Willem Breuker - Back in Time

Willem Breuker - Back in Time ( English) Willem Breuker - Terug in de tijd ( Nederlands)

REMARKABLE GIRL Discography

Remarkable Girl
WILLEM BREUKER - BACK IN TIME
Hans Koert

As I told you before – music should entertain. When you join a concert of a band you love to hear, you normally know what you can find on stage. If you have heard the orchestra before or you have heard its music on CD, you hope to become entertained in a way you expect. But a good a concert should surprise too – if the music hits you emotionally or puts you on the wrong track, it could give the concert an extra dimension. One of those bands, masters in surprising, is the Willem Breuker Kollektief.

Concert for Tuba – Wilem Breuker 1995

I was surprised by a film fragment on Dailymotion that I recently saw for the first time played by the Willem Breuker Kollektief. It’s a 1920s tune, titled Remarkable Girl, a seldom heard tune, originally recorded by Ted Weems and Fred Hamm in 1929, now played in a retro-style that is rather unusual for this band.

Willem Breuker, born in Amsterdam, November 1944, developed into one of the most important musicians of The Netherlands. He was the founder of the Willem Breuker Kollektief mid 1970s after he had broken with the Instant Composers Pool. He made hundreds of recordings and travelled all around the world. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Willem Breuker Kollektief should be somewhere in the top three of the most well known bands from The Netherlands.

I really like his music, which is a mix of various styles, film music, theatre music, jazz, world music, free jazz and circus music.- Maker van Mensenmuziek ( = Maker of Men’s Music ) is the subtitle of a book titled Willem Breuker by Francoise and Jean Bezelin ( 1994). I heard him often in concert during the 1960s, at the Nieuwe Muziek concerts in Middelburg ( in the south west part of The Netherlands), where he performed in various groups, like the Instant Composers Pool. I remember him in an open air concert early 1990s at the Doelenplein in Rotterdam with the Dutch saxophone player Annie van’t Zelfde and the Dutch entertainer Toby Rix and his famous instrument á la Spike Jones, the Toeterix.

In May 1997 Willem Breuker and his Kollektief performed at the Traditional Jazz Festival in Breda, in the south of The Nerherlands, with the Dutch vocalist Greetje Kauffeld. You can imagine how the traditionalists, the OKOM-fans, reacted, but I remember Willem Breuker gave a great show and maybe, although I can’t recall, he has played the Remarkable Girl tune too.
This tune, is now available as a film fragment by the Willem Breuker Kollektief in a live concert for German television early 1990s. I found it by surprise. He plays the 1920s tune Remarkable Girl, originally composed by Henry Creamer and Lou Handman, which was recorded by Ted Weems for Victor in September 1929 and three month later by Fred Hamm and his Orchestra for Brunswick.
It is really weird to hear this, seldom played tune, played by this Willem Breuker Kollektief. It was an homage to Herman Openneer, one of the leading jazz historians of The Netherlands, jazz critic and member of the Dutch Jazz Archive. Herman also played the washboard in the fun band The Animal Crackers.

Time to share this great video with you. Enjoy it.

I orderded the CD Bob’s Gallery at BVHaast – hope to enjoy it soon.

Hans Koert – keepswinging@live.nl

REMARKABLE GIRL (Henry Creamer - Lou Handman ) Discography

TED WEEMS AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Recorded: Camden 13th of September, 1929 for Victor ( also on the Dutch Grannyphone 03315 LP ( Ted Weems and his Orchestra – Volume 3 – Piccolo Pete)

FRED HAMM AND HIS ORCHESTRA
Recorded Chicago 13th of December, 1929 for Brunswick

GOSTA TORNER SEPTET
Recorded in Stockholm, the 14th of March, 1944 for Telefunken.

DEVIL MOUNTAIN JAZZ BAND
Recorded in Alemeda (CA) (USA) January-February 1983 for Jazznut

YANKEE RHYTHM KINGS
Recorded in Lexington (MA) (USA) 16th-17th January, 1984 for Stomp Off Records

WILLEM BREUKER KOLLEKTIEF
Recorded in Monster (The Netherlands), December 1987 for BVHaast.

KEITH NICHOLS’ COTTON CLUB ORCHESTRA
Recorded in Barnes, London on the 5th of September 1991 for Stomp Off Records.


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