Trombone.

Erik is a born and bred "Ajuin" ("Onion"), i.e. from the city of Aalst, so no wonder that he studied music and trombone at the Academy of Music there. Other than trombone, he also plays sousaphone, bass tuba, double bass, bass guitar, tenor guitar and banjo.

He has played not only with various brass bands in and around Aalst, but also in the local symphony orchestra.

Jazz is something on which he was brought up from an early age, and his first public appearance as a jazz musician was at a street market in Aalst.

Later on his talent was noticed by Odilon Mortier and Marcel De Neve, and through them he got onto the Belgian jazz band circuit. Since then he has been freelancing for years with innumerable Belgian jazz bands.

Since 1988 he is a permanent member of The Dixie Ramblers and, since a couple of years, also of the Apple M-Brass-Band.

With Three Cool Cats, a rockabilly band, he played double bass for ten years!

In the Doctor Jazz Band, Erik is the trombone player. Traditionally, the trombone is of great importance in bands playing New Orleans jazz. With glissandos and deep, round tones on the one hand, and rhythmical and punchy brass effects on the other, the trombone hovers between bass and rhythm. But the trombone is also strong as a "storytelling" instrument, and this melodic feeling is never far away when Erik plays.