Rick van der Linden

Rick van der Linden (5 August 1946, Badhoevedorp, North Holland - 22 January 2006, Groningen) was a Dutch composer and keyboardist. Van der Linden first gained fame as a member of Ekseption, but played in several other bands including most notably Trace, as well as solo. Like his contemporary Keith Emerson, van der Linden was best known for his popular reworkings of classical music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and other composers.

History

Rick van der Linden was born in the village of Badhoevedorp, not far from Amsterdam, the second of five van der Linden children. His family moved when Rick was only 5 weeks old to Rotterdam, where they lived until 1957. Rick started piano lessons at age 7, but gave them up two years later because he wasn't enjoying them.^[1] When he was 11, his family moved again, to Haarlem where Rick attended the Triniteitslyceum.^[2] At 13, his father convinced Rick to try the piano again, so he was enrolled at the highly regarded Haarlem School of Music. Two years later he became a private pupil of the famous Haarlem professor, Piet Vincent. At 17, he entered the Haarlem Conservatory where Aad Broersen and Albert de Klerk tutored him in the organ. Rick finished his studies two years later and in 1965 passed exams at the Royal Conservatory in Den Haag, winning honors in piano, organ, harmony and counterpoint. Rick thought he might become a teacher at the Haarlem Conservatory.

Meanwhile in the early 1960s, Rick fell in love with rock and roll, along with jazz and ballet music. While still a student he took a job in a nightclub bar, playing foxtrots, boogie-woogie, ragtime, films soundtracks, blues, tango, pop, Strauss waltzes and cabaret tunes while studying the classical masters during the day. He also found time to write music for several local ballet ensembles. In 1964, he formed his first band, a piano trio, and later a brass jazz septet which played for fun and rehearsal only (never playing any gigs). After graduation, Rick joined the Occasional Swing Combo, a professional jazz septet which played extensively. Simultaneously, Rick was also touring the Netherlands playing with symphony orchestras, and appearing as soloist in concerti by Bach, Rachmaninov, Beethoven and Mendelssohn.

In 1966, the Occasional Swing Combo shared a stage with Rein van der Broek's jazz combo The InCrowd, and van der Broek was impressed with the young keyboardist. He offered Rick the chance to join The InCrowd, and Rick accepted.

Soon after, they discovered there was another Dutch band with the name "The In Crowd" (derived from Ramsey Lewis's 1962 hit of the same name) so they changed their name to Ekseption, a Dutch spelling of "exception". In 1968, Rick attended a Rotterdam concert by The Nice, Keith Emerson's neo-classical rock trio, where they played a version of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos. Van der Linden was inspired to combine his love of classical music with modern presentation (see main article Ekseption).

Ekseption toured heavily, mainly through Europe, from 1968 to 1974, and won critical acclaim. Rick left Ekseption in 1974 to form Trace, a smaller rock trio along the lines of Emerson, Lake & Palmer. In 1978, he returned to Ekseption for the first in a series of reunions, each less successful than the last. He also played with Mistral (1977–1980, with Robbie van Leeuwen (ex-Shocking Blue)) and Cum Laude (1980–1989).^[3] He released several solo albums, most reworkings of classical music in the Ekseption style. He performed session work with artists such as Jan Akkerman, Joachim Kuhn, Deep Purple, Phil Collins, Vangelis, Jack Lancaster and Brand X. From 2002 to 2005 Ekseption was composed of primarily Canadian members. Rick is quoted as saying that this was his favorite period of his music career as these band members worked well with each other and created a family like atmosphere. For the first time, Rick was able to tour Canada as well as previous locations in Europe.^[4]

Death

Rick van der Linden had long suffered from diabetes, and in 2005 had successful eye surgery, as it had impaired his sight. On the 19th of November, 2005 he suffered from a stroke which resulted in partial paralysis. He died on 22 January, 2006 in Groningen, and was cremated in Assen. Almost 500 people attended his memorial service in Hoogeveen.

Marriages

Rick van der Linden's & Penney de Jager's wedding day, 5 August, 1971

His first wife was Penney de Jager, a ballerina/burlesque dancer whom he married 5 August, 1971. A son (Rick Jr.) was born in 1972, but the couple eventually divorced in 1983. On 17 May, 1989 Rick married Inez Zwart who was also a band manager and singer in Ekseption as well in many of Rick's solo works. She continues to this day to bring his music to the public.

Discography

With Ekseption

see Ekseption

With Trace

see Trace

With Cum Laude

• Cum Laude 1 (1980)
• Cum Laude 2 (1987)

Solo

• Plays Albinoni, Bach, Handel (1976)
• Night of Doom (soundtrack, 1977)
• GX1 (played entirely on the Yamaha GX1 synthesizer, 1978)
• Wild Connections (with Jack Lancaster, 1979)
• Variations (with Cathalin Tercolea, 1979)
• Solo (1981)
• Norfolk Line (with Cathalin Tercolea, 1982)
• Old Friends, New Friends (1985)
• Rainbow Dubbel (1997)

References

External links

• Official website