The Dutch Swing College Band - Dutch Swing College Band

The popular European Trad Jazz band with a bargain collection from their peak period.It is often thought that the Trad Jazz 'boom' of the 1950s was a purely British affair, but it happened all over Europe. Although the British bands of Chris Barber, Acker Bilk, Kenny Ball, Alex Welsh, Ken Colyer and others toured extensively in Europe very few European bands made any impact here. The main exception was Holland's Dutch Swing College Band. Formed in 1945 as The Orchestra of the Dutch Swing College, and still going, the band is Europe's longest established band. This collection sees them at their peak period and undergoing a bit of a transition. Their leader and founder, Peter Schilperoort, had left to pursue another career and so the first disc is a concert of straightforward well, played Trad Jazz with UK singer Neva Raphaelo. Disc 2 is a set of studio recordings with one or two personnel changes including Schilperoort's return. Two reed players and various members of the band being multi-instrumentalists give the band considerable flexibility.