It was his idol Charlie Parker that got Piet Noordijk hooked on the alto saxophone at the beginning of the fifties. As a clarinetist he had received a Masters Degree with distinction at the Rotterdam Conservatory and he had learned to play the saxophone as an autodidact. From the very start his career developed in the sign of jazz: he performed in various nightclubs with his brother Cees Noordijk and his own band. In the period ‘64-’76 he played with the Misha Mengelberg-Piet Noordijk Quartet. Noordijk has always had an open mind for many styles, ranging from bop to avant-garde. As the soloist of well-known bands like The Skymasters and The Ramblers he becomes a household name in jazz and later also the Metropole Orkest can count on his passionate style of playing. His latest CD’s include Pete’s Groove, an album with his quintet. On that record he plays pleasant pieces like Willow Weep For Me, In A Mellow Tone, The Second Time Around and The Man I Love with three Bird Award-winning musicians: drummer John Engels, hammond-organist Jack van Poll, bassist Frans van Geest and gitarist Martijn van Iterson.
