On his fourth birthday, Martijn got his first harmonica. During a vacation in France the instruiment became a more serous instrument. Together with a class mate Rudolf Haak and his father Jaques they spent hours of playing. Martijn was about nine years old at that time. Later Martijn heard about Toots Thielemans and he spent most of his spare time playing along with his records.

At the age of twelve Martijn got inspired by the saxophone section of the famous Dutch big band "The Skymasters" because the saxophone required a cord... He took saxophone lessons from Luc van Gessel and Paul Van der Feen. When Martijn was 18 years he was "adopted" by guitar player Rein Solkamans and by drummer Han Brink. They stated that Martijn should work on a harmonica style of his own. During that period Martijn also played tenor and alto saxophone in the big band of pianoplayer/entertainer Paul Poulissen for five years. Nowadays Paul and Martijn are often playing together in a quartet formation. Martijn only plays harmonica.

We can state that Martijn has developed his own style of playing. He cooperated in both national and international music festivals. There is just one last wish: a concert with the Dutch Metropole Orchestra...