Andre van den Hoogen

At the age of 13, Andre was fascinated by a friend’s ability to play Boogie Woogie. Andre easily emulated his friend, and a new love was born for the piano and Syncopation Piano playing. Four years later he was introduced to a Hammond organ, and he fell for the instrument, and all its potential.

He sold organs and pianos for the Heintzman Co. in its
day, and fine-tuned his knowledge of the Hammond organ.
Since then, he has befriended and followed many of the world’s top organists such as Jackie Davis, Jimmy McGriff , Joey Defrancesco, Shirley Scott, Lenny Dee, and Tony Monaco, who he regards as the greatest, true Jazz organist of them all, and others.

His Jazz arrangements of well known songs has held many captive audiences fascinated by his style, and he continues to come up with new arrangements.

Presently, he is one of the Executives and Master of Ceremonies for the Toronto Organ Club, currently located at St. James United Church, in Etobicoke. Andre occasionally devotes an evening to playing popular Jazz oldies, which he usually shares with his close friend, Frank Iacino, whom he respectfully calls, the “Classical Maestro”.