VARA TV Show—Jos van Heuverzwijn & Harry Verbeke (1963)
On Sunday, November 4, 1962, the VARA (a Dutch broadcasting company) began a series of monthly live jazz television programs called “Improvisaties,” inspired on the American “Jazz from Studio 61” CBS broadcasts. The musicians were in the middle of the studio, with the rhythm section on small elevated stages. The microphones hung from the ceiling so the cameramen were able to maneuver freely around the musicians.
This “Variation on Yardbird Suite” was played by two tenor saxophonists: Jos van Heuverzwijn (with the glasses) and Harry Verbeke-tenor sax. They are accompanied by one of the finest rhythm sections of the Netherlands: pianist Rob Agerbeek, bass player Jacques Schols and drummer John Engels. This “Improvisations” program was broadcast on March 23, 1963.
At the time there was only one television station in Holland, and the programming for that Sunday evening was the news, followed by this jazz program and a one-hour play by Michael Gilbert. The 25-minute jazz program was produced and presented by Dutch jazz historian Michiel A. de Ruyter. “The first thing the cameramen asked when we entered the studio was a script,” Michiel recalled. “I handed them five blanc pages. Since the jazz musicians had to be entirely free to improvise, I could not give them any directions concerning camera angles, etc. In a sense the men working the cameras had to improvise too.”
Four months after this broadcast, tenorist Jos van Heuverzwijn -- one of the most active and appreciated musicians of that time -- died suddenly after he had been rehearsing with the large big band whose founding he had initiated. He was only 34-years old.
Jos van Heuverzwijn (1929-1963) was a multi-instrumentalist who played trumpet, clarinet, vibraphone, tenor and alto sax. He was also an arranger and composer. Already in 1946, during his study at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague, Jos formed a progressive jazz band with local musicians, called the Metronome Sextet. The sextet was booked as the house-band of a long forgotten jazz club in The Hague, called The Metronome Music Club. Soon the sextet became a modern dance orchestra -- The Metronomes. After Jos had graduated he took his band on tour of the American occupation zone of Germany.
After touring Germany and France for a decade as professional musicians, Jos disbanded The Metronomes and returned to the Hague, where he founded a record company and a music shop. Through his fame as both a musician and arranger for national radio orchestras, Jos was invited to play in several bands, from the Stork Town Dixie Kids to Boy’s Big Band. It was with the latter orchestra led by Boy Edgar that Jos made his final television appearance in October 1963, three months after he died. It had been filmed several months before in Brussels, Belgium, the country from which Jos’ parents had originated.
Upon hearing of Jos van Heuverzwijn’s death, American tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins immediately contacted Jos’ widow. Once, when Jos was still alive, Rollins' own saxophone was in repair, and he played that night on Jos’ tenor. The American was so impressed by the high quality of Jos’ instrument that he wanted to buy it on the spot. Now that Jos had passed away, Rollins managed to purchase the saxophone at last. In the hands of Rollins, the rich sound of Jos van Heuverzwijn’s instrument still dominated many 60s jazz concerts and recordings.
