BIOGRAPHY
Maarten van der Grinten
is a guitar player from the Netherlands. He lives in Amsterdam, but he and his guitar visited a lot of places in the world. People will define him as a jazz guitarist first, but Maarten loves a good song which brings him to all sorts of crossovers in music. Maarten is known for his expressive creative and intimate style of playing.
Busy Man
Maarten has been playing every month with composer and jazz veteran Theo Loevendie & the Wellingtonians. Transparent abstract music, balancing between classical and jazz. Theo (92!) recently stopped with the gig and Maarten took it over, alternating with tenorist Yuri Honing
Maarten had his own psychedelic country blues band Martha Jane & the Talisman. With his swampy resonator and his spacy effects he created a completely new sound for their originals. Unfortunately the pandemic ended the live activities and the band seems not to survive it for now.
Also he continues playing with his long-last friends in jazz band DIG d’DIZ. He travels regularly to the Middle East to play with the Lebanese singer Rima Khcheich and he loves to play duo gigs with Hermine Deurloo (chromatic harmonica).
He is currently teacher and chairman of the guitar section of the jazz faculty at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.
And last but not least, Maarten has been finally working on a solo album. Every song was captured in video as well and the recordings will be released one by one, every week on YouTube.
Maarten is not only known to be a very talented guitar player, he’s also doing a great job as a composer and arranger. Scroll down and find out what the man is up to!
Casual facts
Maarten van der Grinten is born on the 19th of December 1963 in Geleen, the Netherlands, under the smoke of the Dutch State Mines. Everybody who grows up there, sneezes at least 5 times a day.
He starts out playing drums as a kid and switches to guitar at the age of 11.
Some history
From 1982 until 1987, Maarten studies guitar at the prestigious Hilversum Conservatory under the tutor-ledge of Willem ‘Wim’ Overgaauw and graduated with the highest honors. In 1987, he is awarded the Loosdrecht Festival Promotion Prize and in ’88, he receives a scholarship to continue his studies for one year in New York at the Manhattan School of Music. In 1991, van der Grinten wins the Max van Praag award for outstanding accompanying at the Loosdrecht Festival.
In this period Maarten starts his two groups the Maarten van der Grinten - Benjamin Herman Quartet (four albums) and DIG d’DIZ (five albums), with Jan Menu (baritone sax) and Jan Voogd (double bass).
Performances, groups and projects through the years
Maarten’s great love for songs brought him to perform with many top vocalists:
Greetje Kauffeld, Mathilde Santing, Laura Fygi, Francien van Tuinen, Fay Claassen, Humphrey Campbell, Rita Reys, Madeleine Bell, Deborah Carter, Cristina Branco.
-The European Jazz Guitar Orchestra (with Louis Stewart and Doug Raney, one album)
-the ‘A-Records All-stars’ (one album)
-the Brazilian music group Dirindi (two albums)
-Duo Van der & Van (with Jesse van Ruller, one album)
-The Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw
-The Metropole Orchestra (under Rogier van Otterloo and Vince Mendoza a.o.)
-the WDR Big Band (under Jerry van Rooyen)
-The Rotterdam Philharmonic
-The Hong Kong Philharmonic
-The Willem Breuker Kollektief
Wim Overgaauw, Ack van Rooyen, John Engels, Jasper Blom, Rob Langereis, Philip Catherine, Jasper van ’t Hof, Viktor Kaihatu, Cor Bakker, Frits Landesbergen, Rob Madna, Angelo Verploegen, Ruud Breuls, Eric Vloeimans, Jasper Blom, Jasper Somson, Tineke Postma, Clark Terry, Toots Thielemans, Hans Vroomans, Marcel Serierse, Charlie Angenois, Anton Goudsmit, Paul Berner, Kim Weemhof, Ben van der Dungen, Kris Goessens, Martijn van Iterson, Martin Classen, Luciano Biondini, Richard Galliano, Michael Moore, Mário Laginha, Marco Tamburini, Thomas Chapin, Wolter Wierbos, Han Bennink, Ernst Glerum, Yuri Honing, Joost Lijbaart, Tony Overwater, Maarten Ornstein, Steve Altenberg, Mark Haanstra, Pim Jacobs, Ruud Jacobs, Oene van Geel, Leo van Oostrom, Guus Janssen, Gideon Tazelaar, Alain Clark, Ruben Hein, Peter Bernstein.
Composing / arranging
"Ontaarde Moeders" composition for the Mondriaan String Quartet with DIG d’DIZ
“Rosa” arrangement for Cristina Branco and Amsterdam Sinfonietta
“Angel" arrangement for Chaka Khan and the Metropole Orchestra
5 compositions for DIG d’DIZ and the Metropole Orchestra
“Magere Brug" recorded by Cor Bakker
“Requiem for Jan-Willem O.” “Monk E.C, Monk E. Blue” composition played by Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw, featuring Lee Konitz
“Violients Violin” and “Out of Africa” arranged for the Metropole Orchestra
"Time in a Bottle” arranged for Anita Meyer and the Metropole Orchestra
“I’m a Fool to Want You” and “The End of a Love Affair”
arranged for Ruth Jacott and the Metropole Orchestra
“Attamana”, “Ijani Ittasal”, “Min Bayn”, “Ta’a Bous”, “Ktab”, “Wana Natra”, “Hal Helou”,
“Falak”, “Ashiqtuo Maha”, “Kalam el-Liel”, “Haflet Taraf” arranged for Rima Khcheich
“Aicha” and “Bakhta” arranged for Cheb Khaled and the Metropole Orchestra
"Tu Viens Dans Ma Tète", "Autour de Miniut", "Don't it Make My Brown Eyes Blue", "The Nearness of You". "Almost Like Being in Love", "Like a Star", "And I Love Him", "Right Here Waiting" arranged for Laura Fygi
"What a Wonderfull World" arranged for the Jeremy Monteiro band with Zhou Xun and Laura Fygi
"Hello Like Before" arranged for SabrinaStarke and the Metropole Orchestra
All tracks of the Dirindi albums, arrangements.
Played guitar in the soundtrack of the movie about Chet Baker "My Foolish Heart"