It was around about then that he played his first notes on the piano. Nowadays, Dirk Van der Linden not only plays the guitar but also Hammond organ, piano and bass.
In 1989 Dirk decided to become a professional musician. He played in a number of theatrical productions by Blauwe Maandag, KVS and KJT.
Dirk Van der Linden currently plays with various jazz bands.
- He is the regular piano player with the Dutch - Belgian band Swingcats, who perform all over Europe.
- He's also one of the eight members of Andy Cooper's Euro Top 8 Band
- and he plays piano by the Vanilla Brothers.
- Together with Pascal Michaux, he plays in the trio The Hammond Swing Machine: two Hammond organs and drums.
- His Hammond organ is also the key instrument in his own trio with the project "Hammond Pressure".
- He plays the guitar in the Henk De laat Quartet
- the Dutch band Gumbo Gabbers
- the Dirk Van der Linden Trio with Arno Krijger on Hammond organ
- in the Euro Trio with the German piano player Dirk Raufeisen
- and acoustic rhythm guitar by the German Echoes of Swing Orchestra.
Although Dirk is completely self- taught, he is not adverse to teaching others. He has given a number of lessons at Antwerp's Jazzstudio.
He worked several times for radio and television, in Belgium and abroad.
He played concerts (and still does) in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, on Ibiza, Germany, Italy, Switserland,
Finland, UK, and New Zealand. In august 2002 he will perform in Norway, Canada and at the jazzfestival of Costa Mesa (USA).
He shared the stage with Clark Terry, Dan Barrett, Tom Baker, Leroy Jones, Teddy Edwards, Mike Carr, Charlie Gabriel, Lilian Boutté, Mark Braud, Patrick Artero, Jesse Van Ruller, Dany Doriz, Deborah Brown, David Paquette, Gianni Basso, Anca Parghel, Nic Fissette, Colin Dawson, John Barnes, Frits Landsbergen, Bruce Adams, Charlie Antolini, Mighty Flea Conners, Bob Barnard, Rebecca Kilgore, Andy Cooper, Félix Simtaine, Big Al Carson, Frank Vaganée, Phil Abraham, Carlo d' Wijs,Roger Van Haverbeke, Joep Peeters, Ben Jones, Joe Wulf , Johan Clement and many others.
(See top of page for main discography)
| Catherine Delasalle: 'Est-ce ainsi que les homes vivent' (rec. 1993) - on piano |
| The Holsbein Brothers : 'Up and Down' (rec. 1997) - on Hammond organ |
| Swingcats: 'Two Moods' (rec. 1997) - on piano and Hammond organ |
| Swingcats: ' East of the Sun' (rec. 1998) - on piano |
| Dirk Van der Linden Trio: 'Whatever' (rec. 1998) - on guitar |
| Euro Trio: 'Fine Hours' (rec. 1999) - on guitar |
| Swingcats: 'Night and Day' (rec. 2000) - on piano, guitar and Hammond organ |
| Andy Cooper's Euro Top 8 Band: 'From the Top' (rec. 2000) - on piano and guitar |
| Swingcats: 'Face to face' (rec. 2001) - on piano |
| Happy Feet Brass Band: 'I Want to be Happy' (rec. 2001) - on Hammond organ |
| Joep Peeters en de Gumbo Gabbers: 'Costa Mesa Boogaloo' (rec. 2001) - on guitar and Hammond organ |
| Jeggpap Jazzband: '40 years later' (rec. 2002) - on piano |
Dirk plays on · Kristof guitars, www.kristofbraekman.bewoner.antwerpen.be, and plectrums made by Luc Strubbe · Polytone amp Taurus IV (Dirk is the Belgium promotor for Polytone) · Hammond organ model A 100 with two 760 lesliespeakers
