Teddy Edwards was an Americn saxophonist,composer, arranger, lyricist, husband, father, grandfather, teacher and friend to many all over the world. When in Holland, he liked to stay with the Huijts family where he was well-loved.
JAZZ PROMOTER PETER HUIJTS & DE TOR
Peter Huijts opened a jazz café named “De Tor,” worked with and agency, and later became road manager for Chet Baker. Peter and his wife, Greetje, had four children, one son and three daughters. During the ‘80s, they opened their house in Eibergen for jazz musicians that were passing through Holland, Germany and Belgium. |
Teddy Edwards, Peter Huijts, Greetje Huijts and "the twins." circa 1981 - Photo by Dagblad Tubantia |
For over 35 years, Peter Huijts was jazz programmer at De Tor. Huijts produced records, organized jazz festivals and was road manager for American jazz musicians on tour throughout Europe and Japan such as Chet Baker, Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Shaw, Teddy Edwards, Art Blakey, Lionel Hampton and Tony Williams.
Peter Huijts was a very modest person, he didn’t not like to tout his own horn. The same holds true for his wife, Greetje, the glue of the Huijts family. She held it all together, her family, plus hosting all these jazz musicians coming in and out of Eibergen throughout the years. “They were all very well behaved,” she said recently in a Dutch interview.
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Collage of still frames of video filmed by Kirsten Reynen© Kirsten Reynen |
TEDDY EDWARDS &THE DUAL CITY BIG BAND
Meet some other members of the Huijts family! Teddy Edwards rehearsing with the Dual City Big Band in De Tor, Enschede, circa 1995. The sample song, one of Teddy's own compositions, The Cellar Dwellar.
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Greetje and Peter Huijts
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OPEN HOUSE IN EIBERGEN
from Open Huis in Eibergen by Peter Brusse,which appeared in de Volkskrant on June 18, 2005.
Translated and loosely adapted from Dutch to American English by Kirsten Reynen
(the blogger/filmmaker).
from Open Huis in Eibergen by Peter Brusse,which appeared in de Volkskrant on June 18, 2005.
Translated and loosely adapted from Dutch to American English by Kirsten Reynen
(the blogger/filmmaker).
Peter Huijts was, together with his
wife Greetje, the driving force behind the success of Jazzpodium de Tor in
Enschede, The Netherlands.
Peter was born in Rotterdam. His father, Mr. J. Huijts was
editor in chief of the NRC newspaper; and also active in the Rotterdam arts
center named Lantaren/Venster. He traveled to Paris, France, where he visited
the big ateliers of Ossip Zadkine and Naum Gabo. Peter also put his creative
talents at work and collaborated with Woody van Amen on a large mosaic made of
broken tiles that were originally created by Louis van Roode for an insurance
company.
Peter discovered jazz music during the ‘50s, while he was
still in high school. He
father said it excited him. Together
with the owner of the local record store where he frequently dwelled, Peter
ended up on stage with award-winning artist Pia Beck and offered her a
bouquet of flowers. The
pictures appeared in the newspapers the following day. He worked as a waiter at the Expo in
Brussels, Belgium, and as a steward with the Holland America Line ending up in
New York where he visited all the jazz clubs. Once he met Greetje, he decided
to get a “real” job as an electrical engineer.
He landed a job with a safety technology company, which
relocated its headquarters to the Eastern part of The Netherlands. Peter and Greetje Huijts moved
to this remote part of the country bordering the German border, where they
discovered the club, De Tor (The Roach). Peter quickly started to organize
concerts. He met jazz
promoter Wim Wigt, who got him a gig. Peter’s
first big gig, in 1982, was a three-month bus tour throughout Europe with
Machito and his Cuban salsa band. Sometimes
he didn’t know where they were going to play that night!
Peter could tell you endless stories about stars who lost
their plane tickets, who suddenly didn’t want to leave their hotel room, or who
jumped out of a driving taxi. He
could instantly tell if there were frictions in the band by the way they played. Dizzy Gillespie said after each tour:
“I played well. Where’s my gift?” He would expect a new watch or a camera and
wouldn’t perform until the present was opened and approved.
For trumpeter, Chet Baker, his problem child, he would go
out in the middle of the night to look for oil for his mouthpiece. Chet had
accidently rubbed denture adhesive on his mouthpiece and couldn’t play. When
Chet Baker fell out of a window in 1988, Peter had to identify his body. In his eyes, Chet was not a
junkie, but a simple farm boy who couldn’t handle life. Peter was devastated
for months after that.
Peter refused to write his stories. And when the gigs
were over, whether in Europe, America or Japan, he was happy to go home. He was
crazy about his family, and preferred listening to a vinyl with a scratch on it
than a perfect CD. He was
active in his local community and enjoyed the outdoors: once he did a 50-mile
megahike, but only once and that was plenty. On holidays he looked for deserted
camp grounds and if his children, three daughters and a son, knew how to use
the primus stove well, they’d receive the primus stove certificate.
He hated caravans until the day he found an old timer,
fixed it, provided it with solar panels and a simple sound system. Peter Huijts passed away on June 3rd,
2005, at the age of 68 in an unfortunate accident.
For the
direct link to the Dutch article from the Volkskrant archive click below:
ENSCHEDE IS A TOWN WITH A GREAT JAZZ HISTORY
Live From The Netherlands:The Sesjun Radio Shows
In the early 70s, TROS, the Dutch radio network, began
weekly broadcasts of jazz performances from clubs, cafes’ and other venues in
the Netherlands. Many great jazz veterans who were touring throughout
Europe were recorded. One
of the most notable and memorable recordings was Dizzy Gillespie’s at De Tor, “Peter’s Club” in Enschede.
If you are a Dutch reader, for a full
article by Coen de Jonge written for the 2012 November/December issue of
jazzism.nl click below. (From the archives of Jazzpodium de Tor.
LOUIS ARMSTRONG RECEIVES ‘ROYAL’
TREATMENT IN ENSCHEDE (1959)
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Louis Armstrong in Enschede stills from from youtube video
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In 1959, Louis Armstrong performed at the Diekman soccer stadium in Enschede, The Netherlands. The special concert was organized by the Enschede School of Textile. Satchmo performed “High Society” and “You Never Walk Alone”, among other songs. Large crowds gather to greet Armstrong as he steps out of a bus smoking a cigarette, takes a seat with his lady in a coach, and signs some autographs for his fans.
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| Collage of still frames of video filmed by Kirsten Reynen
© Kirsten Reynen
JAN WOLKERS, THE WING, AND DE TOR
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