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Cover design: Martien J. Ulder - drukkerij Slinger, Alkmaar, NL
Cover text - English
Munich BM 150245 / Made in Holland
Cover text created in 1982 (biographical information out of date)
OBIE JESSIE: Vocals.
KENT BRINKLEY: Bass (on the album)
ESSIET OKON ESSIET: Bass. (during tour 82)
DON MUMFORD’: Drums.
PETER GUIDI: Sax.
RENE VAN HELSDINGEN: Piano.
SPONSORS:
Special thanks to:
PHILIPS MORRIS
HOLLAND BV for giving us your name and support: SUPERLIGHTS;
Alphen a/d Rijn: BEX BUSREIZEN for two wonderful afternoons in Den
Haag and for your support;
Bennekom: MUNICH RECORDS for recording; Edam: BOSE BV: for the sound
Equipment; Amsterdam: VAN WOUW BV: for your advertising; Bussum: BUCA BV: for the VAN ZALINGEN bass. CHRIS BECKERS: for being there.
COUPONHAL Hilversum: for carpeting our bus. KRULLEKOEK. Roadies:
JANJAAP LAMME, MARCO MEIER, VALENTINO DE MAREZ OYENS, FREDDIE ZOMER,
MIKE MENDELBAUM, HUUB GEUL: for driving 18.000 km and taking it
all.Sound engineer: PIM GUNZEL. Alkmaar: DRUKKERIJ SLINGER BV: for
beautiful printing and support. Amsterdam: COCO LOCO NIGHT CLUB: for
your promotion. Loosdrecht: HOTEL DE WATERWOLF: for letting us have
a place to stay. BOVO TOURS Roelofarendsveen: where else can you buy
a bus. Laren: NICK VOLLEBREGTS JAZZ CLUB: for your support and
rehearsal space. Radio: PAUL VAN SCHAYK, META DE VRIES. DAM AIR
Amsterdam for your service and support. Photography: GEORGE REEP,
RICHARD MONTIJN, AART MARCUS for being super roadie. ITS VAN DE
SCHOUW for your presentation. Also special thanks to: Jan van Helden,
Jaap Stamer, Anita Green, Familie Manders, Cees ten Broek, Emilio de
Vlam, Anneke Kroon, Rob Houer, Henk Zomer, Max Teeuwisse, Henk
Huisin’tveld, Maria ten Brink, Café de Jonge Haan, Peter van Wije,
Ton Molkenboer, LIMETREE RECORDS, Gartjan Borgers, Jord de
Hollander, Nol van Bennekom, Ben and Nancy, Francine van Wijhe and
Martien Ulder, Marcel Ballieu, Familie Melleger, Norman Dolhair,
Han Schulten, De Ruwaerd, Buck Hill, Ronald Snijders, Rob Franken,
John de Mol, Luc Verfaillie, J.M. Hacquier, Henk and Menko ten Kate,
Robert Delcourt, Rob Cuypers, Peter Hoekstra, Henny van Leeuwen,
Mark Jansen, Michiel van Zundert, Martin Kesseler, Theo Inniger, Wim
van Woerkens, Tiny van het Klooster, Jean Frederic Mekke, Gerard de
Lange, Piet Scheltema, Charles van de Rest, Jimmy Vollebroek, Paul
Rozenboom, HOTEL GROENEWOUD BENNEKOM, CC van Helsdingen, Mouchette
van Helsdingen, Irene van Duyvenvoorde, Olav Nooy, Freddy Zomer,
Wouter Castendijk, Jan Lamphe, Laurance Manders, Muriel van Mameren,
Anton and Wim Geul.
Special thanks to Mr. Ten Have, Familie Pieper. PRODUCTION: RENE VAN
HELSDINGEN. This album was recorded and mixed on 28 and 29th of
August 1982 at FARMSOUND STUDIO HEELSUM HOLLAND. (Thanks engineer
Wil Hesen for the great life sound)
KENT BRINKLEY,
has played with many influential musicians on the jazz scene. From Art
Blakey and the Crusaders to Esther Phillips and Freddie Hubbard as
well as many others. Brinkley brings the professional sound and
imagination to wherever he plays, concert, studio or record. There
is only one way of describing Kent Brinkley’s style of playing: HIS
OWN.
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RENE VAN HELSDINGEN
– Birth of
the Stage Bus / 85 concerts, Holland and Belgium
To promote oneself is a very risky business especially when you do
not have a large organization to back you up. In the month of April
1982 I thought up the idea of the “JAZZ BUS (STAGE BUS)” and by the
4th of September the tour was over. The whole thing took just 5
months. “Tour 82”. I have always been convinced that you make an
impression on the listener by doing something unusual. “Anybody can
put up poster”, I thought, “but who drives around in a crazy jazz
bus (the Stage Bus). So with a folder of cartoon drawings to
illustrate my ideas, I went on the road. I wanted the presentation
to be funny but at the same time convincing. After the first 10
bookings things started moving fast. “Ïn the afternoon we’ll park
the bus in the busiest part of town and do a 1 hour concert which
will serve as a great publicity for your evening concerts”, I told
the club owners. “I guarantee you a full house” The plan was
completed. The band on the road with the Stage Bus giving afternoon
performances in the open air, a stage of steel framework 7x3 meters
was going to be constructed and welded together for the band to play
on. But then things became risky as I had already made part of the
bookings without taking into consideration the finances needed to
put such a thing together. Welding the Stage for example, was going
to cost a lot of money and it was almost time to make airline ticket
reservations for the American musicians to come over to Europe.
After many attempts with several different companies, one company,
Philip Morris, finally took to the idea and after that other
sponsors followed. By June 1982 the program for the tour was
completed: 85 concerts throughout Holland and Belgium. The next
angle to take care of was publicity. I quickly designed some posters
and program flyers for immediate distribution. During this time we
were also working on the 1963 Mercedes bus which needed to be
refitted. Ten seats were put in we created storage space for sound
installation, stage, folding chairs for the public, commercial signs
and in the rear of the bus six beds where we could relax whilst
traveling from one concert to the other. Under the bus we installed
a system of racks on which we could load the foldable wooden planks
that made up the floor of the stage. On the roof we welded a pole
which was to serve as one of the main supports for the tent and a
coat of fresh paint made the Stage Bus look like new. Three days
before the tour the bus was ready and the musicians had arrived from
the USA at our headquarters in central Holland to start rehearsing
the music. The 30th of June the last messages were sent to everyone
involved in the tour letting them know that the tour would start as
planned: July 1st 1982.
OBIE JESSIE – 85 concerts
Obie Jessie, the singer with the Superlights Quintet, was born 45
years ago in Dallas Texas. For many years he has been living and
working in Hollywood Los Angeles. In the fifties under the name of
Young Jessie, he composed his first big hit: Mary Lou. After this,
many other beautiful hit songs poured from his heart and pen. He
also composed for Frank Zappa, Esther Philips, Bob Segar etc. During
the tour in 1982 he performed many of his own songs of which “I am
people too” never failed to get the audience singing along with the
band. He impressed everybody no matter what their musicale
background, with his warm velvety sound, his suppleness and his
complete command of many vocal styles. For example those outstanding
vocal acrobatics which in the language of jazz are known as scat
singing. With a tremendous understanding of showmanship, Obie Jessie
always appeared on stage with a sharp suit and a smile.
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