Sound and Sight: Imre de Jonge - “Uomo Universale”

If Imre De Jonge was ever to be stranded on a deserted island, apart from setting up a survival camp, the first thing he’d likely do is find a way to make music from the elements surrounding him.

He would harness the vibrations of sand sifting through his fingers, turn a palm leaf into a woodwind instrument, or use seashells for cymbals and chimes. Within a week, or perhaps a little longer now that he is a bit older, he would assemble the instrumentation needed to play to the trees, to the ocean, and the winds. He would be happy making music, his love, and truest joy.

De Jonge (pronounced de Young), is a master-class multi-instrumentalist—a drummer with a highly sophisticated palate, a bass player with tasty, funky chops, perfect for pairing with any rhythm section, an exciting electric guitarist, an originator of keyboard styling and synth explorations, and an organ player with a monstrous attack.

De Jonge paints, photographs, designs graphics, sound engineers and produces music for his gifted daughter, Bronwyn Rose, and other local artists; runs a recording studio and in his spare time creates and manufactures fully handmade electric guitars and basses – from drafting, to amazing to hold and play instruments.

To say he is a fully realized Renaissance Man would be an understatement. Perhaps the Italian phrase, ‘Uomo Universale’ applies more accurately to men with his prodigious talents and boundless curiosity.

For most of his professional career, De Jonge has worked as a props master for Canadian television and film projects. In later years, he worked lugging set pieces for staging, generally in television. He has worked for CP Rail and played in more bands than he can count. He has backed up players from jazz to country and rock to soul-funk.

When asked how his journey began De Jonge replies, “here is the shotgun version: I started on accordion! There’s only one reason for that, my dad got a job as an accordion salesman, and so he had sample accordions in the car. He was also a jazz musician. He was the drummer for the Dutch Swing College Band. I actually have an album with him on it. (Dutch Swing College Band with Nelson Williams 1956-Phillips, Netherlands). It’s still going today. It’s a very famous jazz band.

“So he, (De Jonge’s father), had a profound love of jazz and he collected records and had a pretty nice audio system. He was a tinkerer too. He tinkered with his audio equipment and radios and whatnot. Then my mom decided everyone should play the violin. So she got my brothers started and of course I followed later, being a bit younger,” De Jonge adds.

At three or four years of age, his mother insisted that he join his brothers in the local St. Catherines Youth Orchestra playing triangle. He also played cymbals in the high school orchestra. He struggled though because he never really mastered sight-reading.

His love of drums began in secondary school. “My dad started taking us to concerts. It started with the live tapings at CBC. On Friday nights they did a jazz series for radio and the house band was Phil Nimmons ‘N’ Nine. I got blown away by that and then he took us to jazz clubs as well. He took us to see Thelonious Monk (and) Bill Evans. I got really interested in playing drums because of those outings.”

In high school, he joined an extracurricular jazz band and began formal drum practice, charting the rudiments for him to learn. “When I was learning drums and making a racket in the basement with my first drum set that I got when I was about 16, my parents didn’t appreciate that during the quiet evening hours, so I had to shut it down after supper. Both my brothers were taking classical guitar lessons so I picked that up because I couldn’t play drums. Instead of doing my homework, I’d doodle on the guitar.”

De Jonge began to practice guitar in earnest and soon was also introduced to the piano while his younger sister was taking lessons. With piano, he also discovered the template for songwriting and composition. The keyboard lays all the notes right there in front of you.

At the same time, De Jonge began to play bass guitar. “I’ve always been interested in playing bass because as a drummer the bass is the next thing, my right-hand musician, as it were. I bought my first electric guitar at Hudson Music, in Toronto. And they had a two-for-one sale,” laughs De Jonge. “For 450 bucks, you could get a Strat (Fender Stratocaster) and a Precision Bass. So yeah, I started playing bass. And I’ve loved it ever since. I love playing bass.”

De Jonge actually started playing bars before he was even old enough to go to one. His first professional job was with Jason Belmer, who subsequently went to Newfoundland to start a cover band, and with that began De Jonge’s long history of jobs paid and unpaid, in an endless series of bands, with names too numerous to recall.

Eventually, he began playing more frequently in the Bracebridge area with Middlebrook and the Okay Time Wasters. De Jonge started living in Bracebridge and operated a music store with a guitar repair workshop in the early 1980s.

Things didn’t go as planned in Bracebridge and he returned to Toronto and worked in film and television when he could. He curtailed some of his road work with bands due to some health complications. Around 2000, he reunited with his daughter who lived in Bracebridge and she encouraged De Jonge to move back to Muskoka.

Together they found an old refurbished barn in Huntsville, which they purchased and established as a centre for their common interest in music and songwriting. ‘The Barn,’ as the studio came to be known, offers a wide range of sound production capabilities, from engineering to mastering. It also offers an ideal setting for band practices and lessons.

De Jonge started working on building guitars and repairs quite early in his development. His brother Sergei is a master luthier of acoustic guitars and he taught De Jonge basic principles of guitar making but De Jonge specializes in electric instruments only. For years, he has collected and cured wood for bodies and necks. He prides himself in using local materials. His fret boards differ slightly from commercial brands but are renowned for their style, craftsmanship, and beautiful sound and feel.

Despite his many gifts, De Jonge is not well known outside of the local musicians he interacts with. Unassuming by nature, De Jonge is a force of nature and when he plays, he thunders and roars like the mighty open sky that hovers over his workshop and recording studio.