[ Meg Tevelian Tanzorchester ]
Currently no information available.
In May 1942, Armenian Guitarist Meg Tevelian, making his very first recording, led a Septet for a "Jam Session" in the studio of the "Televox" music store, then located on Berlin's "Music Boulevard", Tauentzien. In September, he led a Swing recording session that included musicians from the Ernst van't Hoff Orchestra, and the Jean Omer band, the brothers Kurt and Gerhard Wehner Orch., together with vocalists Gerda Sch�felder, Maria Schayns und Peter Rebhuhn. The group went on to play 22 different tunes that may have been some of the best Jazz recorded in Berlin during World War 2.

      [ Lutz Templin Orch. ]
Also please see our Freddie Brocksieper entry.
This band was heard ca. mid-1940s through mid-1960s on West German Radio. The years 1945 and up were strange years indeed for the defeated Third Reich. Germany was divided and occupied by the victorious Allied Armies, each of whom carved out a sphere of influence. The major cities of Germany lay in ruins, with many people starving. In the American Sector, Radio Stuttgart (for one example) was broadcasting American Dance music for the pleasure of the American army servicemen serving in that area. Among the orchestras heard on that station was Lutz Templin's, in it's regular 15 minute spot between 11:15 and 11:45PM. (CAUTION: Some of the following songs are quire large... up to approx. 1MB. Accordingly, visitors with slow modem connections may have a short wait while the tune loads into their player. ) Harken back to those Post-WWII days in Germany and listen to one of the 1946 Lutz Templin and Orchestra programs with Lutz playing their
Opening theme and the song "Modesty Is Not For You", followed by
"Night Over Havana". Next we hear
"Our Last Night Together", and then the last tune
"Rio Grande", followed by the short
Closing Theme.

The above tunes were monophonically recorded. Furthermore, they were recorded on a then new, and still somewhat experimental tape recording device called a "Magnetophone". Here's a photo of the Radio Stuttgart studio enginé: r operating a Magnetophone, one of the world's earliest Magnetic Tape recorders. One can see that there was still no "top" cover on the magnetic tape. This also explains why there is not "stylus scratch" on the above titles. Of course, these early recordings were recorded in "glorious" monophonic sound, however, we do have some that have been re-recorded in two channel sound, but be aware that they are still monophonic, not stereo. Here are some other songs played by Lutz Templin, presented here in two channel monophonic mode.   One is
"Kiss The Boys Goodbye",    followed by the well known tune
"Pavane", by Morton Gould ,  
another interesting tune is "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows", with a vocal by what seems to be an American vocalist, and finally "Una Rosa" - a rhumba,

In private correspondence, Mr. Weldon Hogie has advised:
        "During the time I was Military Chief Engineer Advisor to Radio Stuttgart in
         1946, the Lutz Templin band was the house band of Radio Stuttgart. They played
        largely American Swing type pieces at that time because of the large number of

         troops in the area. Lutz Templin may have begun recording at Radio Stuttgart
        as early as the spring of 1946. We had finished building our new studios and
        moved into them as of December 17, 1945, and I have a broadcast schedule for
        the 7th of July, 1946, where his program is in the 11:15 to 11:45 time period.
        I left in September 1946"

From his private collection, Mr. Hogie also graciously provided these wonderful photos of a control room and recording area of Radio Stuttgart with a view of Lutz Templin and the reed section;   another with Lutz at the Microphone,   here's the band playing Inside the Recording area,   and this is the orchestra as seen from Inside the Control Room
And here is still another photo of Lutz Templin, from much later in his life.
The Big Band Database Plus thanks Mr Weldon Hogie for this information on Lutz Templin, and for permission to use the sound recordings and photographs.

      [ Franz Thon Band ]
This fine band was heard (ca. 1963) on NDR
Famed trumpet player Ron Simmonds has advised that "I wrote hundreds of scores for that band when he (Franz Thon) was leading the NDR (Norddeutscherrundfunk, Hamburg) big band and here's the line-up, around 1985. These people were all on life contracts, so the personnel would have been constant for many years."
     trumpets:  Werner Gutterer, Heinz Habermann, Manfred Moch, Paul Kubatsch
     trombones:  Wolfgang Ahlers, Hermann Plato, Manfred Grossmann, Egon Christmann, Rick Blanc
     saxes:  Herb Geller, Jochen Ment, Emil Wurster, Harald Ende, Werner R�feldt
     piano:  Harry Grube
     bass:  Lucas Lindholm
     vibes:  Wolfgang Schlnter
     guitar:  Heinz Schultze
     drums:  Kurt Giese

Later on the band was led for a time by the Austrian born Dieter Glawischnig.

      The Theatrical Jazz Band, (Thea-Jazz Band), 1928
Was organized in Leningrad, by the renowned and talented singer Leonid Utyosov, who led the group, sang, and played the violin. While the critics usually panned these early groups, the public nevertheless did enjoy their playing.

      Alexander 'Bob' Tsfasman and the Ama-Jazz Band, (1920's-1950's)
aka: Alexandre Cfansman, Alexander Cfassman.
Here's a photograph (source unknown) of Alexander Cfassman, and now listen to this beautiful Tango, Utomlennoe Solnce, as played, in 1932, by the 'Alexandre Cfansman Orchester', with Russian vocal refrain. (By the kind courtesy of Dr. Grzegorz Musial, and digitally re-engineered.)

This tune has an interesting history. It was composed in 1933 by Jerzy Petersburski. It is a nostalgic tango with lyrics by Zenon Friedwald describing the final meeting of former lovers who are parting. The Polish title was "To Ostatnia Niedziela" ("The Last Sunday"). The song was extremely popular and was performed by numerous artists. Along the way, it first gained the nick-name of "Suicide Tango" due to its sad lyric.

But, the song also had a terribly sad fate. During World War II, it became known as the 'Death Tango'. In the sadistic Nazi concentrations camps, "The Last Sunday" was often played by a small brass orchestra while Jewish prisoners were led to the gas chambers and ovens, to be executed.

During the World War II its Russian version was prepared by Iosif Alveg and performed by Leonid Utyosov under the title of "Weary Sun" (Russian: "Utomlyennoye Solntse"). After World War II, the song remained largely successful, and appeared in a number of films, including Yuriy Norshteyn's 1979 "Tale of Tales" (considered by many international critics to be the greatest animated film ever made), the award-winning Krzysztof Kieślowski's "White" (1994) and Nikita Mikhalkov's "Burnt by the Sun" of the same year. The Russian title of the song also became the name-sake for the latter film.

In private correspondence, Mr. Yves Francois Smierciak, has recalled that:

       "Alexander Tsfasman was the premier Jazz orchestra of the USSR
       of the 1930's and 1940's. Some recordings have been reissued on
       "Jazz and Hot Dance in Russia" on Harelquin, as well as an old
       LP on Collesium from the 1950's (bootlegged from Russian 78's
       with a lot of echo added).Tsfasman was an accomplished piano
       player (he recorded a couple of piano duets with a drummer
       that are in the harlem stride tradition), and played the best
       Jazz east of Jan Sima, and Ady Rosner. (Actually, his bands were
       better than the Rosner USSR orchestra, exempting Rosner's
       excellent "St Louis Blues". Rosner's best bands from a Jazz
       standpoint were the Polish and international bands that recorded
       for French Columbia in the late 1930's).

       "A good example of Tsfasman's band would be "The Sound Of Jazz"
       (close translation from the orginial Russian on the label), from
       1938. (By 1944, "Always", after the waltz intro, swings much
       like an American Swing band). By the 1950's, Tsfasman was content
       to compose marches and record "light" popular music. (An example
       of this was on an old Monitor LP, "Russian Nights", I believe
       Tsfasman's title was the last on the LP, it has nothing to do
       with Jazz).
The BigBands Database thanks Mr. Yves Francois Smierciak, and Dr. Grzegorz Musial for their help on this Alexander 'Bob' Tsfasman entry.

      [ Aage Juhl Thomsen Orch. ]
Recorded during 1936. Both Thomsen and Skjoldborg may have been studio bands only.

      [ The Three Niggers of Broadway ]
Currently no information available. They may be heard on a recent (2001) release on a Riviera Jazz Records CD. Please see Listing for Gorni Kramer e i Suoi Solisti on the 'European Bands Database'.
For Riviera Jazz Records:
Riviera Jazz Records, Via Livigno, 145, 00188 Rome, Italy
eMail:   annamaria@rivierajazz.it
Web URL:   http://www.rivierajazz.it

      [ Ernst van 't Hoff Orch. ]
b: July 13, 1908, Zandvoort, Holland, d: May 16, 1955, Brussels, Belgium
Overview
Here's a photo of Ernst van 't Hoff, who led a Dutch band that later became a Belgian Orch. A popular 1940's swing type orchestra with a strong Glenn Miller influence. Ernst worked in Germany during war years of 1941-2, and recorded there. In 1942, he moved to Brussels, and spent rest of war there. The remainder of his career is obscure. Very probably worked in the German "Charlie and his Orch." (For a little more information on this German propaganda band, please 'click' on this "Freddie Brocksieper", entry.)

Son of a well know music teacher and bandleader. From 1924 onwards active as professional musician throughout Europe, including Britain. Led a small dance band in Birmingham around 1930 (including Teddy Foster and Mickey Lewis) and joined Belgian trumpeter Robert de Kers' band and later saxist Jean Omer's band. In 1936 he became pianist/arranger in the AVRO radio station's dance orchestra ( AVRO Dansorkest ), with which he also recorded. Left after a year and was a member of several lesser know bands in Belgium, Switzerland and Holland. Late in 1940 he was asked by the Germans to form a big band which debuted in The Hague and was soon ordered to go to Germany, where it played in Dresden, Berlin, Munich and Mnnster and made its first recordings for Deutsche Grammophon. Although three Glenn Miller tunes were recorded, the Miller influence is negligible. Van 't Hoff's version of "In The Mood" is competely different from Miller's and so is the rest of the band-book. Van 't Hoff's musicians were the cream of the crop and many German bandleaders used his sidemen for recording purposes (Van 't Hoff himself did not play in German bands).

Most of the band's musicians, who didn't want to go back to Germany, joined pianist Dick Willebrandt's brand new band in fall 1942 but Van 't Hoff managed to find adequate replacements and continued touring, but he didn't record again until February 1944. He was repeatedly taken into custody by the Gestapo for playing "entartete Musik" (many of his recordings reveal a hard-hitting big band with outstanding jazz-soloists, such as AndrT Smit on trombone, Johnny Jansen on trumpet and Harry van der Kruk on tenor) and was sacked in April 1944. He then went to Belgium, where the German regime was much less strict than in Holland or in Germany and formed a new band consisting mainly of Belgian musicians. After the Liberation of Belgium he played for the Americans with a large orchestra and he did not return to Holland until 1951, when he formed a touring band, including the Rob Spronk Septette, a be-bop unit. The tour was a disaster and Van 't Hoff went back to Belgium where he became very popular with a show band that regularly appeared on TV. Van 't Hoff suddenly died from the effects of an operation in May 1955.
The BigBands Database thanks Mr. Joost Kiefte for this entry on Ernst van 't Hoff.

      [ Eddie Tower Orch. ]
né: Emile Deltour.
First recorded in 1939. His April 1940 recordings include versions of several Count Basie band titles, which are really outstanding examples of his pre-WW2 band. The band's post-WW2 recordings are largely mundane.

      [ Erik Tuxen and The Arena Orkester ]
b. Mannheim, July 4, 1902 d. Copenhagen Aug.28, 1957
In 1932 the best people from the Kai Julian band (including Peter Rasmussen, Kai Moeller, Kai Ewans, and Leo Mathiesen) become part of a band led by Erik Tuxen in his famous band "The Arena Orkester". The arrangements in this band were made by Leo Mathiesen, Kai Mller, and Bernhard Christensen. This ensemble dominated the scene from 1933-36 after which Erik Tuxen stepped "back" to Koncert Music and Kaj Ewans took over the band with a partly new crew. (In later years, Tuxen was the leader of the Danish State Radio Symphony Orch.) Visiting Americans, such as Benny Carter and Adelaide Hall, often recorded with the band. This lasted till 1942, when Peter Rasmussen left to take over Svend Asmussens Orkester where more 'room' for improwisation was customary. In addition, Leo Mathiesen also left the band and, - using the name of "Leo the Lion" - has a big hit with his recording of "Take It Easy Big Boy".