Nico de Rooy (2015) Martin Lodewijk
Since 2013 portraits of famous deceased Rotterdam jazz musicians have appeared on and around the Oude Binnenweg. The portrait series has grown into a jazz and comic strip route as a memorial to an important Rotterdam music history. The portraits are made by renowned cartoonists and illustrators. This is a portrait of Nico de Rooy (Rotterdam, 1906 – The Hague, 1959) and was created by cartoonist Martin Lodewijk. Nicolaas 'Nico' de Rooy was one of the most prominent jazz pianists in the Netherlands. He worked with Eddy Roos, The Midnight Rouders, The Kentucky Karinals, Jack and Louis de Vries, Marek Weber, Louis Davids, Robert 'Bobby' Martin and the Decibels. On August 26, 1935, he replaced Theo Uden Masman during the famous recordings of The Ramblers with Coleman Hawkins. He accompanied Connee Boswell and the singer and comedian Sophie Tucker. The jazz and comic route is realized by BKOR and Rotterdam Jazz Artists Memorial (R'Jam). With this route they try to save the Rotterdam jazz celebrities from oblivion. An extensive biography of the artists and musicians included in the series can be found at www.r-jam.nl. The vinyl album is in honor of this project Jazz from R'jam was released, on which all portrayed jazz musicians can be heard.
Martin Lodewijk (Rotterdam, 1939) has been a cartoonist for sixty-five years. He grew up in post-war Rotterdam with Dutch magazines such as Spirou, Heroic en Tom Poes Weekly. But also with American comics, which were easy to find in second-hand bookshops in the port city of Rotterdam. Lodewijk tried to make comics himself at an early age and with success: already at the age of 17 he published cartoons and comics at the Rotterdam company ATH for magazines (Bolero, Mascot) and booklets (Aerospace, Arent Brandt). His contribution to the comics world includes the widely known science fiction series Storm and scenarios for all kinds of series in the detective, adventurer, western, fantasy and knight genre. He is best known as the author of the comic series Agent 327, a high-quality strip, in which he also manages to capture his deep love for his hometown of Rotterdam.
Eendrachtsplein 2, 3012 LA Rotterdam, Netherlands