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Django in Sweden - Stockholm 1939
& 1948
 The
earliest Django was likely to have met
Beryl Davis b.1924 was in 1938 when she
was more probably 14. She definitely performed duly chaperoned
with them in Paris in
1938. On at least one occasion, she
was booed for singing in English. The Scandanavian tour
(see photo of them together backstage) was in February
1939 and Beryl performed
with the Quintette a lot that year aged 15.
These performers tend to get very confused with the dates as they get
older. Stephane Grappelli was particularly flexible with dates and
memories. I think Beryl Davis was the best singer Django recorded
and probably performed with. He obviously liked her as no other singer
lasted with him for more than five minutes. - Roger S Baxter
 The Quintette of Hot Club of France (QHCF) visited Sweden and performed
in Stockholm during February 1939. The concert by QHCF featuring
Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli as the main
attractions was attended by an enthusiastic audience.
Beryl Davis was featured as vocalist on the tour..
 The English Quintet
1948
L-R: Django, Alan
Mindel (gtr), Teddy Wadmore (bs), Malcolm Mitchell (gtr) and Steph. There are
two other photos of Django & Steph taken in the same dressing room and two
photos of this group playing on stage. They toured the UK and Sweden in 1948. -
Roger S Baxter
In 1948 Mitchell was called on to
play with Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt for an 8-week tour of
Sweden. All other references to this tour indicate
the group was Malcolm Mitchell, Alan Mindel (gtrs) and Teddy Wadmore (bass).
In fact, Mitchell wrote an article confirming
that particular combination for Scandinavia
The Swedish Hot Club Quintette
 Svenska
Hotkvintetten
(The Swedish Hot Quintette) was formed 1939, initially modelled after The Quintette of Hot Club of France (QHCF) that had visited Sweden and performed
in Stockholm during February that year. The concert by QHCF featuring
Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli as the main
attractions was attended by an enthusiastic audience, among the crowd also
some young Swedish musicians, who were thrilled by the string wizardry of
Django & co.. Shortly after this concert the guitarist
Sven
Stiberg (1914-1992)
took the initiative in founding the Swedish Hot Quintet, the members
carefully handpicked from several orchestras.
Besides Stiberg on lead guitar the ensemble consisted
of
Emil Iwring
on violin,
Folke Eriksberg
and
Kalle Löhr on rhythm guitar,
Roland
Bengsson on double bass. As the members already were engaged in other
jobs, the quintet mainly became a studio recording ensemble during its
shortlived time from 1939-41 and frequently had changing members in the
rhythm section. The quintet recorded about 40 sides for Columbia during this
period, 27 of these are re-issued on the cd shown above (Dragon, DRCD 223)
documenting the legacy of a great string swing ensemble mostly unknown
outside Scandinavia.
Although the Svenska Hotkvintetten was modelled after the QHCF, the group had
a distinctive voice of its own thanks to the arrangements and amazing solo
fretwork by Sven Stiberg, who was completely self-taught and the pioneer
single-string guitar soloist in Swedish jazz. Later he was the first to play
electric guitar as a mainstay with Thore Ehrling's Orchestra (1943-49). The
CD is a great tribute to the formative period of a great guitarist, who
ranked among the greatest swing guitarists ever.
Svenska Hotkvintetten,
Crazy Rhythm. Stockholm 1940
I have a 1939 Selmer Maccaferri Petite Bouche #461. It was sold to Birger
Steiner in Stockholm in Jan. 1939. I know he was a musician but also had a
music store. The Quintet were in Stockholm weeks later. One of the most
interesting things about the guitar is the case! It is covered with travel
stickers which seem very old...most of the cities I mentioned in the 1st email.
Lastly, there is a red and white striped sticker with a serial no. - could be a
baggage ID
-
I have owned the guitar for 15 yrs. What renewed my
interest that it may be a "Django" guitar is when I discovered that Birger
Steiner was also the name of his music store and lo it arrived there 2 weeks
before Django hit Stockholm in 1939! The guitar is the real deal...some
poorly repaired top cracks with old refinish, no zero fret, changed tuner
buttons...has 5 top braces, not 4. Still plays...you get goosebumps when you
hear it. The case is absolutely authentic and old. When I have a little spare
time I will shoot some photos of both and send them to you. - Thanks for all
your help in search of the Holy Grail.
Stu.
(Labels
from Norrkoping, Ostersund, Jonkoping, Hamburg, Milan, Lugano)
Birger Steiner-a music shop in Stockholm, Sweden.
Tracking the provenance of
an old instrument isn't so easy, it is a little fun though. Just to clarify one
thing. The guitar was shipped NEW from the factory to Birger Steiner in
Stockholm on 25/01/39. I assume it arrived a week or two later. Just read that
Birger Steiner was a retail branch for Selmer in the 30's and a was a major
retailer of the Petite Bouche after Maccaferri left Selmer
  
Sven Stiberg Lead Guitar - Emil Iwring
on violin,
Folke Eriksberg
and
Kalle Löhr
on rhythm guitar, Roland Bengsson or Per Liljfors
on double bass.
Formed in early 1939 following the example of QHCF. The original
formation consisted of
Folke Eriksberg ,
Sven Stiberg , Donald Löhr (all on guitar),
Emil Iwring (violin) and
Roland Bengtsson (bass).
Later
Per Liljefors (bass from autumn -39) and
Thore Jederby (bass from spring -40) to play in the group.
In his first
radio appearance 04.01.1940 got the group does not call itself "Hot
Quintet" but the name was changed to Emil Iwrings quintet and at that time
also included
Alice Babs as a singer.
The Band was
more or less a collection of studio and orchestra members varied.
According to
TELEFUNKEN collection supplements in 1942, the group consisted of
John Björling (violin), Sven Stiberg, Folke Eriksberg, Donald Löhr, and
Thore Jederby.
The group
disbanded in the fall 1941
 Sven
Stiberg (15/07/1914 - 19/06/1992)
Born in Stockholm. Self-taught, began playing the
mandolin and banjo.
.
Became a professional musician 1937.
In the late 1930s he played with such
Seymour Östervallskog and
Lulle Ellboj .
.
He came to be known as the first Swedish guitarist when he played with
Thore Ehrling Orchestra 1940-49 and appeared as soloist. Then
started his own orchestra and was a member of the radio's entertainment
orchestra until it was disbanded 1963 Then he went on to become a producer
on the radio melody.
.Played with Toots
Thielemans Trio and the "
Charlie & Cie ". Became one of the founders of the
Swedish Hotkvintetten .
 Folke
Eriksberg (10/27/1910 - 11/06/1976)
Born Eriksson at the south of Stockholm.
Learned to
play guitar by his mother and got lessons from banjoisten Jean Paban.
.
Debuted at
Gosta Torner 1925 and then played with
Folke "Cuckoo" Anderson in
Paramount Orchestra . The years 1933-35 were spent in Barcelona and
returned to Sweden when the Spanish Civil War broke out .. He was one
of the first in Sweden to play electric guitar.
Made
his first recordings 1936 Was also a member of any of the so-called
Expressen.
"
Elitorkestrar " 1945 - 57. "
Elite Orchestras "1945 - 57.
He
appeared at approximately 3500 recordings with the likes of Povel Ramel,
Lapp-Lisa, Rosita Serrano, Thore Ehrling, Swedish Hotkvintetten,
He
also ran a guitar school, together with
Sven Stiberg 1942. Due to illness, he finished his professional musical
career in 1954 but recorded an LP in Ludvika 1975h
 Emil
Iwring (15/08/1912 - 12/18/1999)
Musician
(violin) and orchestra leader.
.
Became a
professional jazz and dance band musicians already when she was 15 and came
to be counted among the very best jazz violinists in the country.
Startade 1939 "
Svenska hotkvintetten " with QHCF as a model.
He appeared
regularly until the early 1990s with his orchestra, usually with his wife
Astrid Jäderström (Asta Jäder) as vocalist.
He
also made a notable comeback LP in 1980
 Thore
"Hotkorven" Jederby (10/15/1913 - 01/10/1984)
Musician (bass), orchestra leader
and studio musician. Was originally a trumpeter and a violinist, but learned
to play bass for Henry "Basludde" Lundin.
.
Played in
Arne Hülphers and
Thore Ehrling bands before he started his own band 1946 From the late
1960s he was a music producer
on Swedish
radio also used the pseudonyms Clambake Seven, Johnny Farmer and
Johnny Kjell.
The top jazz activities were
concentrated to Stockholm, and the number one jazz club was Nalen. In fact a
dance saloon but with three stages, from where jazz was playing every night
by the Swedish top musicians plus American guests such as Charlie Parker,
Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz and many others.
The blue Concert Hall at Hötorget (the
Haymarket) in central Stockholm is one of Sweden’s great architectural
masterpieces. Opened in 1926, it was designed by architect Ivar Tengbom during a
period of expansion in the capital.
The Concert Hall was built to house what is
now the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and to serve as an arena for the
Nobel Prize Ceremony and other such formal occasions.
Swedish Jazz Palace NALEN
Stockholm
This avantgarde-composition with its "modern" augmented
harmony in the opening was composed under Quintette du Hot Club de France's
Scandinavian-tour in 1939. It is more a concert-piece then a swing tune and Django recorded it three times in different arrangements . First with the
string-quintet on March 21, 1939, and later with the big orchestra
Django's
Music on Dec. 26, 1940 and finally with the Nouveau Quintette on Sept. 7-19,
1947.
Jens ”Jesse” Lindgren - Hot trombonist, sweet vocalist, who
never wants to ”grow up” from the Jazz Age. Mostly the M.C. of the band.Jens
”Jesse” Lindgren was born on the 19 of July in 1945 in Stockholm. Started
playing the banjo in a band called Jazzgossarna (1961) and the trombone in the
Eagle Band (1962). Started playing in Kustbandet in 1964.Favourits: 1920- and
30´s style-forming trombonists as: J.C. Higginbotham, Dicky Wells, Miff Mole,
Tricky Sam Nanton, Jimmy Harrison och New Orleans-players as Kid Ory and Jim
Robinson. Has played in/plays with Maggie’s Blue Five, Jesse’s New Orleans
Band, Classic Jazz Band plus combinations with Bent Persson, Eddie Bruhner and
many more Stockholm band leaders. Has produced a couple of hundred jazz
programs for the Swedish Radio, a. o. Jesses Jazzbar (1982-90). From 1980
Head of the Swedish Jazz Archives. Since 1987 a member of the
Swedish Jazz Academy and has a lot of other cultural connections. Asked for as
M.C. on different occasions.
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