Theo De Jong
Born as a child of two musicians he started fooling around with all kinds of instruments already at very young age and began playing the bass guitar when he was 11. Popmusic was his first interest and he became a member of several popgroups.
At the age of 23 Theo de Jong played in the Rob Franken trio with drummer Bruno Castellucci, accompanying great musicians like Dizzy Gillespie, Bobby Malach, Victor Feldman, Philip Catherine, Dee Daniels,Marjory Barnes, Ed Thigpen, Tony Scott, etc... This trio was also the steady trio of Toots Thielemans whom he played with for about four years.
During these concerts Theo had a lot of opportunity to develop his soloplaying. He also played a lot of incidental concerts with acts like Flora Purim and Airto Moreira, Paquito d' Rivera, Peter Herbolzheimer's Rhythm & Brass Big Band. From 1983 till 1987 Theo de JONG was occupied almost solely with the latinband BATIDA with singer Josee Koning.
After having done a lot of concerts and an album with this band he decided to "leave the stage" for a while and started teaching on the Conservatories of Hilversum (now Amsterdam) and Utrecht.
In the past few years he again worked as a freelance musician doing recording sessions and concerts (Dee Dee Bridgewater, Maurane, Humphrey Campbell, Frits Landesbergen, Philip Catherine, Marcia Maria, Dado Moroni, etc...) and expanded his teaching abilities creating new ideas for students on how to approach improvised music.
Theo is -or has recently been- working with the following artists/groups: Gino Vannelli, Maracujazz, Josee Koning, 3HandsClapping, Peter Hertmans Kwartet, Trijntje Oosterhuis + Karel Boehlee Trio