Jazzwereld Feest 2

On the 15th of July 1939 Oscar Alemán is one of the stars of the 7th Jazzwereld Feest in The Hague. The soirée with the performance of Oscar Alemán was moved one day, because the management of “Le Chantilly” didn’t allow Oscar to perform in Holland because of the 14th of July, the French Public Holiday.

He played as a soloist and in a jam session with musicians like Annie Xhofleer, a Dutch vocalist, Johnny Claes (an English Belgian trumpet player) and members of the Swing Papas (the forerunner of the well-known Dutch Swing College Band).

During an “after-party” in Scheveningen Oscar Alemán took part on a jam-session with musicians like Johnny Fresco, a Dutch tenor sax player from the Swing Aristocrats and, Maurice van Kleef, a Dutch drummer, known from his recordings with the Coleman Hawkins Trio the year before. During his performance he played Hombre Mio ( Man of Mine), that would become his signature tune, Susurrando( Whispering ), and Querida de Nadie ( Nobody’s Sweetheart ) two titles he recorded solo the year before.

It was a great success. The Dutch critics enjoyed his performance. The journal Het Vaderland wrote:

Oscar Aleman is a great guitar player. Especially his right hand is technically very amazing; the finger picking technique is so perfect, that we thought hearing the skills of Segovia. It was a great musical enjoyment with one minor point .. it was too short.

Oscar Aleman is een groot gitarist, ….. Technisch is vooral zijn rechterhand ontwikkeld; de onafhankelijkheid der vingers is zoo ten top gevoerd, dat wij meermalen moesten denken aan de vaardigheid van een Segovia, …. Het was een wonderlijk muzikaal genot, met één feilen: het was te kort !

In 1971 Oscar writes to the Dutch ‘Doctor Jazz Magazine” :

Most of the “Doctor Jazz” readers are too young to know, but older people might have told them I was a great success in Scheveningen. It was something unforgettable for me. It was the happiest moment in my live.