ANDRE LAPORTE - LA VITA NON E SOGNE

Here's an album from the National Orchestra of Belgium and the Swedish Radio Choir performing a composition from Belgium composer Andre Laporte.... GET IT HERE Enjoy!

FERRE GRIGNARD - RING, RING, I GOT TO SING / WE WANT WAR

Ferre Grignard (13 March 1939 – 8 August 1982) was a Belgian skiffle-singer from Antwerp who surprised the world in 1965 with his international hits "Ring Ring, I've Got To Sing" and "My Crucified Jesus". Ferre Grignard renounced his middle-class origins and at the end of the 1950s he went to the Antwerp art academy. He was unsuccessful as a painter, but he could play the guitar and sing the blues and his performances in "De Muze", a famous Antwerp jazz café, made him well known in the Antwerp artists' world. The young generation accepted him as the first Belgian protest singer, because of his hippie-like appearance and the content of his songs. In 1965 he performed at the first "Jazz-festival" at Bilzen. He was discovered by Hans Kusters (the same man who owned the record company HKM that is now producing the music of the Belgian band Clouseau). His "Ring Ring, I've Got To Sing" and "My Crucified Jesus" conquered the world with their mixture of skiffle, folk music and blues. At the height of his career he even performed at the Paris Olympia. The Belgian artist George Smits was a member of Ferre Grignard's band around that time. After the ensuing international success, things started to go wrong. He went to live in a mansion, where he made music, painted and partied with the 20 friends who lived with him. He also refused to fill in his tax-forms, so after a while all royalties went directly to taxes. He neglected his career and was soon forgotten by his fans. A comeback in the seventies failed. He died in Antwerp of throat cancer in 1982. At that time he was living in an attic without heating, surrounded by empty bottles. Ferre Grignard lies buried at the Schoonselhof cemetery, among many of Antwerp's most important citizens. It alsosays on the cover that he was thrown out of the army after a year of being conscripted and he then lived "among the negroes" in the US for a few years and then was expelled due to his anarchist and anti-war attitude.... Great music, think Bob Dylan.... GET IT HERE Enjoy!

THE JOKERS

Nice 7" from 60's Belgium surf rock/beat group The Jokers.... GET IT HERE enjoy!

LES CHAKACHAS - WHAT A NIGHT...

Great 1959 live album from Les Chakachas and this was a Belgium band..... GET IT HERE Enjoy!

ANDRE LAPORTE - LA VITA NON E SOGNO

Here's an album with music from Belgium composer Andre Laporte.... GET IT HERE Enjoy!

MUSIQUE BELGE CONTEMPORAINE

Here's an album with music from Belgium composers Willem Kersters and Wilhelm G. Berger.... GET IT HERE Enjoy!

MUSIQUE BELGE CONTEMPORAINE

Here's an album with music from Belgian composers Victor Legley, Marcel Poot, Jef Maes and David van de Woestyne.... GET IT HERE ENjoy!

MUSIQUE BELGE CONTEMPORAINE

Here's an album with music from Belgian composers Flor Peeters, August De Boeck, Arthur Meulemans, Norbert Rosseau, Victor Legley and Willem Kersters.... GET IT HERE Enjoy!

MUSIQUE BELGE CONTEMPORAINE

Here's an album with music from Belgian composers Victor Legley, Willem Kersters and Norbert Rosseau.... GET IT HERE Enjoy!

MUSIQUE BELGE CONTEMPORAINE

Here's an album with music from Belgian composers Francis Poulenc, Jaqueline Fontyn, Rene Bernier, Raymond Moulaert and Pierre Moulaert.... GET IT HERE Enjoy!

MIEL COOLS - LIEDJES VOOR TWINTIG EEUWEN

Here's the 1969 album Liedjes Voor Twintig Eeuwen (Songs For Twenty Centuries) from Belgium troubadour Miel Cools.... GET IT HERE enjoy!

JOHN EVANS & THE BIG BAND - EXOTIC PERCUSSION AND BRILLIANT BRASS

Here's a fantastic 1961 exotica album from John Evans aka Francis Bay who's real name was Frans Bayetz. He was born in Belgium in 1914 and passed away in 2005... Absolutely wonderful album and the percussion was done bu no other than the great Chaino.... You can read all about this album here: http://www.ambientexotica.com/exorev304_johnevans_exoticpercussion/ GET IT HERE Enjoy!

TWO MAN SOUND - DISCO SAMBA / RAFFAELLA - ITALIANO GOES DISCO

Two Man Sound was a Belgium trio active in the 70's, mixing disco with samba and bossa nova.... On the B side an artist named Raffaella, probably Raffaella Carra?

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TONY BAUWENS SEXTET - KE ATAS

( From http://www.jazzinbelgium.com )

"Sir Anthony", the aristocrat of the piano, was born in Renaix on June 5 1936.
By 1950 he was already playing with local bands. After his discharge from the army, about 1958, he founded his own combo.

On January 1st 1962 he starts his professional career, as a musician, in Brussels.

In 1964 he joins the combo of singer DIDIAN, Latin music and jazz standards. The professional partnership, later on, blossomed into marriage.

1972, Tony replaces Bob PORTER within the trio of bass player Roger VAN HAVERBEKE, as well as in the SADI quartet, with which he recorded a LP.
1974 Tony is a big hit, as soloist, at the Middelheim Festival in Antwerp which is organized by the BRT radio. Following which he is hired to play with the BRT jazz orchestra, under the leadership of another native of Renaix, Etienne VERSCHUEREN.
With Etienne, on the alto sax, he forms the group the Bop Friends, a bebop quintet with Nicolas FISSETTE (tp), the late Freddy ROTTIER (drs) and Roger VANHAVERBEKE (bs).
Aside from the "Bop Friends" and the "Sadi Quartet", Tony accompanied a myriad of celebrities passing through Belgium and also abroad. TOOTS, of course, during few years, Dexter GORDON, Frank ROSOLINO, Lockjaw DAVIS, Johnny GRIFFIN, Clark TERRY, Art FARMER, Jimmy RANEY, Slide HAMPTON, Georgie FAME, Pepper ADAMS, Tony COE, Peter KING and others... He also accompanied a number of singers like Greetje KAUFFELD, Rachel GOULD, Karin KROG, Caerina VALENTE and even... Shirley BASSEY, in 1975.
That same year, he goes on a tour to Russia, 3 weeks, with the BRT jazz orchestra.

1982 Tony parts from VANHAVERBEKE and forms his "TONY BAUWENS SEXTET" with young talented musicians such as Bert JORIS, Marc GODFROID, Philip VENNEMAN, Marc VAN GARSSE and Tony GYSELINCK.
Tony Bauwens sextet 1983 : recording of LP "Ke Atas"(Jazz cats) with his sextet.
1984 with his sextet represents Belgium at the Cascais summer festival, in Portugal.
1987 The two BRT orchestras merge (jazz orchestra & big band) and what remains is a big band and a combo based upon the rhythm section of the jazz orchestra. Tony assumes the leadership of the combo and realizes many recordings with a large number of soloists and young Belgian talents.
1991, April 1st, the big band and combo are scrapped.
As consequence, Sadi, persuaded by Tony, decides to reform a new quartet with Tony, with whom he played for a decade, Bart DE NOLF (bass) and Tony GYSELINCK (drs).
Among their numerous appearances are the Brussels Jazz Rally, Düsseldorf Rally in 1992 and that of Seville in Spain.
1994, February, recording of a CD with the SADI Quartet.
1995 : reissue of the LP "Ke Atas" (1983) on CD (B Sharp), recording of a CD "Mister Blue-Etienne Verschueren", a CD with violin player Xavier CLAYES featuring old recordings of the BRT.
1996, August, recording of a CD with Belgian singer Peter HENS with Jean-Louis RASSINFOSSE (bs), Tony GYSELINCK (dr).

Meanwhile, Tony continued playing with SADI, in trio and all sort of other bands and combinations.

Tony BAUWENS died on February 17, 2009, from a heart attack.

Ke Atas means To The Top in Indonesian language....

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EMLY STARR EXPLOSION - SANTIAGO LOVER

Here's some disco from Belgium and this came out in 1979....


LET'S ALL CHANT HERE



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LOS CHAKACHAS - RECORDED IN EUROPE

The Chakachas were a Belgian based group of Latin soul studio musicians. Also known as Les Chakachas or Los Chakachas, they were formed by bandleader Gaston Bogaert, ex-Los Juano Boengs and The Continentals, percussion (conga and tumba); Tito Puente's singer wife Kari Kenton, vocals and maracas; Vic Ingeveldt (a Dutchman from Liege), saxophone; Charlie Lots, trumpet; Christian Marc, piano; Henri Breyre, guitar and backing vocals; and Bill Raymond, bass guitar. All were native to Schaarbeek (a district of Brussels), or nearby Charleroi, Willebroek and Liege.

Here's their fantastic 1962 album Recorded In Europe....

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THE BIG BAY BAND'S LATIN BEAT

Francis Bay (Rijkevorsel, 1914 – Bonheiden, 2005)leader of some of the wildest big band ensembles of the space age pop era, Francis Bay started honing his chops at the young age of seven, playing clarinet with local orchestras in his area. By fourteen, he was already writing his own compositions and soon after, began a lifetime captivation with jazz. He won first prize for clarinet performance at the Conservatoire of Malines (Mechelen) in 1930, and later added saxophone and trombone to his repertoire. In the late 1930s, he played with several of the more successful European swing bands, including Paul Godwin's and Boyd Bachman's. He continued to work professionally during World War Two, mostly with Belgian and Dutch dance bands.

In the late 1940s, he helped form an influential European big band, the Skymasters. He also arranged and composed music for Dutch and German films and played with groups throughout northern Europe. Finally, in 1954, he formed his own big band, the group with which he came to greatest fame. Within its first year of existence, the band won the Golden Gondola award at the International Music Fair in Venice. Two years later, in 1956, Bay was selected to be director for popular music at Vlaams Radio-Televisie (the official Flemish radio and television network in Belgium).

Although Bay's band was quite popular on radio in Europe, it was the lucky coincidence of the 1958 World's Fair being held in Brussels that brought him to the attention of American audiences.

Bay's band shared the World's Fair stage with numerous major American jazz and pop stars, including Benny Goodman, and Omega, a small American jazz label, licensed a slew of Bay's Belgian recordings for release in the U.S. Unlike many European bands, which offered loving but pale imitations of American bands, Bay's not only produced flawless duplicates of hits by Basie, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and others, but staked out their own territory as well. On his Latin-flavored recordings, Bay sounds like he could go head-to-head with Perez Prado in a battle of bands.

In addition to his many Omega albums, Bay also provided the material for a number of albums released on Directional Sound. Credited to "John Evans"--the Americanized name of his piano player, Jean Evans--or "Don Catelli"--these are certainly the best of an attractive and well-produced (if shoddily annotated) series of glossy gatefolds clearly targeted at the same market as Enoch Light's Command albums.

As American listeners' interest in jazz in general and European jazz in particular waned in early 1960s, Bay's albums vanished from the U.S. racks. His work in Belgium continued, however. He composed, arranged, and conducted music for dozens of shows on VRT, including everything from game shows to Belgium's annual competition for its entrant to the Eurovision Song Contest. When he retired in 1979, however, he cut off all ties with the network, refusing to return in the late 1990s for VRT's 50th anniversary celebrations.

He also made records using the names John Evans and Don Catelli...

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