Van Vaerenbergh, Bob

Bob was born in Belgium (Europe) in 1959 and started playing the trumpet and the saxophone at the age of 8. Influenced by the upcoming rock bands of the 70s, he soon switched to drums, and he also learned classical percussion and keyboards. At the age of 16 he performed for the first time with a local blues-rock band. As a young adult he enrolled at Berklee College of Music in Boston (USA) for jazz-drums and arrangement. On returning to Belgium, he wrote the arrangements for the 2nd album of the Belgian singer Isabelle Rigaux, featuring his future drum teacher Bruno Castellucci. Following this Bob started playing numerous gigs in the European jazz scene where he then joined the band of the Belgian based American jazz-funk singer Gyle Waddy. He played with the Gyle Waddy Group for 25 years and recorded several CD‛s. He also worked free-lance on drums or percussion in various studio recording sessions. During this period he enrolled at the jazz-department of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels where he studied with Bruno Castellucci for 4 years. In the following years he was member of the board of examiners. In 1995, already working professionally as a drummer and teacher for over 10 years, he started his own band We Like Solutions, a jazz-rock trio with guitar and electric bass. The band played together until 2008 and they recorded 2 CD‛s with their own compositions. Teaching had become more and more important and in 2000 Bob created different rock, pop & jazz-workshops for the summer music camps of Youth and Music Brussels, which he has coordinated for 15 years with his own team of teachers. By now he was also teaching drums and ensemble at several music schools and institutions using his own handouts. He became a member of the Vic Firth Education Team and stimulated by the positive comments of famous drummers on his educational approach he developed his own ideas into a revolutionary drumset method.