B I O G R A P H Y

Jeffrey was born in the sixties as the third child in a musical family of eight. As a boy he used to frequent his grandparents who lived in the Dutch town of Huizen. There, he went to rehearsals of his uncle, Usje Sabandar, who played bassguitar  in the band Massada, which enjoyed national fame during the seventies. During this period he was inspired by the percussionists Neppy Noya and Zeth Mustamu who both played in Massada. Two icons among (Moluccan) musicians.

Still at a young age, Jeffrey liked to join his brother Gino who played drums with, among other bands, Splendid Mood. Allready, he realized he wanted to play congas and was given valuable advice by his cousin Daddy Lekatompessy. Shown the ropes and motivated by his brother and other musicians like Age Kat, Hanjo van Oostrom, (Hanjones),
Rick Hoogendorp (Rick de Vito), Leo Aenemaat and Michel van Schie to name but a few,
he played sessions in the Dutch club circuit on borrowed congas (thx Leen) from the age of fourteen.

This turned out to be a valuable experience, watching, listening and improvising. Growing up, there was always music. From jazz-rock (Al Dimeola, Weather Report, Return to forever)  to soul (The Manhattans, James Brown, Marvin Gay) and a host of styles in between
(The Eagles, Doobie Brothers, Carol King). All this, laid the foundation for his current musical style.

During the eighties in Rotterdam, an organization emerged named the Rotterdam Musicians Collective (MCR). Many musicians decided to become part of this collective, and not only from within Rotterdam. This is how Jeffrey became acquainted with other percussionists like Martin Verdonk, Martin Gort or Jeroen de Rijk and drummers like Hans Eikenaar, Andre Hoekstra, Hans Greve, Bobby Langenberg, Gregory Pataca and many others.  In this period, Jeffrey started working at the annual North Sea Jazz Festival in
The Hague. He was a drums and percussion specialist for Saris Musical Instruments,  the company which provided the backlines for the festival during those years.

This gave Jeffrey the opportunity to meet with famous percussionists like Giovanni Hidalgo, Bobby Sanabria, Raul Rekoff, Karl Perazzo, Luis Conte and many others of whom he soaked up advice and techniques.

At the beginning of the nineties, Jeffrey enrolled at the Rotterdam Conservatory were he started the preliminary course. He was taught musical theory by Age Kat, but soon realized he spent more time playing then preparing for his study and decided to leave to Australia. There he joined theatrical band Visions of a Nomad. This was the beginning of a year filled with experiences and meeting many other musicians. A valuable lesson he learned,
was that a cowbell or a cymbal can be out of tune with the music.

Back in the Netherlands, Jeffrey became engrossed in Midi and electronic sounds. Incorporating this in his playing, contributed to him becoming an original and versatile percussionist. Jeffrey feels at home with many musical styles, varying from classical to pop, from zouk to son and from hiphop to soul.

Next to his activities in several bands and projects, Jeffrey is regularly employed by
Art in Rhythm (www.artinrhythm.com). This company supplies musical trainings and workshops for businesses in 18 countries. With music as a metaphor, new insights can be given in  a variety of everyday business processes and interactions. Jeffrey acts as facilitator en regularly travels abroad for this. He enables participants to communicate in the universal language of music and does so with catching enthusiasm.

Apart from all his abovementioned activities, Jeffrey holds a part time job working for Feedback Musical Instruments (www.feedback.nl) in Rotterdam. One of the largest and leading music stores in the Netherlands. In the drums and percussion department
(where else?) he offers advice to his customers and attends to presentation and interior design. Thanks to his extensive experience in the industry, he has been able to make a solid contribution to the growth of his department.