This non-profit website is dedicated to great pianist, composer and arranger Rob Madna. This website by Wim de Haan [NL] is not affiliated with Rob Madna's family, nor with any management, record company or foundation.
Please email me with any additions, corrections or comments.
Website address: www.robmadna.info / Last update: July 23, 2010
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Rob Madna was born in The Hague, the Netherlands. Madna was a complete autodidact, who learned to play by listening to whatever records happened to be around the house: music of Teddy Wilson, Ella Fitzgerald, or a recording of George Gershwin’s ‘Porgy and Bess.’ Together with neighborhood friends Ack en Jerry van Rooijen, Rob listened as much as he could to jazz and dance orchestras during the Second World War. After the war he heard the latest music from America, including bebop, which was to have a deep impact on his further musical growth. Madna progressed quickly, and from the age of sixteen he regularly played in public, at times substituting for local professionals, such as Rob Pronk. Apart from submerging himself in music, Madna developed a fascination for mathematics, and he decided to pursue a career as a mathematician rather than a musician. Rob always shunned the spotlights and a life on the road didn’t appeal to him. With what he considered his Asian relativism, he did not seek public recognition and much of his musical life would take place in relative invisibility. Nevertheless, Madna did perform with many jazz outfits, and subbed in many orchestras. He was deeply respected by his fellow musicians and those listeners who knew him. In 1985 Rob Madna became involved in music full time, accepting to teach jazz piano at the Hilversum Conservatory. Yet he is regarded as one of the greatest Dutch jazz pianists, who unfortunately showed little interest in recording. The few records he made are very high rated in the jazz world. During the 2003 North Sea Jazz Festival Rob Madna posthumously received the prestigious Bird Award for his Complete Works.
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