Eddy Walis

Eddy Walis , even Eddie Wallis , Edward Wallis , Edward Wallis , actually Eduard Weiszfisz (* 16th August 1900 in The Hague ; † 19th October 1966 in Santa Monica , California ) was a Dutch violinist and orchestra leader of the jazz and popular music , the first worked in Germany and Czechoslovakia, then in the Netherlands and the United States.

Life

Walis was born in The Hague, where his parents immigrated from Poland. He studied violin playing at the Conservatory in Amsterdam . In the 1920s he went to the German Reich and moved to Berlin , where he played as a freelance musician in cabarets. In 1927 he put together his own “jazz orchestra” (also called “jazz symphony orchestra” on the labels), with which he jazz-influenced recordings at the record companies Audiphon, BuScha, Clangor, Hertie, Phonycord Flexible, Sonora and Tempo made.

From 1927 to 1932 Walis played mainly for the “Artiphon” label from Hermann Eisner and his sub-brands in Berlin, on which he and the refrain singer Eric Helgar (e.g. “Little woman why are you not my wife” on Art. 12 708), Erwin Hartung (e.g. "Siboney Rhumba" on Art. 12 293) and Eugen Rex. English refrains (eg "Pardon Me Pretty Baby" on item 12 272) were performed by Con Conway. The two Hungarian duetists Lakos and Mocsanyi, who also performed in Berlin under the stage name "Two Jazzers", have also recorded with his orchestra (e.g. Art. 11 244 "Herr Ober, Zwei Mokka!" Or Art. 11 949 " The first time you find it difficult to kiss ").

He also recorded for the Czech company RWHM (Record Werke Hermann Maassen) by Hermann Maassen in Horný Žleb (German: Obergrund), where he accompanied the singers Karel Hrušky, Jára Pospišil and Jaroslav Zlonický. Eddy Walis and his orchestra played dance and film music as well as opera and operetta melodies. Among the songs he recorded on records were the international hits "Singin 'in the Rain" (Artiphon 11 438, Phonycord Flexible No. 447), "Little Pal" (Art. 11 460, PhFl. 455), "I 'm in the Seventh Heaven "(Art. 11 462, PhFl. 455)," Waiting for You "(Art. No. 9326, mx 12 472) and" Oh! Mo'nah "(Art. No. 9340, mx 12 491), but also hits from German sound films (e.g. "When I go to my cinema on Sundays" on Art. No. 8455 (film "I by day and you by night"), mx 12 664, or " What do I care if I like a girl "(mx 12 667) (film" Das Blaue vom Himmel ")).

In Germany, Walis also recorded for the “Brillant” label. There he traded under the stage name “Joe London” (e.g. Brillant No. 7 (Mat. No. 3002): “Goodnight Sweetheart” as 'Joe London and his Orchestra'). He also made recordings for the Berlin company “Lukra” of Moritz Lewin, which specialized in Jewish artists with its brands “Lukraphon” and “Semer” and was associated with the “Jüdischer Kulturbund” (Jewish Cultural Association) (e.g. “Kol Nidrei”) ).

In 1932 the band was hired by Eddy Walis as the house orchestra in Berlin's Eden Hotel . She replaced the orchestra from Oscar Joost .

After the National Socialists came to power in Germany in 1933, Walis withdrew to Holland. In Rotterdam he made guest appearances at Café Caland, also on the radio in Hilversum, and in 1934 in Luxembourg. During this time his band performed under names like “Fantasia Orkest”, “Esmeralda Orkest” and “Rosian Orkest”. Walis could u. a. win the pianist Isja Rossican and the trumpeter Clara de Vries as soloists.

When the German Wehrmacht invaded Holland, Walis, who was of Jewish faith, was imprisoned in the Amsterdam ghetto. There he worked with his fellow Jewish musicians, the violinist Paul Godwin , the trombonist Heinz Lachmann and the pianist Martin Romans . Walis managed to survive the Shoah . At the end of the war in 1945, his jazz orchestra played again on the Hilversum station from Holland. In 1947 he was employed in the Bussum restaurant. In 1952 he performed in the coffee house “Tifereth” in Jerusalem (Israel). Then he went to America.

literature

Beyond Recall: A Record of Jewish Musical Life in Nazi Berlin, 1933-1938. German edition: "Gone ... - Documentation of Jewish musical life in Berlin 1933 - 1938" Eleven CDs, one DVD, accompanying book. Bear Family Records.
Gabriel Goessel: Eddy Walis, at www.radioservis-as.cz/archiv02/4102/41pub4.htm (gives 1906 as year of birth)
Horst H. Lange : The German "78er" discography of hot dance and jazz music: 1903-1958 / Horst H. Lange. - 3rd, completely revised. and exp. Edition - Berlin: Panther-Verl., 1992. - 1063 pp.; ISBN 3-929357-00-3 (p. 961).
Rainer Lotz : The problem of new editions using the example of the Bear Family Edition “Gone - Jewish Musical Life in Nazi Berlin, 1933-38”: http://www.phonomuseum.at/index2.php?showID=vortrag_rainer_lotz
Murray L. Pfeffer, Big Bands Database, Eddy Walis at http://www.nfo.net/euro/ew.html - 60k - (gives a picture of the violinist Walis)
Jürgen Wölfer : Jazz in Germany. The encyclopedia. All musicians and record companies from 1920 until today. Hannibal, Höfen 2008, ISBN 978-3-85445-274-4 .

Individual evidence

↑ cf. Wölffer Jazz in Germany . Some sources also give 1906 as the year of birth
^ "In Berlin's Friedrichstrasse, that is, in the main business district, Moritz Lewin ran the" Lukraphon "label through his" Radio House ". He was a liberal Berlin businessman. Many singers and instrumentalists of the Jewish Cultural Association in Berlin recorded records for Lukraphon, which - although not formally identified as such - was the Kulturbund label. It mainly published classical, dance music and folklore. Moritz Lewin, a typical German businessman, was born in Berlin in 1885. In 1920 he founded the Lukra company, trading in radios and records. He was of the opinion that Hitler would not last long and started his own record company Lukraphon after the Nazis came to power. The first recordings took place in 1935. Just a few months later, the ordinance was issued that Jewish interpreters were still allowed to record records, but only Jewish repertoire ... ” Cf. also Rainer Lotz at http://www.lotz-verlag.de/Online-Disco-Lukraphon.html (shows lucraphon labels)
↑ Lukraphon records were also recorded by Kulturbund members. Was known z. B. the jazz band “Sid Kay's Fellows” under the direction of Shabtai Sigmund Petruschka . Willy Rosen sang with her refrain, cf. Accompanying book to "Beyond Recall" on disc 8, title "There in Hawai - In the inn at the golden snail - Negro little boy - When I can't go on with the text".
↑ The lucraphone recording No. 1154 by Edward (sic) Walis with “Kol Nidrei” (mx 11 248, 11 249) is included; Chief Cantor Josef Schwarzmer-Lengyel sings. Also two other recordings on the SEMER label No. H.87 (mx D.11 508) and H.88 (mx D.11 509) with Edward Walis, violin: the folk song "Jeruschalajim" with the text by Jakob Rappaport, and the spiritual song "Licht bentschn" (JSRoskin). Sigmund Torday, vocals, Thea Torday, piano, Edward Walis, violin. Compare with the Freedman Catalog at http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/freedman/lookupartist?hr=&what=19649 . Total recall. By Hartwig Vens (review of the above edition) under archive link ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )

personal data
SURNAME	Walis, Eddy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Wallis, Eddie; Walis, Eduard; Walis, Edward; Weiszfisz, Eduard (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Dutch violinist and orchestra leader
DATE OF BIRTH	August 16, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH	The hague
DATE OF DEATH	October 19, 1966
Place of death	Santa Monica , California

[1] . Wölffer Jazz in Germany . Some sources also give 1906 as the year of birth

[2] "In Berlin's Friedrichstrasse, that is, in the main business district, Moritz Lewin ran the" Lukraphon "label through his" Radio House ". He was a liberal Berlin businessman. Many singers and instrumentalists of the Jewish Cultural Association in Berlin recorded records for Lukraphon, which - although not formally identified as such - was the Kulturbund label. It mainly published classical, dance music and folklore. Moritz Lewin, a typical German businessman, was born in Berlin in 1885. In 1920 he founded the Lukra company, trading in radios and records. He was of the opinion that Hitler would not last long and started his own record company Lukraphon after the Nazis came to power. The first recordings took place in 1935. Just a few months later, the ordinance was issued that Jewish interpreters were still allowed to record records, but only Jewish repertoire ... ” Cf. also Rainer Lotz at http://www.lotz-verlag.de/Online-Disco-Lukraphon.html (shows lucraphon labels)

[3] Lukraphon records were also recorded by Kulturbund members. Was known z. B. the jazz band “Sid Kay's Fellows” under the direction of Shabtai Sigmund Petruschka . Willy Rosen sang with her refrain, cf. Accompanying book to "Beyond Recall" on disc 8, title "There in Hawai - In the inn at the golden snail - Negro little boy - When I can't go on with the text".

[4] The lucraphone recording No. 1154 by Edward (sic) Walis with “Kol Nidrei” (mx 11 248, 11 249) is included; Chief Cantor Josef Schwarzmer-Lengyel sings. Also two other recordings on the SEMER label No. H.87 (mx D.11 508) and H.88 (mx D.11 509) with Edward Walis, violin: the folk song "Jeruschalajim" with the text by Jakob Rappaport, and the spiritual song "Licht bentschn" (JSRoskin). Sigmund Torday, vocals, Thea Torday, piano, Edward Walis, violin. Compare with the Freedman Catalog at http://digital.library.upenn.edu/webbin/freedman/lookupartist?hr=&what=19649 . Total recall. By Hartwig Vens (review of the above edition) under archive link ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )