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GUITAR LOVE

A magazine for guitar players quotes the following typical sayings of Van Iterson: about the sound of his instrument ` I used to try all kinds of separate hi fi material but I know now that sound primarily comes from the fingers. At home I always practice without amplifiers. That way you’re forced to get the best out of your fingers.’ And a charming `homely’ one about his love for the guitar: `A few times a year I fall asleep on the couch with the guitar on my lap. In the early morning my children wake me up ordering me to go to bed because they want to watch children’s tv’.

Martijn van Iterson may be down to earth but he obviously has a Dream. As he says himself in his straightforward, unaffected way: `I dream of the ultimate guitar solo because as far as I’m concerned it hasn’t happened yet’.

PRIZES GALORE

Born on July 11th 1970 in Leiden, Van Iterson graduated cum laude from the Hilversum Academy of Music in 1993. He was a member of the Jazz Dance Formation ‘All the King’s Men’; was a guest solo player on Dutch National TV and Radio with well known orchestras like ‘The Skymasters’, the ‘Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw’ and the ‘Metropole Orchestra’ and worked with several leading names like Jim Hall and Jean ‘Toots’ Thielemans. In 1996, he recorded with a.o. guitarist Mike Stern and during a project of Stefan Lievestro he worked together with drummer Gary Novak (Chick Corea) and pianist Thierry Eliez (Dee Dee Bridgewater). He played in the cross-over formation ‘D-Code’, in the quintet of bass player Ruud Jacobs, in the quartet of trombonist Ilja Reijngoud, in the ‘Piet Noordijk Quintet’  and has his own quartet with pianist Karel Boehlee, bass player Frans van Geest and drummer Martijn Vink. Prizes were many: second in the Pall Mall Swing Award (1989), second in the Wessel Ilcken Award (1991), Heineken Cross Over Award (1991), the Laren Jazz Award 2012 and last but not least the Bird Award at the North Sea Jazz Festival 2004.

That is in the past he says modestly, without pretence, and wonders – characteristically – whether such a review should be in a story like this.