NEW FACES, NEW BABY: THE SCANDINAVIAN RHYTHM BOYS TAKE TO THE WATER

The little band known as the Scandinavian Rhythm Boys has long been one of my favorite hot ensembles.  They have a new front line, with trumpeter Leif Blunck and Hans Jorgen Hansen on bass sax, clarinet and soprano.  Michael Boeving remains on banjo and expressive vocals and Ole Olsen on the string bass.  The video was recorded July 12 on a Copenhagen harbor cruise (as part of the 2012 Copenhagen Jazz Festival) by an Italian fan, Alessandro, whom we all thank!  For more about the SRB, visit here.

And the New Baby remains the same, joyously:

May your happiness increase.

JAZZ ON THE RIVER in COPENHAGEN (May – October 2011)

 

One of my favorite small jazz bands is the Scandinavian Rhythm Boys, pictured above (Michael Boeving, banjo, vocals; Robert Hansson, trumpet, Ole Olsen, bass, clarinet; Frans Sjostrom, bass sax, soprano sax).  They spend a good deal of time on land, but regularly play gigs on the canals of Copenhagen.

Michael sent me information about a series of jazz cruises taking place on Sundays and Thursdays — late afternoon and early evening — with the SRB, Doc Houlind, the Copenhagen Washboard Five, and a band with a delectable name, “Henning Munk and Plumperne.”  The tours set forth from Nyhavn; the trip lasts for ninety minutes and costs 140 kroner.

During July 1-10, there’s also the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, featuring the same round of bands.  For more information, call +45 3296 3000 or visit www.jazzcruise.dk. 

I am reasonably phobic about small boats, which have a naughty tendency to go up and down without telling me first, but if a small boat had the SRB on it, I would conquer my fears . . .

Here’s a sample from YouTube, brilliantly captured by JAZZ LIVES’ friend Flemming Thorbye — which has a wonderful impromptu moment when Michael Boeving improvises lyrics so that one of the passengers doesn’t get a concussion — watch this even if you will never get to Copenhagen!  (And the SRB has made a number of fine CDs, especially their latest, CHARLESTON MAD, which I’ve praised on this blog.)

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All aboard!  (And watch your head.)