Made his first steps in music with the brassband Ulicoten, a small village in the south of Holland, next to the Belgian border. His first love, the trumpet, was ignored by the instructors. The brassband was in need for a solo-euphonium player, which chair was appointed to him. In his rebel-years, he took over the Eb tuba chair from his brother. He liked the somewhat exorbitant look of a sixteen year-old carrying that immens horn at the rear of the band. From there onwards, his love for music was tickeled again. Being lazy and not willing to count out the multiple bars of having nothing to play, he started to listen to the interplay of melody and counter melody for cues to come in on time.

At eightteen, after attending his first concerts of improvised music, he switched to cornet, his first love. He became a regular member of Arnold Dooieweerds Tuesdaynight workshop at the BIM-huis. Within this workshop, extra-musical topics were more the subject for learning rather then harmonies and related scales, or learning to play jazz-standards. Melodic shapes, what are possible musical cues to get back to the theme, loud versus soft, dense versus "empty"; those were the topics to work on.

Out of this workshop, a band was formed and baptised A.C.E. (Amsterdams Creatief Ensemble), which won the NOS/Meervaart Jazz Contest in 1982. Things sped up at this point. There was an invitation from Sean Bergin to come and play in his band. By 1983, there was an invitation from Michael Moore for a tour with Available Jelly in Germany and France. In 1984 he joined the Maarten Altena Ensemble, taking over Kenny Wheelers chair. 1985, he joined Willem van Manens Contraband for one season and became a member of J.C. Tans and his Rockets. 1986 Sean Bergin invited him for his M.O.B. (My Own Band). 1987 he contributed to a special project with John Carter and in 1988, there was a special project with Roscoe Mitchell and Malachi Favors. 1989 he joined Ab Baars Tentet and Paul Termos Tentet. He holds the chair of second trumpet and soloist in Michiel Braam's Bik Bent Braam from 1990 onwards. In 1991 he joined Frankie Douglas' Sunchild. 1993 he founded his own group Specs, a quintet playing his own compositions. 1994 he joined theGuus Janssen Septet.

In 1995 he started to organise a series "Confronting...The Music Of Ornette Coleman". In March and April, his trio (with Michael Vatcher, drums and Wilbert de Joode, double bass) invited saxophone players to come over and play the early quartet music of Ornette Coleman (for Ornette Coleman see also here or here.). Eight Tuesdaynights in a row, a different repertoire was presented by basicly the same group of musicians. A summary of this series was presented at the BIM-huis during the annual "Summer Sessions" as "Go Dutch With Ornette".

As a composer, he contributed to the repertoires of Available Jelly, Bik Bent Braam, Big Band Nieuwe Muziek, JC Tans and his Rockets, Sean Bergin's MOB and - Mobette and for his own groups "Specs" and "Go Dutch with Ornette".