Louis de Vries

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Louis de Vries (born January 6, 1905 in Groningen as Levie de Vries , † September 5, 1935 in Zwolle ) was a Dutch jazz trumpeter who was considered one of the top European trumpeters in jazz of his time.

Live and act

De Vries came from a musical family; from his father, an amateur musician, he learned the trumpet; his siblings Jack and Clara de Vries were also jazz musicians.

As a teenager he played in the Tuschinsky Theater Orchestra (1920), then he was a member of the bands of Oscar Logan (1923), Edgar Adeler (1925), the Excellos Five (1925, with recordings at Grammophone / Polydor), Max Reinhardt ( 1926), Frank Guarente (1926) and Kai Ewans (1928). In the same year the de Vries brothers provided the music for the Dutch industrial exhibition with their Midnight Rounders . In 1929 and 1930 Louis de Vries worked with Marek Weber (1929), Julian Fuhs , Dajos Béla and Ben Berlin (1930). Then, after making recordings with his own Rhythm Boys, he was a member of the orchestra of Juan Llossas (1931–32, recordings with Electrola). With his Rhythm Boys he recorded for Decca in 1935.

Then he and his brother headed the Internationals , with which it came to recordings under his own name (1933 at Kristall, 1934 Cinetone). With Jack de Vries he played a total of 1926 to 1929 and 1932 to 1935. On November 30, 1934, Louis Armstrong honored the De Vries brothers with a visit. In several publications it is described that Louis de Vries played well below his level due to the tension. Still, Armstrong Jack de Vries was so impressed with Louis de Vries' game that he called it "Louis de Vries the First" (whose nickname in Rotterdam had previously been "Louis Armstrong the Second"). On December 1, 1934, Armstrong wrote to the de Vries brothers that they had the best orchestra he had ever heard in Europe. Armstrong called him the best trumpeter in Europe on one occasion and De Vries was nicknamed Dutch Armstrong in the Netherlands. In early 1935, Coleman Hawkins was briefly part of the Internationals .

In the spring of 1935 Louis de Vries worked with Valaida Snow in England, where recordings were made. Back in the Netherlands, he was involved in a car accident, as a result of which he died of blood poisoning. Before that, he had received a contract to play in the USA for a year and a half.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Family tree
  2. ↑ a b c Article De Vries in Wim van Eyle (ed.), Jazz & Geimproviseerde Muziek in Nederland , Het Spectrum 1978, p. 152
personal data
SURNAME Vries, Louis de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Vries, Levie de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch jazz trumpeter
DATE OF BIRTH January 6, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Groningen
DATE OF DEATH September 5, 1935
Place of death Zwolle