By Peter Beije | Photo’s by Eddy Westveer
Johnny Meijer was a man of the swinging standards, which are also on the CD, such as “Sweet Loraine”, “Body and Soul’’, “Lady be Good” and “You do not know what love is’’. The songs are all played nicely and that reveals the great strength of Rony Verbiest as a musician. Whether it be songs from the repertoire of Brubeck , Monk or Meijer it’s all very musical.
Johnny Meijer (1912-1992) did not like to travel. He preferred to stay in Amsterdam and has therefore not become world famous. In 1953 and 1954 he went abroad to participate in the world championship for accordionists, winning both times. In his eyes, he didn’t have to work hard for it yet Johnny Meijer is best known as a musician who accompanied Amsterdam singers, there was good money to earn.
Father Michel Verbiest was a celebrated accordionist in Flanders and his son Rony started playing the instrument at a young age. “In the mid-60s , when the accordion was exchanged for the saxophone, I went with my parents on a city trip to Amsterdam.” A concert of Johnny Meijer was also on the program. And that made a great impression on Rony . “Once back in Belgium , I could have just one sound and one way of playing the accordion i.e. Johnny Meijer’s way of playing . This remains until the present day.”
The series of three CD’S began in spring 2012 with the recording of the Brubeck album. Rony Verbiest feels kinship with the American pianist and composer, who had studied under the classis composer Darius Milhaud. In the liner notes he stated: “Having enjoyed a classical education myself the time Measures from Bartok, Stravinsky or Dave Brubeck were never far away.”
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