Pianist Rob Madna has always been guided by his intuition during his career and remained neutral from rules or expectations. He was never much interested in working in the studio or live-recordings, 'snapshots', according to him. Still he was tempted into a live solo recording for the Jazz at the Pinehill album. And successfully. Last year his CD was nominated for an Edison-award. As a youngster Madna never bothered with affairs like studying scales. ‘One should learn jazz music like a child learns how to speak’, is his opinion. His first encounter with jazz came through his sister's records of Teddy Wilson, Ella Fitzgerald and Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. When he was about seventeen years old Rob Pronk and Jerry van Rooyen made him their prodigy. Horace Silver, Miles Davis, and Thad Jones mainly inspired Madna later on. The pianist performed with names like Freddie Hubbard, the Dutch Jazz Orchestra and Ann Burton.
The CD-series Jazz at the Pinehill contains solo recordings by ten famous Dutch pianists. Six of them, Jan Huydts, Karel Boehlee, Rob Madna, Frans Elsen, Rob van Bavel and Bert van den Brink, will be performing at the festival Escher Hall. Small private sessions in an old basement, turned into a studio, in Leersum were the inspiration for Jazz at the Pinehill. A select audience enjoyed the memorable performances in an intimate environment. For some pianists this was their first solo-CD recording.
