humble heroes | ack van rooyen | interview

Interview by Dutch Jazz duo Rolf Delfos & Bart Wirtz with Ack van Rooyen. The legendary trumpet- and flugelhorn player Ack van Rooyen was born in 1930. In 1946 he traveled to Indonesia with his brother Jerry and the Tom van der Stap Bigband. They heard a music style that would change their life forever: bebop. In 1949 Ack graduated with honors from the Royal Conservatory The Hague. He then traveled to New York where he, his brother and pianist/trumpet player Rob Pronk listened to great jazz heroes on 52nd Street. Back in The Netherlands the Van Rooyen’s formed a jazzband called ‘Boptet’. Ack also participated in Het Gelders Orkest and after that he worked as a studio musician at Radio Hilversum. The list of people he worked with is endless. To name a few: Aimé Barelli Orchestra (Parijs), Peter Herbolzheimer Big Band, WDR Big Band, Dutch Jazz Orchestra, Metropole Orchestra, SFB Bigband, Süd-Deutscher Rundfunk Orchestra, Clark Terry Orchestra, Gil Evans Orchestra en de Clarke-Boland Bigband. He also played with several legendary musicians: Miles Davis (Montreux festival), Lee Konitz, Dizzy Gillespie, Steve Gadd, Gil Evans, Kenny Clarke, Nils Henning Orsted Petersen. Ack van Rooyen was the co-founder of ‘United Jazz & Rock Ensemble’ and for years he formed a duo with pianist Jörg Reiter. In 2006 he was also knighted ‘Ritter der Ronnenburg’ by Wolfgang-Ernst Fürst zu Ysenburg und Büdingen. As a jazz trumpet teacher he was connected to the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and nowadays he still gives workshops and concerts throughout Europe. The complete interview can be found on: http://bit.ly/humbleheroespodcasts or http://bit.ly/humbleheroesonspotify Recorded on March 26, 2019 humble heroes © is a production of Dutch Performers House at Exalto Studio's Haarlem Executive producer: Corine Haitjema Production: Daniela Solano Sound: Bart Wagemakers Video: Pieter Hoogland, Marieke Schoenmakers Follow us on: http://www.instagram.com/humbleheroes_nl http://www.facebook.com/humbleheroesNL Sign up to our newsletter: http://eepurl.com/gDa6d9

Added 8 Apr 2026