Eddie Tower

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Eddie Tower (actually Émile Deltour , * 1899 in Liège , † 1956 in Brussels ) was a Belgian jazz violinist , composer , arranger and band leader of the swing era .

Live and act

Deltour studied at the Royal Conservatory in Liège. Initially music in brass ensembles, the encounter with Fud Candrix and Gus Deloof brought him to jazz . In 1929 the first recordings were made with the big band of Charles "Chas" Remue. From the end of the 1930s he played with Jean Steurs et son Grand Orchester de Danse, under the pseudonym Eddie Tower with Stan Brenders, and led his own band, with whom he performed a series of instrumental music for Teldec and Telefunken in Brussels during the Second World War. and recorded song numbers. His repertoire consisted of jazz standards of the time such as There'll Be Some Changes Made , Exactly Like You , Limehouse Blues , Stompin 'at the Savoy , Begin the Beguine to daily hits for the German-speaking market like When you think it's time . Eddie Tower, Fud Candrix, Jean Omer and Stan Brenders were among the Belgian band leaders who cooperated with the German occupiers and therefore had the opportunity to perform in the cities of Brussels, Antwerp and also in the German Empire.

Under his real name Emile Deltour, he was artistic director of the Belgian branch of the Decca label; He led a Decca studio orchestra, which mostly includes vocalists such as Edith Piaf , Maurice Chevalier , Lucienne Boyer , Léo Marjane , Les Sœurs Etienne, Fernandel , and Guy Berry, Nicole Chanly, Lise Coliny, Freddy Daniel, Harry Dressel, La Estarella, Jetty Gitari , Gita Ranelli, Tohama, Willy Vervoort and Jan de Vries accompanied. In 1956 the studio album Continental Merry-Go-Round was released in the easy listening style. In the field of jazz he was involved in 41 recording sessions between 1929 and 1946, most recently with the singer Johnny De Croon (On the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe) . Deltour also wrote several orchestral works and operettas such as Polka for Strings , Fiddles and Bows and Cora, as well as two jazz concerts for violin and harp (Concertino in Jazz for Harp and Orchestra) .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Robert Wangermée: Dictionnaire de la chanson de Wallonie et à Bruxelles , 1995, p 151
  2. ↑ a b c Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed March 27, 2016)
  3. ↑ On May 8, 1942, he accompanied the guitarist Django Reinhardt with the Brenders Orchestra in Brussels , and Hubert Rostaing on the same day .
  4. ↑ Michael H. Kater: Different Drummers: Jazz in the Culture of Nazi Germany , 2003, p. 144
personal data
SURNAME Tower, Eddie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Deltour, Émile (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian jazz musician, band leader and composer
DATE OF BIRTH 1899
PLACE OF BIRTH Liege
DATE OF DEATH 1956
Place of death Brussels