Johnny Brouwers

Léon "Johnny" Brouwers (* 1930 in Elisabethville , Belgian Congo ) is a Belgian jazz musician ( piano , composition ).

Live and act

Brouwers got into jazz at the age of twelve when he heard records by Paul Whiteman and Guy Lombardo , which made him interested in Belgian swing bands such as Fud Candrix , Stan Brenders and Ivon De Bie . After the liberation of Belgium he was self-taught with jazz; In 1946 he took part in jam sessions at the Molenbeek Jazz Club . He then played in Daniel Lachtman's big band . In 1954 he founded the formation The Tempo's Cool Boys with guitarist Roland Gohy in Brussels , in which he then worked with jazz musicians like Babs Robert, Jean-Pierre Desmaret and Jean-Pierre Gebler played. In 1957 he formed the Jazz Preachers (with Vivi Mardens , Paul Sterckx and Babs Robert); In 1959 he formed a trio with Freddy Deronde , which performed at the Rose Noire Club and accompanied American musicians such as Jerome Richardson and Sahib Shihab .

In the 1960s he was the pianist and musical director of the quintet / quartet by Babs Robert, with whom he made guest appearances at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1967 and at the Jazz Jamboree in Warsaw in 1968 . In the 1970s he worked with various fusion bands, as well as with Bruno Castellucci , Douglas Lucas , Frank Weyts , John Van Rymenant .

Émile Henceval: Dictionnaire du jazz à Bruxelles et en Wallonie . Liège: Pierre Mardaga, 1991.

personal data
SURNAME	Brouwers, Johnny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Brouwers, Léon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Belgian jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH	1930
PLACE OF BIRTH	Elisabethville , Belgian Congo