ST LOUIS BLUES VALAIDA SNOW AND WINSTRUP OLESEN DENMARK 1940

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northatlantic78rpm
August 18, 2009
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Miss Valaida Snow- Queen of the Trumpet, one of the greatest female talents in jazz history. In 1939 Valaida Snow took residence in Denmark, and lived in Copenhagen until the summer 1941. In spite ...
Miss Valaida Snow- Queen of the Trumpet, one of the greatest female talents in jazz history. In 1939 Valaida Snow took residence in Denmark, and lived in Copenhagen until the summer 1941. In spite that Europe was close to begin WW2, she didn't return to USA. She got many freinds in the Danish jazz life in Copenhagen, and was a great inspiration for many Danish jazz musicians. Also she was the last American jazz star to visit Denmark, before the German occupation on April 9th 1940 isolated Denmark from the free World until 1945. In spite of the German Occupation she remained in Copenhagen to continue her career together with her Danish collegaues. Because USA still was neutral, she was allowed to stay in Copenhagen. A few months after the German occupation, she recorded four jazz melodies on 78rpm with Winstrup Olesen's Swing Band and Matadoerne, for the Danish record compagny TONO. The German occupation stopped import of grammophone records from England and USA in 1940, but it didn't effect the Danish musicians. This was the beginning of a special era of European Jazz. The German's didn't interfer in the Danish jazz life until 1944, when it was banned singing in the English language. 1941 showed up, and the political situation in Denmark got worser step by step. The Social Democratic Danish Prime Minister Thorvald Stauning, wanted during the early summer all US. Citizens out of Denmark, before USA maby joined the Allies. Valaida Snow didn't listen to the warnings, and finally she was arrested by the half independent Danish Police, bustered for illegal drugs. She was very lucky that she was deported and escorted by the Danish police to neutral Sweden, and not handed over to the German Gestapo. Sinca many myths have been told about this. On this video I want to tell the truth about what happened, and also give a short description about life in Denmark between 1939-1941, when Valaida Snow was living there. On the sound track you hear one of her four recorings from Copenhagen in 1940. This one is: " I St. Louis Blues" with the Danish saxophonist and band leader Winstrup Olesen. Please, enjoy.

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  Music

[sandropan]

what a great voice!

[Mads Nielsen]

Yes, indeed!