Arnoud Gerritse is a very versatile artist. On his own website you will find loads of information about his drumming, teaching and his other activities. Arnoud provides his own written bio with information about all of his current events.



Paul Stark Trio

Nowadays I play more and more the things I like, I’m exploring the creative side of my personality, getting into modern music a little more…



The Paul Stark Trio is a great band to keep me working on my playing, we play a program of classical piano pieces (Liszt, Chopin, Mussorgsky) arranged by Paul Stark for jazz trio, but also original compositions and arrangements of popular music.



In this trio I can really be creative, because I have to find ways to play music which is originally not meant for a jazz interpretation. I’m very proud of my drumpart in Mussorgsky’s Promenade (from Pictures at an Exhibition), which was like a jigsaw puzzle to solve…



Gijs Hendriks Quartet

With Gijs Hendriks, things are always different as expected; we play his compositions, which range from rubato/free tunes to standard changes and everything in between.



Free Fair

Free Fair is a quartet with Rob van den Broeck (piano/compositions), Dick Vennik (tenor/arrangements), Harry Emmery (bass) and myself.

Rob writes beautiful music, which Dick arranges for an “almost Big Band” setting: the + 8 are:

4 Trumpets: Jan Oosthof, Ruud Breuls, Jan Hollander and Henk Heyink

4 Trombones: Bart van Lier, Paul Woesthuis, Jan Elsink and Martin van der Berg (all musicians from the Metropole Orchestra).



Ben Gerritsen Band

A great band of vibes player and composer Ben Gerritsen (not a relative), I joined this band in about 1985, and we do little concert tours occasionally. All the band members are teaching at different conservatories.



Teaching

In 1989 I started looking for a teaching job, freelancing is too insecure if you have a family, so I wanted to do some teaching besides playing gigs. I started out replacing here and there, and ended up teaching at the conservatory of Leeuwarden (later Groningen) and Maastricht.

A job for two days a week was offered in both Groningen and Maastricht, and I chose for Maastricht, where I still teach.



Since 1995 I also have a job at the conservatory of Gent (Belgium). Teaching is not easy to do, but very challenging, it took me about five years to get a method together. I really like teaching and learned a lot doing it.

But I also want to keep playing, in my point of view one inspires the other.



Workshops

For three years after another I taught at the “Summer Jazz Workshop” in the tiny little country Liechtenstein. A great place to be, “jazz in-between the mountains” (Dutch jazz was sometimes referred to as “jazz between the dikes”), working intensely with drum students and combo’s, hanging out with them for a week. Other workshops were short ones at the conservatories of Dresden, Enschede, Rotterdam and of course Maastricht.



Future plans

In the future I’m going to record more in my own studio, and recording is a craft I still have to learn… Also, I’m thinking about taking lessons to learn to play the tabla’s, the sound of those drums really intrigue me…

As for the drumset, I’m getting more and more into the “odd meters”, percussion sounds, and “pop” grooves….

With teaching, I’m always looking for new material, educating the same things over and over is boring. What I try to accomplish is to inspire pupils to investigate music themselves …

And of course, I want to play more with the groups I’m working with, because playing is the thing I just have to do.