What keeps Holland jiving

Jazz lovers are in for a gigantic treat next Thursday when the Netherlands Embassy hosts three great jazz acts as part of Bangkok’s 15th International Festival of Dance and Music at the Thailand Cultural Centre. 

Dutch Jazz Night welcomes back to Thailand the terrific Dixieland-swing ensemble the Dutch Swing College Band back, accompanied by vocalist Margriet Sjoerdsma. 

The evening will also include appearances by fellow Dutch favourites the Beets Brothers Trio with singer Judith Nijland, and the Jazzkia Group featuring trumpeter Saskia Laroo and vocalist Warren Byrd.

Founded in 1945, the Dutch Swing College Band quickly earned an international following, especially in Scandinavia, with New Orleans-style “hot jazz”, ballad stylings and other variations on the genre. 

Clarinetist Bob Kaper, the group’s musical director, has been playing since 1955 and influencing other enthusiasts of the clarinet and alto saxophone. He wrote some of the band’s tunes as well as handling most of the orchestration.

Kaper gave us a heads-up on the plans in an email interview.

 

How did the ensemble get started?

How many jazz orchestras can claim to have been around for more than 65 years? Very few! But the Dutch Swing College Band is no ordinary jazz ensemble. Formed as an amateur college band on Liberation Day – May 5, 1945 – the DSC turned professional in 1960. Over the decades they have backed some of the biggest talents in the business, launched numerous international tours and made many appearances on TV and in films. 

 

And how did you become a musician?

I became infatuated with jazz during my high-school days. I heard the school band playing Dixieland and thought, “That’s it!” I listened to many great bands, like the Dutch Swing College Band when it played in my hometown, Zaandam, but also to American groups like Eddy Condon and the All-stars. 

What I like most about Dixieland music is the freedom of interpretation, not transferring music into notes but notes into music.

 

How did you become part of the DSC?

The manager of the band called me in 1966 and asked me to replace the leader and clarinet player, Peter Schilperoort, when he fell ill. When Peter returned after his illness he asked me to stay on as an extra reed player to form a four-piece frontline.

 

How did swing get so popular in the Netherlands?

Dixieland and swing became popular directly after World War II, in May 1945. It was the music of freedom and liberation from the Nazi occupation. In fact the same happened in the Mississippi Delta when slavery ended in the US. 

Each generation has his its own popular music, but our kind of music is still appreciated also by many youngsters. We have three outstanding young players in the band, for instance. Our style can be ascribed to the excellence of the musicians, their affinity with each other and their ability to maintain an individual style.

 

What’s your repertoire like?

The band has never copied other people’s recordings – we always cook our own stuff. It’s a band of musicians who know to complement one another, and therefore we never sound synthetic. This stabilised personality has helped the band develop an individual repertoire and a style that’s both rehearsed and at the same time free of those clichés so often heard from other bands. You can find a number of original compositions by band members on many recordings.

 

To what extent can members play in their personal style?

The band sounds like the musicians who play in the band – in other words, everyone has his own influence. But I try to keep it between the white lines of the DSC structure.

 

Where have you been so far in 2013?

We’ve performed in Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Great Britain, Poland and of course in the Netherlands. We’ve been to Thailand before, in 2011 for the Flood Relief Mission at the Silverlake Vineyards in Pattaya.

 

What can we expect this time?

We look forward to meeting our fans at the festival and will give a great performance together with singer Margriet Sjoerdsma. It’s going to be a great jazz happening!

 

Bop with the best

_ Catch the Dutch Swing College Band on Thursday at 7.30pm as part of Bangkok’s International Festival of Dance and Music, in the Main Hall of the Thailand Cultural Centre.

_ Seats cost Bt600 to Bt2,000 at Thai Ticket Major. 

_ Learn more about the group at www.DSC.nl.

 

We have tickets!

_ The Nation is giving away two pairs of tickets “Ramayana” on Monday, September 23 to the first two people who can tell us the name of the troupe that is staging “Ramayana”.

_ Send your reply with a telephone contact to [email protected] by Saturday noon making sure to write “Ramayana” in the subject box.

_ The two winners will be able to collect their tickets at the door by contacting Khun Prea (081) 810 1799 at the ICP counter.