Keep (it) Swinging: Forest Jazz Band Noosa Concert

( Naar de Nederlandse vertaling.)
On Saturday the 9th of February 2008 the Dutch Forest Jazz Band performed in a concert for the Noosa Jazz Club in Noosa (Australia). Richard Stevens made an extensive review of that concert that will be published in English today. The Dutch version of that review was posted yesterday as: Noosa Concert - The Forest Jazzband. I published in a previous blog about their tour along Australian clubs in: The Forest Jazz Band

The Forest Jazz Band (February 2008)

The publicity about this jazz band created a lot of interest among a wide range of people and resulted in an excellent crowd of about 270 at the Bicentennial Hall. Nobody really knew much about the band except that they were from The Netherlands, and nobody had heard them play until they arrived in Noosa just before the performance.
However, Noosa people who were originally from The Netherlands and other parts of Europe came in numbers to support the band which is on an Australian tour.
Many jazz enthusiasts of the 50s and 60s will recall the exciting sound of the Dutch Swing College Jazz Band who under the successive leadership of Frans Vink Jr., Joop Schrier and then Peter Schilperoort established its own sound and style based on traditional New Orleans Jazz. This emergence of new styles of American jazz after World War II also occurred in Australia with the Graeme Bell band and in the United Kingdom with the Humphrey Lyttleton band. No doubt those who recalled the Dutch Swing College Band were curious to see how this band compared.

Peter Ivan playing his pink trumpet.

The Dutch Forest Band are a seven piece band with Ton Bos (trombone), Peter Ivan (trumpet) and Gerrit Brouwer (clarinet) in the frontline backed by a rhythm group of Harald Haverkorn (piano), Jan Ter Maat (drums) Richard Hanson (banjo/guitar) and Joan Krukkert (double bass).
The band set the scene with “Waltzing Matilda” played in traditional jazz style and then moved onto a variety of more traditional jazz and dance tunes.
The rhythm group provided a very strong backing for the band. Harald Haverkorn on piano was one of the stars of the night with both Richard Hanson on banjo and Joan Krukkert on double bass putting in some great performances.

Gerrit Brouwer

Richard is also a very good pianist and one of the highlights of the night was the duet on piano with Richard and Harald. They gave a very spirited rendition of “Swannee River” in a boogie woogie beat and then capped this with an equally vibrant and swinging version of “Sweet Georgia Brown”.
Jan ter Maat on drums provided a good beat but his most memorable contribution was his vocal performance of “Bei Mir Bist Du Schön” which he sang with great gusto. This tune was composed by Sholom Secunda with lyrics by Jacob Jacobs in Yiddish for the musical “I Would If I Could” in 1932. In 1937 Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin rewrote the lyrics in English and convinced the Andrews Sisters to perform and record the song which became their first major success, selling 350,000 copies and holding the Billboards No. 1 slot for five weeks. This established The Andrews Sisters as successful recording artists and launched them to celebrity status.

Joan Krukkert

The band showed their ability to play very traditional early Chicago style jazz with their rendition of “Big Butter and Egg Man” which was one of four songs (along with “Sunset Café Stomp,” “Irish Black Bottom,” and “You Made Me Love You,”) written by Percy Venables that were subsequently performed by Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five in 1926. Other traditional pieces from the twenties included “Beale St Blues” written by W.C. Handy, the Jimmy McHugh composition “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love”.
Gerrit Brouwer impressed with his clarinet solos and of course as part of the overall ensemble. Peter Ivan enjoyed his role of introducing the tunes and played his pink (yes pink - not brass) trumpet, with plenty of punch and clarity. Band leader and organiser of the band Ton Bos played his trombone in a melodious and easy listening style.

Richard Hanson

They were very generous with their time and the number of tunes they played. This was a band that was out to entertain and give everyone a good night out.
The evening rolled on with a great repertoire and variety of tunes to both dance and listen to including “Buddy Bolden Blues”, “Christopher Columbus”, “Sugar”, “Deed I Do”’, “Simply Like You”, “Careless Love”,“Blue and Sentimental”, “You’re Undecided Now” ,“Ain’t Misbehavin’, “Memories of You”, “After You’ve Gone”, “One of These Days”, “Sweet Sue”, “Dr Jazz” ,“St. Louis Woman” and “All of Me”.
The band wrapped up with “Beale St Blues” and for an encore went out with “When the Saints Go Marching In”.
An entertaining night that gave us some sense of the style of jazz that is popular in Europe.

Richard Stevens ( http://www.thejazzfactory.net/ ) Richard Stevens band is visiting Europe in May-June this year and so far, one gig in Holland at the Apeldoorn festival end of May. They have the week leading up to the festival free and would love to get some contacts for other venues who may appreciate our jazz style. You can contact Richard directly for information or at keepswinging@live.nl

AT RANDOM:
I COULD HAVE TOLD YOU - SHIRLEY HORN Septet: Shirley Horn vocal and piano, Marshall Hawkins bass, Bernard Sweetney drums, Joe Newman trumpet, Frank Wess flute and alto sax, Jerome Richardson flute and Kenny Burrell guitar. Recorded in New York City in 1965.

What musician used the nickname SWEETS?

Send your suggestions to: keepswinging@live.nl

Time exposure for the 3rd of March:
1928:

why do i love you / ol' man river = lou raderman pelham heath inn o

1938:

stardust = joe daniels hot shots in "drummasticks"
i let a song go out of my heart = duke ellington famous o
all of me = jimmy dorsey o

1958:

eternity / just a little while to stay / lord lord lord / maryland my maryland / trombonium = eureka brass band

Keep swinging

Hans Koert

keepswinging@live.nl

Retrospect
Tiny Parham Rotterdam La Leyenda de Oscar Aleman

Nederlands ( To the English translation )

Het verslag van Richard Stevens over het concert van de Forest Jazz Band voor de Noosa Jazzclub in Noosa Australië, een maand geleden, was zo uitgebreid, dat ik de Nederlandse vertaling apart heb gepubliceerd. Je vindt dat verslag in: Noosa Concert - The Forest Jazzband

TIP: Je zou vandaag eens bij de eerdere bijdragen kunnen kijken of één van de andere weblogs (in het Engels): Choro web log, de Oscar Aleman web log, the Flexible Records web log of de Hit of the Week-Durium web log. Genoeg om van te genieten.

AT RANDOM:
I COULD HAVE TOLD YOU - SHIRLEY HORN Septet: Shirley Horn zang en piano, Marshall Hawkins bas, Bernard Sweetney slagwerk, Joe Newman trompet, Frank Wess fluit en altsax, Jerome Richardson fluit en Kenny Burrell gitaar. Opgenomen in New York City in 1965.

Welke muzikant stond bekend als SWEETS? Oplossingen en andere schuilnamen graag sturen naar:

keepswinging@live.nl

Tijdopname voor 3 maart:
1928: