Bert Campbell

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Bert Campbell (* 21st March 1918 in Küsnacht as Albert Wirz , † 3. February 2001 in Zurich ) was a Swiss musician ( piano , organ ) and orchestra leader of the jazz and popular music .

Live and act

Campbell received musical lessons from his mother from the age of seven. He later studied classical music at the Zurich Conservatory with Andreae. From a young age he was enthusiastic about jazz. In the early forties he led his own big band, which also included international musicians who had emigrated to Switzerland from neighboring Nazi countries. His band, which was considered to be on a par with the Original Teddys , Hazy Osterwald and the Lanigiros , made frequent guest appearances in seasonal locations such as Tschuggen , Arosa and the Carlton Hotel St. Moritz. Between 1953 and 1980 he worked as an authorized signatory and department head in the Swiss collecting society SUISA . He also worked as a sideline pianist, later on Hammond and Lowrey organs with a sextet. This band, to which musicians such as Fernand Fantini, Pierre Cavalli and Antonio Conde belonged, was considered to be one of the best Swiss gala formations of the time. With her he recorded several albums. After 1980 he played for several years as solo pianist and organist every Wednesday evening for candlelight dinner and on Sundays for tea at the Grand Hotel Dolder in Zurich . Later he often played the jazz Sunday evenings at the Hotel Splendid in Zurich.

He also wrote numerous arrangements of North and Latin American standards, which he published in collections.

Discographic notes

  • Bert Campbell Sextet: dance a gogo (Elite Special, 1971)
  • Bert Campbell: in Concerto (Activ Records, 1977)
  • Bert Campbell: Golden Greats , ( Polydor , 1979)

Lexigraphic entries

  • Bruno Spoerri (Ed.): Biographical Lexicon of Swiss Jazz. CD supplement to: Bruno Spoerri (Ed.): Jazz in Switzerland. History and stories. Chronos-Verlag, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0739-6 .