Ernst van 't Hoff

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Ernst van 't Hoff (July 13, 1908, Zandvoort - May 17, 1955, Brussels) was a Dutch jazz pianist and bandleader.

Zandvoort Municipality in North Holland, Netherlands

Zandvoort is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is one of the major beach resorts of the Netherlands; it has a long sandy beach, bordered by coastal dunes. It is also the site of the country's most important auto racing circuit, Circuit Zandvoort.

Brussels Capital region of Belgium

Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels, which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is located in the central portion of the country and is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the Flemish Region and the Walloon Region. Brussels is the most densely populated and the richest region in Belgium in terms of GDP per capita. It covers 161 km2 (62 sq mi), a relatively small area compared to the two other regions, and has a population of 1.2 million. The metropolitan area of Brussels counts over 2.1 million people, which makes it the largest in Belgium. It is also part of a large conurbation extending towards Ghent, Antwerp, Leuven and Walloon Brabant, home to over 5 million people.

Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, United States. It originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in blues and ragtime. Jazz is seen by many as "America's classical music". Since the 1920s Jazz Age, jazz has become recognized as a major form of musical expression. It then emerged in the form of independent traditional and popular musical styles, all linked by the common bonds of African-American and European-American musical parentage with a performance orientation. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African-American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music. Intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as "one of America's original art forms".

Van 't Hoff played with his own orchestra in the late 1920s, and in 1934 joined Robert De Kers's orchestra. In 1936 he worked with Jean Omer, then played in the dance orchestra of the Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep under Hans Mossel.

Robert De Keersmaeker, better known as Robert De Kers was a Belgian jazz trumpeter and bandleader.

Jean Omer was a Belgian jazz reedist and bandleader.

Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep former Dutch public broadcasting association

AVRO was a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system. It was the first public broadcaster in the Netherlands. In 2014 AVRO merged with fellow broadcaster TROS to form AVROTROS.

In 1940, after the Netherlands became Nazi-occupied territory, van 't Hoff was ordered to start a big band to play state-approved dance music, but he played some jazz anyway, recording songs such as "Pennsylvania 6-5000" and "In the Mood". [1] He recorded for Deutsche Grammophon and played at the Delphi Filmpalast in Berlin, but in 1942 he was chastened by the Sicherheitsdienst for playing degenerate music. He was repeatedly taken into custody by the Gestapo and eventually, in April 1944, was dismissed from his post and moved back to Belgium. Once Allied troops had retaken western Europe, he began playing for American servicemen. He disbanded his group in 1946, but formed a new group in 1951, which played in Rotterdam, and another in 1953 which played at the Ancienne Belgique. He died of a sudden heart attack in 1955.

In the Mood Song popularized by Glenn Miller

"In the Mood" is a popular big band-era No. 1 hit recorded by American bandleader Glenn Miller. It topped the charts for 13 straight weeks in 1940 in the U.S. and one year later was featured in the movie Sun Valley Serenade. "In the Mood" is based on the composition "Tar Paper Stomp" by Wingy Manone. The first recording under the name "In the Mood" was released by Edgar Hayes & His Orchestra in 1938.

Deutsche Grammophon record label

Deutsche Grammophon (DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of labels in 1999. It is the oldest surviving established record company.

Sicherheitsdienst, full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Originating in 1931, the organization was the first Nazi intelligence organization to be established and was considered a sister organization with the Gestapo through integration of SS members and operational procedures. Between 1933 and 1939, the SD was administered as an independent SS office, after which it was transferred to the authority of the Reich Main Security Office, as one of its seven departments/offices. Its first director, Reinhard Heydrich, intended for the SD to bring every single individual within the Third Reich's reach under "continuous supervision".

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References

  1. Wim van Eyle, "Ernst van 't Hoff". The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz . 2nd edition, ed. Barry Kernfeld.