Durium

Jimmy Wormworth had met Al Levitt, the New York drummer, in the summer of 1956 while playing at the Pia Beck Flying Dutchman in Scheveningen, the beach resort of The Hague (The Netherlands) and when Jimmy returned to Holland the next year he was invited to play with his group in Le Chat Qui Pêche Club in Paris, August 1957. Jimmy Wormworth, now in his 70s, remembers the inspiring Paris jazzscene of 1957. Tomorrow part two of his Parisian gig with his recalls to Dutch piano player Nico Bunink. Jimmy Wormworth: The American Jazz Quintet in Paris - 1957 - part one Le Chat Qui Pêche was one of those numerous 1950s Parisian venues were jazz men could play. Madame Ricard ruled the cellar club and gave the musicans elbow-room. The US musicians liked to play there; the audience was quite different from what they were accustomed to in New York. Jimmy Wormworth and the his American Jazz Quitet (+ one) performed there during the month of August 1957 and met great musicians like Nico Bunink, the Dutch piano player that would make a career in the US playing with Charles Mingus, Zoot Sims and Stan Getz, to list some, but stayed fully underrated in his homeland. Jimmy Wormworth: The American Jazz Quintet in Paris - 1957 - part two Durium

What about this one? Art Blakey at Dutch radio Sesjun shows Durium

The latest album of Philip Catherine once more proofs what a great guitar player he is ............ To be honest, the title .. plays Cole Porter first got on my nerves ... oh no, not another "plays/sings ....", like the numerous meant for the best ... plays/sings Cole Porter albums ( Frank Sinatra or Ella Fitzgerald or Dionne Warwick or ...) with overplayed songs, tributes to this great composer. But when I played myself this new Philip Catherine album I was convinced that this ones was more then just .... a tribute to. As Vladimir Cosma says in the liner notes: How lucky for Cole Porter to be in the golden hands of Philip Catherine! A timeless document! Philip Catherine plays Cole Porter Durium

The North Sea Jazz Festival of Rotterdam, was scheduled from the 8th up to the 10th of July 2011. Jazz fans complain that they hardly can find the music they love to hear between all those scheduled rap, soul and rock concerts ... The festival loves to surprise, they say, and on its last day, Sunday the 10th, they did with the Chinese Peace Hotel Jazz Band from Shanghai; six aged musicians, who played their dated music, had the time of their lives. And so did I ! A tear-yerking concert. Peace Hotel Jazz Band at North Sea Jazz Festival 2011 Durium

Some musicians don't love to be spotlighted - they love to play their music somewhere hidden in the band. Ferdinand Povel is one of them - he has to come out of the shadows ...... Six weeks ago he received the prestigious VPRO/Boy Edgar award, a appreciation for his long career as a tenor saxophonist and teacher of the instrument; a complete generation of Dutch saxophone players learned from him the tricks of the instrument. In the Bimhuis in Amsterdam, November 2008, a concert was scheduled by the Rein De Graaff Trio with Ferdinand Povel and Pete Cristlieb as guests and this concert was, accidentally, recorded and released on a great Timeless album, which learns why Ferdinand was granted this award: a must have ..... Ferdinand Povel-Pete Christlieb with the Rein De Graaff Trio Durium

A look into the life of a master who suffers one of life's greatest losses, Benny Golson writes in the liner notes of the latest album by Curtis Fuller, entitled The Story of Cathy & Me. Curtis Fuller lost his beloved early 2010 and remembers her in this emotional album. Some would have us believe that death is as light as a feather when, in fact, as we all must heroically sometimes do .... even with a broken heart. But as he goes forward, those who love him symbolically go with him (Benny Golson) Curtis Fuller: The Story of Cathy & Me Durium

Dear frieds, I got another link that should work. Dutch Jazz Archive CDs Durium

You can mail the Muziek Centrum Nederland / Dutch Jazz Archive. You can mention the Keep swinging blog Durium. I e-mailed them a week ago and have yet to receive a reply. Do you know any other places I might be able to get it, durium? Try Ditmer Durium

The best place to promote your records is during a live performance, but when you love to live the concert again the recording of the band don't always satisfied. I'd love to have that same experience with that massive sound of The Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw. I found it at its latest album entitled Blues For The Date, with special soloist piano player of the band for years, Peter Beets. Blues For The Date XXIst century big band music of a group young Dutch musicians which evoke world wide respect. Peter Beets + Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw: Blues For The Date Durium

You can mail the Muziek Centrum Nederland / Dutch Jazz Archive. You can mention the Keep swinging blog Durium.

It's great fun to listen to a well arranged uniform stabile quartet like the Modern Jazz quartet, but what about a group whose members seem to be each other's opposites? The legendary Dutch Misha Mengelberg - Piet Noordijk Quartet from the 1960s seems to be such a band with two members who are fascinated by swing and bebop music and two others who later have won their spurs into the free jazz and improvised music. - great conditions for fascinating improvisations. Thanks to the former Dutch Jazz Archive we can enjoy a live concert by this most impressive Dutch jazz quartet of the 1960s, which lasted only a few years: The Misha Mengelberg-Piet Noordijk Quartet Misha Mengelberg-Piet Noordijk Quartet: Live at the Concertgebouw (1966) Durium

Donn Andre, a banjo and guitar player, visited Holland in the summer of 1956 at a Student Cruise Program of the Holland America Line and the NBBS. His group, the Catatonic Five, performed at the Vliegende Hollander in Scheveningen, the club of Dutch entertainer and piano player Pia Beck. One of the members of his band was Jimmy Wormworth, drummer, who was the leader of the American Jazz Sextet, a group of students to play as the opening performance at the J. J. Johnson Quintet concert at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Donn Andre: 1956 Dutch Catatonic Five tour durium

Some albums escape ones notice, like this great second album by the Dutch - Venezuelan trumpet player Michael Simons. An album with well arranged compositions by Michael Simon, rooted in the hardbop - latin-american tradition - a promising trumpet player and a great composer to keep an eye on.............. Michael Simon - New York Encounter Durium

Last year the Music Centre the Netherlands, the former Dutch Jazz Archive, released the album J.J. Johnson - What's New, a registration of his August 1957 Amsterdam Concertgebouw concert - a great album. The openng performance of that concert was an unknown group of young US students, labeled as the American Jazz Sextet. This concert was unrecorded. Jimmy Wormworth remembers this concert and his first trips to Holland as a young jazz musician and loves to share with you his photos and remembrances of that period. In three contributions the Keep Swinging blog loves to publish his retrospect. Jimmy Wormworth: the 1956 Student Cruise program and stay in Holland Durium

Marc Mommaas is one of those Dutch jazz musicians who moved, succesfully, to "the promised land", the States, years ago. Not an easy switchover, as he had to fight for the recognition he deserves. Muziek is waar het om gaat,(= It's only the music that's important), he says about his stay in New York, de rest is gewoon sociale bullshit.(= the rest is social-bullshit). Marc feels at home in the New York Jazz scene. Now and then he comes back to his homeland to play with bands like the Amina Figarova Sextet. His latest album, Landmarc, surprises with the special line up: tenorsax - drums and two guitar players - a great surprise! Marc Mommaas surprises with new album: Landmarc Durium

Thanks - I changed it into ( almost .....)

One of the first great American jazz musicians I must have seen in concert was Stan Kenton. His band was scheduled in 1973 for a concert at the Rotterdam Doelen and I remember I only could affort one of the cheaper seats, behind the band on the balcony. I remember the massive sound and the easy way Stan Kenton directed the band. Also Peter Varenhorst was part of the audience. For him it was the second times he heard the Stan Kenton band. In 1953, twenty years before the Rotterdam concert, he joined a Kenton concert at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and loved to share with us his remembrances. Recollections of Stan Kenton in Holland (1953 and 1973) Durium

I heard Phil Woods in concert July 2003 at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague with the Bud Shank Quartet and I remember that I was sitting in expectation of things to come. Suddenly I saw him, with his inevitable cap, walking to the concert hall with his alto under his arm. A great moment! Phil Woods, the legendary Man With The Hat, took the young gifted alto saxophone player Grace Kelly to his heart and gave her one of his inseparable caps. Grace (18) and Phil (almost 80) are now recorded together on a great album, entitled The Man With The Hat. Grace Kelly-Phil Woods: The Man with the Hat Durium

The twofer Tribute to Jochem was my first introduction to the music of Robert Rook with more then a hundred minutes of high level jazz. His compositions were born during numerous improvisations, which developed from a few notes into the lenghtly themes on this album. Robert loves to improvise at the piano with his band members, tenor saxophone player Rob Armus and his rhythm section featuring double bass player (and co-composer) Thomas Winther Andersen and drummer Victor De Boo. European jazz on a high level .....! Robert Rook Quartet - Tribute to Jochem Durium

They did ....... Keep (it) Swinging Durium

I remember Blakey as the man with the sneakers and dungarees who loved to punish his drum set. ... That's how I remember Art Blakey more then 30 years after the Rotterdam Doelen concert (1980) I joined, but memories become faint .... What date was this concert? Who were the other members of the Jazz Messengers? How did they sound? And where were the slides I made? Facts lost in the past! Last year a twofer by Art Blakey and his Jazz Messengers was released with the Sesjun Radio shows and ...... I regained my slides .... just in time to join it with you together with a review of this great album...... Art Blakey Jazz Messengers at Dutch Sesjun Radio Shows Durium

Tom Harrell belongs to the top of the jazz trumpet players in the world and the audience in the Porgy en Bess Jazz Club in Terneuzen could state that last weekend. When Tom starts to play his trumpet, he becomes a new person. The Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw, directed by Henk Meutgeert, accompanied the star on the trumpet, who played with icons like Stan Kenton, Horace Silver, Phil Woods and Woody Herman at an artistic and professional high level. Henk Meutgeert suggested to rename the Porgy en Bess Jazz Club "The Bimhuis along the Scheldt", refering to the Amsterdam Bimhuis where the orchestra has its monthly concerts. Tom Harrell in concert with the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw Durium

The idea is not new ! - a lot of jazz and pop musicians made eyes at the classical music composers to get increase in sales, but Peter Beets made an album only he can do - His album Chopin Meets The Blues offers you an hour of swinging jazz in a way Chopin would have liked ..... I'm sure you never heard the Nocturnes, Preludes and Mazurka's of Chopin played the way Peter did with his quartet. Keep Swinging was surprised, because it isn't classical music in a swinging way, but hard bop inspired jazz music at a very high level ....., although Peter refuses to label it as Jazz .... That's why it is called: Chopin Meets The Blues instead of ....Chopin Meets The Jazz! Peter Beets - Chopin Meets The Blues Durium

Mister Freddie Green (1911-1987), Mr. Rhythm, born next week 100 years ago ! I posted a small homage to him at my Keep (it) Swinging newsletter. Enjoy it. Durium

Oscar Alemán was one of the major guests at the 7th Jazzwereldfeest in Scheveningen, the beach resort of The Hague (The Netherlands) (July 1939) In the Jazzwereld of August 1930 the major article was entitled Het Zevende Jazzwereldfeest dat de meeste vroegere Jazzwereld-Kurhausavonden overtrof! ( = The Seventh Jazzwereldfeest, that surpassed all previous Jazzwereld-Kurhaus nights!). The author, was probably Will G. Gilbert, who was one of the editors of the magazine; the article has the same rhetorical language so typically for Gilbert. In inimitable long sentences he sings around Oscar's praises, pointing again to the fact that might not label it as Jazz, although it has zuivere jazzmuzikale elementen ...., daarnaast nog Spaanse- en Zuid-Amerikaanse elementen. ( pure jazz elements and, beside that, also Spanish- and South American phrases.). Oscar Aleman is praised for the fact that he loved to make musical jokes, but never wanted to be funny or to use gimmicks for the effects .... Oscar Alemán in concert: a review of the 7th Jazzwereldfeest Durium Oscar Alemán (online) discography/