Tom Dissevelt

Who was Tom Dissevelt?

Thomas Dissevelt was a Dutch composer and musician. He is known as a pioneer in the merging of electronic music and jazz. He married Rina Reys, sister of Rita Reys in 1946.

Tom Dissevelt was also known as bassist / arranger in the Skymasters and helped on the records of Rita Reijs.

Between 1939 and 1944 Dissevelt studied at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. He took over three years in trombone lessons and then went onto study clarinet, music theory and piano. He stopped studying the clarinet because he was too busy and took bass lessons from Herman Stotijn of the Residence Orchestra.

After the war Dissevelt moved to Indonesia with the Jos Cleber Orchestra to work. He was in love with Rina Reys, and married her in 1946. In 1947 he did an international tour with Ilcken Wessel, the husband of Rita Reys, and the orchestra of Piet van Dijk. This tour lasted three years, where she acted in Spain and North Africa.

In 1955 Bep Rowold, leader of the Skymasters, hired Dissevelt as a bassist and arranger. He became interested in 12-tone music, listened to the many German radio stations, and heard works by Karlheinz Stockhausen and Anton Webern. Recommended by Philips, he was invited to the Natlab studios electronic music. Together with Dick Raaijmakers he composed electronic music. Many of his compositions are now heard on the record "Popular Electronics - Early Dutch electronic music from Philips Research Laboratories, 1956-1963".