ANOTHER OBSCURITY FROM THE LOW COUNTRIES

EDDY HOUSE QUINTET 

LIVE @ THE ACOUSTIC CLUB

(NRS 79.002, BELGIUM - 1979)

 I found this album on a “brocante” (street flea market)  in Brussels in the late Nineties, with a few other Belgian / Flemish jazz and pop/rock albums (Old Gate Swing Quartet, Jean Blaute …) that I’ll post later on.  It is very rare to find such obscure jazz albums on flea markets and garage sales nowadays. 

This album has definitely a nice Seventies feel with electric piano, bluesy / funky tunes: the excellent Blues Nine Plus is highly recommended.

I googled Eddy House (born Eddy Huys – Huis means House in Dutch) but there is hardly any information on the web apart from a small biography in Dutch on the Lundis d’Hortense website.  Eddy House died only a few months ago (8 December 2011).  He worked for several TV and Radio orchestras where his talent as an arranger was highly appreciated. He wrote arrangements for = among others - Randy Crawford and worked in the Netherlands with Pim Jacobs and Louis Van Dijk.  He had his own Big Band in the Seventies which was very popular in Flanders and the Netherlands. 

This Live album  recorded at the Acoustic Club in Merksem (Antwerp) - basically a private pressing to be sold at the Club - finds him in a quintet format with a young Bert Joris on fluegelhorn.  Probably among Bert's first appearances on record (although he was already a full-fledged member of the BRT-Jazz Orkest at that time).

The other musicians were all locals but very competent – I really enjoyed Peter Peeters ‘ electric piano, especially on the bluesy tracks.  These guys don’t even get a mention in the Lundis d’Hortense‘s list of Belgian Jazz Musicians (but we know it is far from being complete).

Musicians:

Tracks:

And if you understand Dutch you will enjoy the sleeve notes by Sim Simons, author of several books on jazz and co-author of The Finest in Belgian Jazz.

(Get this box set, the 10 CD are all gems!)