says: "My mother would hold me in her arms and sing to me and I used to cry. But not because she sang out of tune."

At the age of eight he began taking piano lessons, but they only lasted for six months because the family was constantly on the move. In 1946, Rob had the good fortune to meet Jerry van Rooyen, when he brought a big band to Indonesia to entertain the troops. Says Rob, "Jerry was later to teach me the fundamentals of arranging and I owe him a great debt of gratitude."

In 1947, at the age of 19, Rob moved to Holland, studied economics at Rotterdam University and gained a bachelor's degree. At this stage in his life he was undecided as to whether to pursue a career in economics or become a professional musician. Happily for music, he finally chose the latter option and enrolled at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague where he studied trumpet, piano and theory.

Rob Pronk's first gigs, in 1949, were on a ship in an international student exchange programme. He began by playing drums, then switched to piano. His idols at that time were Duke Ellington, still an uncontested No. 1, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and Teddy Wilson.

It was on one of these exchange trips that he spent some days in New York and visited Bop City where he heard the Buddy De Franco Sextet, which included Jimmy Raney, Kenny Drew, Teddy Kotick and Art Taylor. He also had the opportunity to enjoy performances by Louis Armstrong's All Stars and Louis Jordan's Tympany Five.

In the late 1950s, Rob joined the trumpet section of the Kurt Edelhagen Orchestra in Cologne and soon became its principal arranger. During that period he was called upon to write an arrangement of "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" for Benny Carter who was guesting with the band. Says Pronk: "Benny paid me a great compliment. He said that it sounded like a Quincy Jones arrangement. I felt like a king!"

In the 1960s, Pronk subbed for a week on trumpet in the long-established Dutch band, the Ramblers, and it was then that a colleague in the trumpet section, who was house arranger for the Metropole Orchestra, suggested that he should try writing some charts for this illustrious ensemble.

Rob took up the challenge, met it highly impressively, and, went on to contribute more than 1,200 arrangements to the Metropole library. He has derived tremendous satisfaction from his work with the Metropole Orchestra, which he regards as an aggregation which has no parallel anywhere in the world.

Says Rob: "It is a unique ensemble. It is not simply a big band with an added string section. It is a totally integrated unit and it is a tremendous challenge to write for it, but it is also a hugely fulfilling experience."

Pronk says that, aside from the invaluable help he had from Jerry van Rooyen in developing his arranging skills, he learned by trial and error. "And," he says with a smile, "there were many errors".

He cites as his principal hero in the field of arranging, the late Billy May. "For me," says Ron, "he was the arranger. The master. But I also have great admiration for Bill Holman, Al Cohn, Quincy Jones and Gil Evans."

One memory which Rob Pronk treasures above all was his being commissioned to produce and write the arrangements for a Marlene Dietrich album, "Die Neue Marlene", recorded at the EMI Studios in St John's Wood in September 1964. He conducted a 40-piece orchestra which included Kenny Baker, Harry Roche, Bobby Orr, Kenny Clare, Ivor Mairants and Larry Adler.

He also fondly recalls three sessions in Stockholm:

One in 1953 for Carousel, on which he played piano with Zoot Sims, Bob Burgess, Frank Rosolino, Ake Persson, Stan Levey and Don Bagley;

One in 1983 for the Sonet label, "In Goodmans Land", with Georgie Fame, Sylvia Vrethammar and a studio big band, and another for Sonet in 1988 called "String Along With Basie", for which he transcribed Basie charts for four guitars (Rune Gustafsson, George Wadenius, Bob Sylven and Bobbo Andersson) plus bass and drums.

Pronk's spell as principal arranger for the Metropole Orchestra lasted for more than 30 years, his last recording being with trombonist Andy Martin in 1998. In 1975 he was appointed guest conductor with the orchestra, a post he held for 21 years. Last year, the Metropole administration decided to honour him with a tribute concert to which he was able to invite two special guests of his own choosing.

Rob recalls: "The concert was set for June 1, with my old friend John Clayton Jr. conducting the orchestra, and I planned to invite Bill Perkins and Andy Martin. But, unfortunately, Bill's doctors advised him not to do the gig because of his rapidly deteriorating physical condition. I was lucky enough to be able to get Pete Christlieb to deputise for him and he did a great job.

"Bill Perkins died in August last year and his memorial concert at the Union in Los Angeles was a must for me to attend. I had known him since 1964 and I miss him dearly. He was on my first CD with the Metropole Orchestra, "I Wished On The Moon"."

For the tribute concert last June, the Metropole Orchestra compiled a CD of 18 of the Pronk charts they had recorded between 1982 and 1992 which was presented to the 200 guests who attended the event in the Nordring Radio's largest studio.

Says Rob: "I can't tell you how honoured I was to have Pete Christlieb and Andy Martin with us on that occasion. That was a very emotional event and it took me weeks to get both my feet back on the ground."

As well as being an arranger of the utmost versatility, Pronk is immensely resourceful and has an appealingly whimsical streak to his musical nature which asserts itself from time to time. The arrangement of "I'm Just Wild About Harry", which he wrote in 1986 as a feature for the remarkable guitarist Eef Albers with the Metropole Orchestra, is a good example. It is taken at a furious pace and, in the out chorus, there are key changes every four bars in the first 24, from F to Eb to D to Bb to F and then to Eb.

In addition to his arranging activities, Rob Pronk taught arranging and composition for many years at Rotterdam Conservatory. He won the Nordring Radio Prize in 1981 and the Blaupunkt Music Award in 1988.

Johnny Mandel has said of Pronk: "He is truly a weaver of spells. Not only is he able to draw forth moods and textures from an orchestra that I have never heard before, but he also swings his butt off."

And Bill Perkins said, "I believe he ranks with the finest of our modern composer/arranger/conductors."

Says Rob: "When I look back on my 50-plus years as a professional musician, one of the abiding sources of satisfaction for me is that I had the fantastic good fortune to work with so many of the great musicians I idolised back in the 1940s and 1950s.

"One of the greatest moments in my career occurred in June 1991, when Ken Poston of the KLON radio station in Los Angeles put together an orchestra to perform a concert playing arrangements I had written for the Metropole Orchestra. I conducted the orchestra and guest soloists were Dianne Schuur, Buddy de Franco, Art Farmer, Chuck Findley, Gary Foster and Carl Fontana.

"I got the shock of my life when, during one rehearsal, a man walked up to me and introduced himself as Pete Rugulo. He asked to have a look at my charts because he wanted to see how I scored for strings.

"And another great event for me was the presence at the concert of Artie Shaw, then 81-years-old, accompanied by Arnold Schnberg's daughter. He was planning a tour and he asked me if he could use some of my charts. Imagine that! The man I idolized as a teenager wanting to use my arrangements! And the next day, to cap it all, Artie took Buddy DeFranco and me out to dinner."

by Mike Hennessey, pianist, composer, author