Going Pro

Going pro

I landed my first professional job, through a colleague of my father. His name is Piet van Schagen and he was a "semi pro" guitarist at that time. He also owned a music store called "Peter Johanzen" (which was his stage name), located in Alkmaar in the Netherlands, now run by his son.

Piet as a young guitarist all the way to the right with the North Side A Quartet. Photo from 1964

Playing pro internationally

After serving in the Dutch military, I played in international dance bands in France, Germany, Switzerland and of course my native Netherlands.

I played a lot on US Air Force Bases in France and Germany, mostly in Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) clubs, with a group called the Atlanta Sextet, led by Fred Schmidt.


One evening the show artists were The
Four Freshmen . Having always being fond of "close harmony", this evening turned me into a live-time fan. In their case the word "close harmony" is not technical correct, as they also use open (wide spread) chords. Their guitar player (Bill Comstock) asked to borrow my Gibson guitar amp.

Read more here and scroll down to The Four Freshmen sound.

Then I came to Norway with another German band in 1965 and stayed on.

The Four Freshmen then

Nyeste kommentarer

22.04 | 13:20

Tusen takk! Jeg har den plakaten, men ellers takk! Jeg har noen bilder. Du kan skrive meg en e-post på post@markusscholz.no om du vil se og/eller ha en kopi.

21.04 | 10:47

Jeg spilte i mange år med din far, fra ca. 1965 til ca. 1983.
Har ikke flere bilder, men en plakat som du kan få. Ring 92817227.

20.04 | 22:05

Hei, dette var gøy å se! Min far, Geir, på trommer. Har du flere bilder fra 004-tiden? Hadde vært gøy å se. Håper alt er vel med deg og dine.
Hilsen Markus S.

06.06 | 15:18

Paul,

I am sure I have a version of The Love Nest and will look for it later today and send you a copy. My direct email is: tonnievdh@online.no

Brgds,
Tonnie