Pianist Rob Madna (The Hague,1931-2003) was fully self-taught. His professional musical career has severely suffered under his job as math teacher, that prompted him to reject offers of Thad Jones, Freddie Hubbard and Lucky Thompson to fill the piano bench on their European tours. First in 1985 he became involved in music full time, accepting to teach jazz piano at the Hilversum Conservatory. Yet he is regarded as one of the greatest Dutch jazz pianists, who unfortunately showed little interest in recording. The few records he made are very high rated in the jazz world. Dutch pianist and composer Rob Madna is considered one of the founders of modern jazz in postwar Holland. He was born June 8, 1931 and passed away on April 5, 2003. Madna was a complete autodidact, who learned to play by listening to whatever records happened to be around the house: music of Teddy Wilson, Ella Fitzgerald, or a recording of George Gershwin’s ‘Porgy and Bess.’ Together with neighborhood friends Ack en Jerry van Rooijen, Rob listened as much as he could to jazz and dance orchestras during the Second World War. After the war he heard the latest music from America, including bebop, which was to have a deep impact on his further musical growth. Apart from submerging himself in music, Madna developed a fascination for mathematics, and he decided to pursue a career as a mathematician rather than a musician. Rob always shunned the spotlights and a life on the road didn’t appeal to him. With what he considered his Asian relativism, he did not seek public recognition and much of his musical life would take place in relative invisibility. Nevertheless, Madna did perform with many jazz outfits, and subbed in many orchestras. He was deeply respected by his fellow musicians and those listeners who knew him.In 1955 he recorded for the first time, participating in the anthologies 'Jazz From Holland' and 'Jazz Behind the Dikes'. Among his more recent recordings are the 1996 CD 'Update', with his trio and The Dutch Jazz Orchestra, followed by a 2000 live recording issued in the Daybreak piano series 'En Blanc Et Noir'. In his long career Rob Madna played with luminaries such as Phil Woods, Dexter Gordon, Don Byas, Lucky Thompson and Freddie Hubbard. Rob Madna's greatest model was Miles Davis, Thad Jones being another particular inspiration. During the 2003 North Sea Jazz Festival he posthumously received the prestigious Bird Award for his complete works.

A pianist with a brooding, rhythmic, introverted style, Mal Waldron's playing has long been flexible enough to fit into both hard bop and freer settings. Influenced by Thelonious Monk's use of space, Waldron has had his own distinctive chord voicings nearly from the start. Early on, Waldron played jazz on alto and classical music on piano, but he switched permanently to jazz piano while at Queens College. He freelanced around New York in the early '50s with Ike Quebec (for whom he made his recording debut), Big Nick Nicholas, and a variety of R&B-ish groups. Waldron frequently worked with Charles Mingus from 1954-1956 and was Billie Holiday's regular accompanist during her last two years (1957-1959). Often hired by Prestige to supervise recording sessions, Waldron contributed many originals (including "Soul Eyes," which became a standard) and basic arrangements that prevented spontaneous dates from becoming overly loose jam sessions.

George Gershwin was an American composer, who is mostly known due to his combinations of classical and popular music genres.

George Gershwin grew up in a poor neighbourhood in New York. His parents were Russian immigrants who had trouble making ends meet. They did, however, decide to purchase an old piano so Ira Gershwin could study to become a musician. Yet, it turned out not Ira, but his younger brother George showed remarkable talent. Ira applied himself to writing song lyrics and together the Gershwin brothers became absolute greats in the world of 20th century musicals. Nowadays, George's compositions are still relevant, as is evidenced by the many performances of his Rhapsody in Blue from 1924. But the best example is the ageless Summtertime, which has been covered a countless number of times by a countless number of artists.

Jazz trumpeter and flügelhornist Kenny Wheeler was one of the most advanced voices on his instrument. Blessed with a full, lovely tone and an astounding range, Wheeler sounded equally at home in fiery free jazz explorations or softer, more lyrical post-bop meditations. Wheeler was born in 1930 in Toronto, Ontario, and began playing trumpet at age 12. After studying at Toronto's Royal Conservatory, he moved to London in 1952, where he gigged with swing and dance bands. He appeared with John Dankworth's orchestra at the 1959 Newport Festival and remained with that group until 1965. In 1966,Wheeler discovered free jazz, and, fascinated, joined John Stevens' Spontaneous Music Ensemblefor the next four years. In addition, he played jazz-rock fusion with the Mike Gibbs Orchestra from 1969-1975, and joined Tony Oxley's sextet (along with free jazz giants like Derek Bailey and Evan Parker) from 1969-1972. Through the latter, Wheeler was invited to join German pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach's groundbreaking free jazz big band the Globe Unity Orchestra in 1970, an association Wheeler maintained for years to come.
During the first half of the '70s, Wheeler played with Anthony Braxton, which became his primary focus. In 1975, he signed with the ECM label and recorded the well-received Gnu High, which established him as a solo artist of note; the following year, he left Braxton and joined the trio Azimuth. Wheelerturned out a series of excellent ECM albums, including 1977'sDeer Wan and 1983's Double, Double You (that year,Wheeler also began a four-year run with the Dave Holland Quintet). Several more generally fine outings followed in the '90s, including the ECM dates Music for Large and Small Ensembles and The Widow in the Window (both recorded in 1990), plus other recordings for Justin Time and Soul Note later in the decade. During the 2000s and 2010s, he recorded several dates for CAM Jazz, including 2008's Other People with the Hugo Wolf String Quartet and 2011's One of Many with Steve Swallow. Wheeler died on September 18, 2014 after a brief illness. His final studio session, the Manfred Eicher-produced Songs for Quintet, was released in 2015 on what would have been Wheeler's 85th birthday.

Juraj Stanik (1969) is a respected jazz pianist and a real musician's musician. He graduated Cum Laude at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, was finalist at the Wessel Ilcken Concours, winner of the Pall Mall Export Swing Award and with the quintet “Five Up High” won the Leverkusen Jazz Award.
As well as standards Juraj plays many of his own numbers during performances. New titles are regularly added to his already large catalogue of compositions. He is also engaged in his own musical development at the Royal Conservatoire, and Chopin, Debussy, Ravel, Bartok and Messiaen can frequently be heard in his own musical conceptions.
Juraj Stanik's sources of inspiration are wide. He has a clear respect for the jazz tradition, but is also inspired by contemporary pioneers such as John Scofield, Chris Potter and Joe Lovano. As well as this he is strongly influenced by classical music.