zzul | Dutch blues enthusiasts (8)

In this column: dutch blues enthusiasts, musicologists, Dutch blues bands, Cuby and The Blizzards, Dutch records labels, Oldie Blues, Agram, Sundown, Black Cat, Swingmaster, Black Magic, Double Trouble, magazines, Mr. Blues, Wim Verbei, Max Vreede, Block Magazine, Rien and Marion Wisse, Back to the Roots, Franky Bruneel, North Sea Jazz Festival, NBBO, Blues Estafette Vredenburg Utrecht, Jaap Hindriks, Martin van Olderen, Rolf Schubert, Martin van der Velde, Blues Magazine, Marco van Rooijen, Doggone Blues, Blues Town Music, Harry Radstake, Bert Reinders, Wil Wijnhoven, Oldie Blues Discography, Thomas Shaw, Guido van Rijn, Alex van der Tuuk, Sem van Gelder, Swingmaster record store, Swingmaster records/LP's, Maarten de Boer, Holland Cut, The Foddrell Brothers, Max Bolleman, Johnny Woods, R.L. Burnside, Fred "Lefthand Freddy" Reining, Joe Guitar Hughes

The Dutch Record Labels, which produced and re-produced blues albums were:

1974, Oldie Blues (piano-blues, boogiewoogie, Delta Blues, Martin van Olderen)

1979, Agram (pre-1943 blues, Guido van Rijn)

1979, Sundown (postwar blues, Gerard Robs, Kees van Wijngaarden, and Marcel Vos)

1981, Black Cat (new name for Sundown)

1980, Swingmaster (Leo Bruin and Sem van Gelder)

1982, Black Magic (new name for Black Cat)

1985, Double Trouble (Marcel Vos)

Blues Record Centre, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in the early 1980’s, owner Paul Duvivié (L) and Martin A. van Olderen (Blues Promoter)

Dutch magazines that focused on blues:
1970, Mr. Blues (Leo Bruin and Wim Verbei, merged into music magazine Oor, they also wrote extensive liner notes for LP sleeves for Dutch independent record publishers)

1971, Discography of Paramount Records 12000 to 13000 series (Max Vreede)

1975-2013, Block Magazine (founded by Rien en Marion Wisse); with Wim Verbei's columns "De Blues Bibliotheek (The Blues Library)"

1995, Back To The Roots (Dutch-language Belgian magazine, has become an online platform since 2009, Editor in Chief Franky Bruneel)

Black performers continued to come to Dutch festivals and concerts in the 1970s.
1971 (November), Freddie King (as a supporting act of Leon Russell’s “Mad Dogs and Englishmen”)
Note
"This concert was also shown in my hometown, so that I could be present. I saw Freddie King, unknown to me at the time, in a denim suit with his name in tacks on the back, shining in an energetic performance."

1971 (December), B.B. King (Concertgebouw)

1976, Paul Acket started North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague, in 2006 the festival moved to Rotterdam

1979, the NBBO (Nederlandse Blues en Boogie Woogie Organisatie, founded in 1969 together with Guido van Rijn) organizes “Blues Estafette” in Vredenburg Utrecht, each year dozens of American blues artists were flown to Holland for the occasion. It evolved into one of the most important blues festivals in the world. The festival ceased to exist in 2006 due to a lack of sponsorship
Note
The first programmer was Martin van Olderen, who started his own "Amsterdam Blues Festival" in 1983 (existed until 2001). After him, Jaap Hindriks took over the programming.

1986, Midsummer Blues Festival, Wijchen

Annual festivals were able to attract important American blues musicians with financial support. This also offered the opportunity to the independent record companies to record an album with them. To balance the finances and for additional income, performances with local bands were arranged for the musicians. This is also how I came into contact with these authentic musicians.
The bassist Martin van der Velde in our band had contacts with Leo Bruin, Martin van Olderen, Jaap Hindriks, Rolf Schubert (DE), and a network with blues clubs and cafés.
After these contacts after 1990, organizations, blues clubs/cafes, festivals and theater programmers also used Martin's experience and the experience of the band to guide these people without rehearsals.

The appendix page shows more about these musicians and the accompanying bands.

Nowadays information is distributed via the Internet, and the Dutch Blues Foundation plays a major role in this.
In 2008, Marco van Rooijen founded the online platform BluesMagazine, to which several volunteers continue to contribute every week

2016, Doggone Blues (Jon Meyerjon, a blog with a blog with columns that highlight history, backgrounds, meanings, and on which he shares personal experiences)

2019, Blues Town Music (Harry Radstake, Blues Town Music also can be listened to every week on Arrow Classic Rock)

After 2000, photographers set up online platforms where they reported on their weekly concert visits. They also provided others with the opportunity to share their experiences and photos. I mention two: TheBluesman by Bert Reinders (unfortunately passed away too early in 2019) and BluesBreeker by Wil Wijnhoven.

What we mustn't forget is that it is all maintained by volunteers, who with great dedication keep the blues alive.

Dutch enthusiasts who listen to blues also really love the music, even say it is a way of life. They are part of a subculture and remain loyal for the rest of their lives. Where many older people no longer go out for a concert, they continue to come. Even though the historical past has been pushed into the background, the music still finds its way into emotion and the power to move to the rhythm of the music.

2009, Bluesfestival De Tamboer, Hoogeveen, Greyhound Blues Band feat. Adrian Burns (photo Bert Reinders)

Martin van Olderen
Oldie Blues was a Dutch record label that focused on releasing piano blues, boogie woogie and Delta blues. The label was founded around 1974 by Martin van Olderen and has released 46 LPs and thirteen CDs. The label was distributed through Munich Records.
Van Olderen was also the founder of the Dutch Boogie & Blues Organization and the Amsterdam Blues Festival.

Musicians released on the label included Rob Hoeke, Martijn Schok, Rob Agerbeek, Big Joe Williams, Jimmy Yancey, Meade Lux lewis, Albert Ammons, Cow Cow Davenport, Little Willie Littlefield, Blind John Davis, Lonnie Johnson and Roosevelt Sykes.

Some concerts resulted in LPs:
1972, Thomas Shaw - “Do Lord Remember Me”,
1972, Little Brother Montgomery - “Bajes Copper Station”,
1973, Big Joe Williams - “Malvina My Sweet Woman” (the album was issued in 1975 with a book by Leo Bruin on Big Joe, Malvina My Sweet Woman),
1974, Blind John Davis - “The Incomparable Blind John Davis”.

Oldie Blues Discography on Wirz' American Music.

Guido van Rijn
Van Rijn obtained his PhD in Leiden in 1995 with a dissertation on Roosevelt's Blues: African-American Blues and Gospel Songs on FDR. Two years later, his dissertation was published by The University Press of Mississippi. In 2004, Continuum published The Truman and Eisenhower Blues: African-American Blues and Gospel Songs, 1945-1960. The third volume of his research into the response of blues and gospel singers to American politics was published as Kennedy's Blues: African-American Blues and Gospel Songs on JFK by The University Press of Mississippi in 2007.

In 1970, Guido van Rijn co-founded the Dutch Blues and Boogie Organization (NBBO). In the 1970s he organized a long series of concerts by American blues artists in the Netherlands, initially in Amstelveen, then in Amsterdam and Groningen, finally culminating in the renowned Utrecht Blues Estafette.

Together with Alex van der Tuuk, Van Rijn wrote a richly illustrated, five-part discography of the renowned Paramount blues label for Agram Blues Books.

Van Rijn received ARSC awards (Association for Recorded Sound Collections) in the United States for Roosevelt's Blues (1997) and The Texas Blues of Smokey Hogg (2021). In 2015 he received a lifetime achievement KBA award (Keeping the Blues Alive) in Memphis, Tennessee in the category "historical preservation".

Leo Bruin
In 1980 Leo Bruin with Sem van Gelder started the Swingmaster label (Leo focused on blues and Sem on jazz). Bruin was also involved in the Dutch blues magazine Mr. Blues (which later merged into the music magazine "Oor"). Swingmaster issued mostly recent material by R.L. Burnside, The Foddrell Brothers, George & Ethel McCoy, James ‘Son” Thomas, Henry Townsend, Johnny Woods, Big Boy Henry and others. Recordings were made in Groningen, the Netherlands and some by Bruin on trips to the States in 1981 and 1983.

Leo Bruin made recordings and wrote the liner notes, sometimes in collaboration with others, Maarten de Boer from Holland Cut mastered and mixed most of them, Sem van Gelder took photos for the cover, the recordings were mixed at Studio Spitsbergen, production Swingmaster.

Maarten De Boer; Dutch sound engineer, started as a recording engineer but became a dedicated disc mastering engineer, setting up his own company Holland Cutting in 1982 (the name was changed to The Masters in 1988 and lasted until 2012)

1981, R.L. Burnside – Plays And Sings The Mississippi Delta Blues
Recorded on 5/6 March 1980 in Groningen, Netherlands.
Programmer of the Utrecht Blues Relay Jaap Hindriks brought Burnside into contact with Leo, which resulted in an audio recording on which Fred Reining (Lefthand Freddy) accompanied him.

1986, R.L. Burnside – Hill Country Blues
A1 to A6 recorded October 1982 in Groningen, Netherlands
B3 to B6 recorded November 1984 in Groningen, Netherlands
A7, B1, B2 recorded by George Mitchell in 1967 near Coldwater in Mississippi, USA

CD (1995) with a compilation of previously released vinyl songs

1988, Jimmy Lee Williams – Blues By Jimmy Lee Williams: Rock On Away From Here
A1 and A3 recorded in 1977 at "Porlan" (actually Poulan), Georgia
All other tracks recorded on December 11 and 12, 1982, at "Porlan", Georgia.
Recorded by George Mitchell

1988 - Big Boy Henry – I'm Not Lying This Time (His First Recordings 1947-1952)
Side A and B, track 1 and 2 recorded in 1947 at New Bern, North Carolina by Big Boy Henry
Side B, track 3 and 4 recorded in 1952 at New Bern, North Carolina by Big Boy Henry
Recorded by Big Boy Henry
Special thanks to Gary Erwin of the Lowcountry Blues Society and Erwin Music

1989 - Big Boy Henry – Strut His Stuff (His New Recordings 1987-1989)
Recorded by Big Boy Henry, Leo Bruin and Sonny Daye
A3, B1 recorded on September 5, 1987 at Groningen, Holland, Netherlands
A2, A5, B2 recorded November 1987 at Greenville, North Carolina, USA
B5 recorded on January 18, 1988 at Beaufort, North Carolina, USA
B6 recorded on November 17, 1988 at Beaufort, North Carolina, USA
A4, B3 recorded January 1989 at Beaufort, North Carolina, USA
A1, B4 recorded on January 16, 1989 at Greenville, North Carolina, USA

Guitar – Richard Leslie "Big Boy" Henry (tracks: A2, A4 to A6, B2, B3, B4 to B6), Fred Reining (tracks: A3, B1), Lightnin' Wells (tracks: A1, A4, B3, B4)
Produced by Swingmaster and Lightnin' Wells