Daily Dose Of Jazz…
William Stewart was born on October 1, 1957 in Glasgow, Scotland and started playing classical violin at the age of 10. After winning first prize in the Scottish Central Counties Music Festival in 1970, 1971, 1972 and first prize in the Glasgow Music Festival in 1973, he won the McFarlane scholarship to attend the Royal Scottish Academy of Music in Glasgow at the age of fourteen.
While at the Academy he won the first prize in the Robert Highgate Scholarship for violin in 1975, and went on to play with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, BBC Scotland, Scottish Opera, Scottish Baroque Ensemble, Virtuosi Scotland. At 19 Stewart toured Britain as leader of the Scottish Ballet Orchestra.
When he turned 21 William left Scotland to take a position as leader of the Passau State Opera Orchestra in Germany before joining the world famous Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Herr. Prof. Karl Munchinger. By twenty-six, as a member of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra Quartet, he had played in some of the most famous concert halls in the world, including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York City.
For a few years now Stewart has been working on his own compositions and music, blending influences from his traditional Scottish up-bringing, classical music, and love of Eastern-European fiddle music. After many solo concerts, and support for, among others, Nikki Sudden, and Hazel O’Conner at the “Left Bank”, he began playing with local groups like the Jazz Lads and Ellamental. He formed the Klazz with whom he played at the Derry Jazz Festival.
He has recorded with his own quintet “The Bill Stewart Quintet”, and with the gypsy-jazz trio “Gitane Swing”. Violinist William Stewart is now playing jazz, swing jazz, and composing his own works, blending influences from classical and Eastern-European violin music to create a sound that is truly unique.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Rubén “Baby” López Fürst was born July 26, 1937 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. From the age of five he studied music and piano, and was soon attracted to jazz. In 1951 the 14 year old Ruben got the nickname Baby from the other musicians because he was a child. He made his debut on the jazz scene performing at the concerts organized by the Hot Club de Buenos Aires.
In 1953 Baby played in a string ensemble led by the López Fürst brothers who performed a jazz concert at the Provincial Hotel in the city of Mar del Plata, Argentina. With his brother Héctor on banjo and him on piano they created the Hot Jammers group and made two 78-single records for Victor. He went on to be part of the Dixie band, The Picking Up Timers.
In 1957 the big succes of Oscar Alemán inspired Baby to leave the piano and take up the guitar, trying to emulate one of his idols: Django Reinhardt. Then began regular performances with a string-group named the Blue Strings. It was a quartet in the vein of gypsy string swing.
Modern jazz captivated him in 1959, when he listened to Gerry Mulligan at the Hot Club de Montevideo in Uruguay. Trying to play those new sounds, in 1962 he joined the modern group of pianist Sergio Mihanovich. On the two albums recorded in 1962, the work began Argentine cool jazz with saxophonist Leandro “Gato” Barbieri, Sergio Mihanovich on piano, drummer Osvaldo “Pichi” Mazzei, trumpeter Rubén Barbieri, Oscar López Ruiz on electric guitar, Rubén López Furst on piano, Domingo Cura on percussion, Osvaldo Bissio vibráphone, and baritone saxophonist Julio Darré.
Fürst is one of the most important pianists in the history of Argentinean jazz and opted to stay in Buenos Aires and make a name for himself at home unlike his counterparts Barbieri and Lalo Schiffrin. He played for over 20 years, mainly with his own trio or quartet.
The hard bop musician also formed a swing group. Pianist and guitarist Baby Fürst, whose primary influences were Teddy Wilson and Bill Evans, died on July 26, 2000 at the age of 63 in Buenos Aires.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Gustave Joseph Viseur was born on May 17, 1915 was born in Lessines, Belgium and because his father was a bargeman, the family moved around a lot until 1920, when they settled in Paris, France. He was given basic instruction in how to play the accordion by his father from the age of eight, then received lessons from a music professor. Father and son played together in an amateur band from 1929. After his father died he began performing on the streets of Paris in fairs and markets.
In the early 1930s, Viseur played second accordion under bandleader Médard Ferrero. In 1933 he met René “Charley” Bazin and the two accordionists started improvising, inspired by hearing jazz. This led to him forming his own band in 1935. It played in a variety of styles and recorded four tunes that year.
Gus was a member of the Boris Sarbek Orchestra, then worked in France and Belgium with Philippe Brun, Joseph Reinhardt, and his own quintet. Together with guitarist Baro Ferret, he added elements of swing to traditional musettes that they played from 1938 and into World War II. He had more public attention after recording L’Accordéoniste with singer Édith Piaf in 1940.
He toured the United States in 1963, then stopped playing and opened a record shop in Le Havre. He started performing again around 1970, and recorded the album Swing Accordéon the following year.
Accordionist Gus Viseur died in Le Havre on August 25, 1974.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Frank Meester was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands on April 14, 1970 and studied philosophy and general literature at the University of Amsterdam and Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Netherlands. From 2010 to 2016 he was assistant lecturer in Philosophy and Professional Practice at The Hague University of Applied Sciences .
He went on to become the youngest of the writing duo Gebroeders Meester and wrote columns in Filosofie Magazine and de Volkskrant, among others. With Stine Jensen, they also wrote two books together about parenting and toured the country in 2018 and 2019 with the theater performance Het opvoedcircus.
Meester also plays in the Hot Club de Frank, founded in 1990 when he was just 20 years old. Two years later they expanded to a quartet and played in local cafes. In 1994 personnel changes took a turn at vocal swing and became a permanent salon band at the Amstel Hotel and the Amerstadam Bamboo Bar. They dropped their debut cd in 1996, De Heren van het Circus, to critical acclaim, and expanded once again to a quintet. Their sophomore release in 1999 hit success again being broadcast across the radio waves.
Another personnel transition has the band currently consisting of Meester, solo guitarist Harold Berghuis, violinist Jelle van Tongeren and saxophonist Wim Lammen. The band creates a new sound within gypsy jazz with different rhythms, other instruments and special arrangements. They have played festivals and European tours.
Double bassist Frank Meester, who has been published thirteen times, continues to perform with his sons Midas and Gilles in The Maestros.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Sadi Pol Lallemand was born on October 23, 1927 in Andenne, Belgium. His first instrument was the xylophone, which he played in a circus in the 1930s. After World War II, he turned professional playing the vibraphone and performed with Bobby Jaspar in the Bob Shots, then with Don Byas.
Moving to Europe he lived in Paris, France from 1950 to 1961 where he played with Aimé Barelli, Django Reinhardt, and Martial Solal. In the Sixties, Fats moved to Brussels, Belgium and was a member of Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band.
He worked for RTBF, the TV channel of the French Community in Belgium. Sadi led both a quartet and nonet, and won the Belgian Golden Django for best French-speaking artist in 1996.
Vibraphonist, percussionist, vocalist and composer Fats Sadi, who chose the name “Sadi” because he disliked his last name, which means “the German” in French, transitioned on February 20, 2009 in Huy, Belgium.
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