Benoît Quersin

Benoît Quersin (* 24. July 1927 in Brussels , † 1993 ) was a Belgian jazz - bassist and ethnomusicologist .

Quersin became known through his collaboration with artists who worked in Paris during the 1950s, such as Chet Baker , Emmett Berry , Jay Cameron , Blossom Dearie , Lionel Hampton , Jonah Jones , Zoot Sims , Clark Terry and Lucky Thompson . He also played with Jack Diéval , Stéphane Grappelli , Bobby Jaspar , Jacques Pelzer , Henri Renaud , Fats Sadi , Martial Solal , René Urtreger and Jean-Louis Viale . In 1962 he recorded with Chet Baker and Bobby Jaspar in Italy; In 1963 he played with René Thomas . There are no recordings with him from later years. He then briefly worked as the manager of the ' Blue Note ' jazz club in Brussels and participated in several jazz radio shows on the Belgian radio station RTBF .

He spent his last decades in Africa, in Cameroon , Zaïre and Central Africa , where he worked as a music ethnologist and was one of the contributors to Music History in Pictures: Central Africa (1986). He also documented West and Central African music and produced corresponding records such as Musiques De L'ancien Royaume Kuba . In 1993 he made the short film Blanche-Neige en Afrique . In Kinshasa he was also a mentor for young Afropop musicians like Vincent Kenis .

Ethnic music publications

• Ekonda 2 volumes, 1st Bobongo de Bongila ; 2. Sortie de la Walé , Fonti Musicali, Institut des Musées Nationaux du Zaïre, 1994, 2 CD + 2 livrets
• Muziek van de Bafia, Kameroen , Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika, Tervuren, Belgian Radio en Televisie, 1972

literature

• Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings . 8th edition. Penguin, London 2006, ISBN 0-14-102327-9 .
• Leonard Feather , Ira Gitler : The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-19-532000-X .
• Ch. Lonkama, In memoriam Benoît Quersin, Annales Equatoria 14 (1993): 635

Web links

• Portrait of Quersin on SR 2 (2009)
• Portrait and discography at jazzbelgium.com
• Notes at Afropop.com ( Memento from June 16, 2010 in the Internet Archive )