Jack van Poll

Jack van Poll was born in 1934 in Roosendaal, Holland. He started playing piano at the age of four. After the liberation of the Second World War in 1945, he discovered the first Bebop tunes on V-discs and on the American Forces Network Channel. With his teen age trio "The Rose Valley's", he took part in the Dutch Jazz Competition in Amsterdam in 1946.

From the early Fifties on, he backed up single artists from the U.S.A., who performed in Holland and Belgium, like Don Byas, Ben Webster, Johnny Griffin, Clark Terry, Tony Scott, Ted Curson, Buddy DeFranco and many others.

In the late seventies he opened the "September Jazz Club" in Antwerp, Belgium and in 1984 he founded the "September Jazz Records" label. He joined the Lionel Hampton band on their East Coast Summer tour in 1985 and made his debut in Manhattan with Dee Dee Bridgewater that same year. He performed at many International Jazz Festivals; Antibes, Pori, Prague, JVC Jazz Festival NYC, Cork, San Sebastian, Grahamstown, NSJF The Hague, Vienna, Comblain La Tour, Cracow, Berlin, Milano and Zurich.

Apart from playing piano and tenor sax, he composes, writes lyrics, presents his weekly radio program, teaches music, and is Editor for The Belgian Magazine "Jazz Mozaiek", writes Film Music and supports young musical talents.