John Ouwerx
Jean "John" Ouwerx (born March 8, 1903 in Nivelles , † January 13, 1983 in Brussels ) was a Belgian jazz pianist .
Live and act
Ouwerx's mother was from Romania; his father was a Belgian officer. The family settled in Bruges and he attended the Conservatory in Ghent. There he studied piano , harmony and counterpoint . In 1918 he began to deal with composers such as Claude Debussy , Maurice Ravel and Darius Milhaud , and also with syncopated music. From the mid-1920s he played in the Miami Jazz Band , with whom the first recordings were made in Ghent in 1925 . For the following decade he worked in Brussels in the groups of Gus Deloof , Jack Webster, Johnny Jack and the Stan Brenders Orchestra ; In 1928 he toured with Marek Weber's orchestra . In 1937/38 he recorded for the first time under his own name, u. a. the standard "Some of These Days". In 1941 he made recordings for Decca , accompanied by Johnny Jack, Jean Delahaut and Jackie Glazer. In 1942 he took part in the Brenders Orchestra in recording sessions with Django Reinhardt and Hubert Rostaing .
After the end of the Second World War, Ouwerx played in the orchestra of Fud Candrix ; In 1946 he recorded as a soloist for the Belgian label Pacific. 1951/52 he toured in the Belgian Congo ; on his return to Brussels he recorded with accordionist Michel Van den Abeel ( Philips ). In addition to his work as a musician, he worked as an A&R manager for Philips and the CEFA company, which is part of the Decca group. In the 1960s he opened a piano bar on Place du Samedi, where he performed regularly. In 1973 he recorded his only album, Full Liberty / En Toute Liberte , on which Roger Vanhaverbeke (bass) and Robert Pernet (drums) played. In the field of jazz , he was involved in 35 recording sessions between 1925 and 1973.
Web links
- John Ouwerx (1903-1983) Un héros méconnu du jazz belge (portrait page )
- John Ouwerx at Discogs (English)
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ouwerx, John |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ouwerx, Jean |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Belgian jazz pianist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 8, 1903 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Nivelles |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 13, 1983 |
| Place of death | Brussels |