The Diamond Five - 1963 - Montmartre Blues

The Diamond Five

1963

Montmartre Blues

01. The Beauty Of The Ball
02. Fair Weather
03. Alexander's Ragtime Band
04. Montmartre Blues
05. Parlez Moi De Velours
06. Bobby Tale
07. Jubilation
08. Royal Dream
09. Oleo
10. Sister Sadie

Bass – Jacques Schols
Drums – John Engels Jr.
Piano – Cees Slinger
Tenor Saxophone – Harry Verbeke
Trumpet, Trombone – Cees Smal

Cees Slinger (1929 -2007) was the founder and leader of the hard bop combo "The Diamond Five" featuring the trumpeter and trombonist Cees Smal (1927 - 2001), the tenor saxophonist Harry Verbeke (1922-2004), bassist Jacques Schols, and drummer John Engels, playing at the Jazz Club "Sheherazade" in Amsterdam. Before the foundation some of the musicians already played as the "The Diamonds" at the "Jig Rhythm Club" in Haarlem, with Verbeke, Smal and the initial bassist Dick van der Capellen. To avoid confusion with the singing group "The Blue Diamonds", they changed their name to "The Diamond Five". From October 1958 to April 1962 the band played at the "Sheherazade", that they had also taken over. Van der Capellen took no part in the takeover, as he had previously survived a car accident and was replaced by Schols. In 1962 the musicians sold their club and went on tour, because the music taste changed to Beatlemania. Although Cees Slinger took a job in the steel industry he kept playing. Together with Jacques and John he made two LPs with Ben Webster. In 1973 the LP "Back Together", featuring Greetje Kauffeld, came out. In 1974 he quit the job and became again a full-time jazz musician. The quintet jammed with many American jazz artists like Stan Getz, Phil Woods, Quincy Jones and Don Byas after their official appearances and even played at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam in 1963. Between 1959 and 1962, several already documented vinyl EPs were released on labels such as Fontana or Omega and were summarized for the 1978 compilation album "Amsterdam Blues". In 1964 they recorded the LP "Brilliant", which was later reissued on Fontana.