THE BEST! BELGIAN BIG BAND

THE BIG BELGIAN BAND
Conductor / arranger: SADI / Starring on guitar JEAN BLATON
(Alpha 7008, Belgium, 1972)

This excellent album was released in 1972 on the ALPHA label, the same label that had released BABS ROBERT & THE LOVE PLANET.  It was not a jazz label, most of the production was in the field of classical music with an emphasis on early music / Renaissance music played on period instruments, long before it became fashionable, and on regional folk music (Jofroi et les Coulonneux, les Musiciens de Neufchateau ...). 

They also released dixieland albums (Cotton City Jazz Band). 

If you have any interest in European Jazz, you are already familar with Belgian vibraphonist SADI (aka Fats Sadi), one of the major exponents of this instrument in Europe during the second half of the XXth Century.

What is probably less known is that SADI was also a world-class composer / arranger and conductor.

Jean Blaton, entrepreneur, racing-driver and jazz musician

This album amply demonstrate his skills in these fields.

The guest star is guitarist JEAN BLATON  also known as JEAN BEURLYS  and probably even better known as a racing pilot and classic cars collector (unfortunatelly his superb car collection was sold in 2005). 

Un soir, j’écoute un obscur trio de jazz au Pol’s. pas mal. Le leader, un guitariste, dit s’appeler Beurlys. Je les fais jouer à l’Os au tarif en vigueur : 250 francs belges par musicien, qu’ils empochent sans sourciller. Quelques mois plus tard, on apprend que Wes Montgomery, le plus grand guitariste de jazz du monde, en tournée en Europe, est libre un dimanche aprèsmidi. Le cachet est exorbitant pour nous, mais en nous associant à l’INR et mon ami Benoît Quersin, on tente le coup, dans la salle du théâtre 140. Succès total. A la sortie, on revoit Beurlys, qui nous invite chez lui pour un fastueux souper dans une propriété hollywoodienne près de Wavre. Stupéfaits, nous y retrouvons Wes Montgomery, engagé pour un concert privé ! Renseignements pris, Beurlys n’était autre que Jean Blaton, l’opulent constructeur de nos autoroutes… (L'Os a Moelle, Bruxelles)

Le Mans 1963 - Ferrari 250P #24 - Pilotes : Jean Blaton "Beurlys"/ Gerhard Langlois van Ophen - 2ème
Pink-Kar CV037

Jean Blaton had an extensive collection of cars (probably 30 or more) in his private museum inside his house. Many -- but not all -- had a Belgian racing connection; for instance, there were several cars raced by Theirry Boutsen, including at least one Williams F1. There were a number of ex-LeMans cars, and several open wheelers, including one or more Indy/CART cars. Blaton's tastes were quite universal, with large back-lit photos around the balcony overlooking the collection; these included the Indy 500 and start of the NASCAR Daytona 500 among other scenes (Source) 

SADI (Photo: J Van Der Plas)

Blaton's composition DOREEN (aka Dorine) was recorded by Jimmy GOURLEY on his GRAFFITI album (1977).

I never had the time to rip and clean my copy of this classic LP. Luckily Paul D. had both the time and the album.  He did a superb restauration work, as we have come to expect.  Many thanks to him.

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