“A dark night in the fall arrived a rowboat with a young man who had made himself of interest to the small group of men called the Gestapo. Under his coat was a set of cymbals…”
Charles Norman, in Estrade, Sweden, 1945
Helsingborg Refugee Camp, Sweden, 1943
The flood of Danish refugees across the Øresund to Sweden in 1943 included 20 year old Uffe Baadh. He registered at the refugee camp in Helsingborg on Monday, December 9. It did not take him long to connect with fellow musicians. Years later in an interview about his early days in Sweden, he said,
“After reporting to an office that took care of refugees, I was first sent to lumbering work. Later, after arriving in Stockholm, I earned my living as a dishwasher at the Berns’ restaurant. Through Nils Hellstrom, the editor of Swedish jazz magazine Estrad, I made contact with the fine pianist Charles Norman and I ended up touring with him for several months.”
Washing dishes by day, he began playing with the local dance bands by night.
Even to his family, Uffe never talked about any active involvement with the Resistance in Denmark other than minor pranks, but Charles Norman discloses some activity in Sweden. In his 1980 memoir, Norman remembers:
“When I got the eminent drummer Uffe Baadh (later Frank Bode in the US) in my band, he and I were sharing a flat I had borrowed at Kungsbroplan in Stockholm. After awhile, he started to get some strange phone calls and later there were also visits by illegal Danish couriers. To remain as much as possible without any knowledge about these things, I used to spend the night at some young lady’s place whenever these secret night guests were visiting Uffe.
“To my knowledge, Uffe was not very heavily engaged in the resistance movement. I was not engaged at all, but by occasionally supplying a safe place to spend the night, we were as helpful as we could.”
“The Best Drummer in Scandinavia”
In just a few weeks, he was in the headlines. The January, 1944 issue of Orkesterjournalen/Jazz (“OJ”) reported that he performed on a set of borrowed drums on Sunday, December 26, 1943 in an evening of small-band swing at Stockholm Concert Hall. He played with a pickup group of Danish jazz musicians, all refugees. OJ writes that the evening featured three attractions, including singer Alice Babs with Emil Iwring’s band and a group of Danish musicians: Jorgen Rothenbor (vibes and piano), Niels Rothenborg (piano and clarinet), bassist Peter Schioler, singer Raquel Rastenni, Dutch guitarist Dick Bakker and Uffe Baadh, drums.
This first live performance introduced Uffe to bandleaders and fellow musicians with whom he’d work with well beyond Sweden and the war, in fact, for the rest of his life.
“The very much talked-about Uffe Baadh didn’t make much of an impression as he diminished his accompaniment in such a way that he didn’t make himself heard very well. I am sure this was due to his not being used to playing in a small orchestra like this, and also to his being confined to a borrowed set of drums, because he played a drum solo that really was first-class.”
By January, Uffe had joined pianist Charles Norman’s band, touring the provinces of Sweden and playing the Stockholm Swing Club whenever they were in town. Amid the more staid, conservative approach to jazz in Sweden, Uffe was challenged. Challenged not only to explore his creative and musical range as a soloist but to mature into a more nuanced ensemble player.
The new melting pot of Danish and Swedish jazz stew was about to simmer, and Uffe was about to stir it up.
On March 6, at the Stockholm Swing-Club, Uffe and Åke Hasselgård appeared on the same stage for the first time, Uffe with Charlie Norman’s little band, and Åke on clarinet with Royal Swingers. Their musical paths would cross many times over the next years, from Sweden to Denmark and across the Atlantic to the US, where Åke worked as Stan Hasselgard and Uffe worked as Frank Bode.
Charlie Norman’s musicians got great reviews. Jorgen Rothenborg writes:
“The band sounded best on the evenings when bassist Thore Jederby was present. On those three nights every week, there was a fine rhythm section to listen to. [About Uffe Baadh] … I consider him to be the best drummer in Scandinavia. He provides a lively beat without letting his playing become inconsistent, and his rhythmic decorations are well-placed and in good taste. His rhythmic energy really lifts the band and gives a swingy feeling even to the slower pieces played. It’s really like he ‘sends’ the soloists (or the entire section) right on to the listeners.”
By November, 1944, Uffe rode a wave of musical creativity with two of his own (and possibly only) compositions for his Uffe Baadhs Orkester, a sextet with Rolf Ericson tp, George Vernon tb, Carl-Henrik Norin cl ts, Charlie Norman p, Thore Jederby b, Uffe Baadh, dr.
Here, in Rose Room, we hear that “swingy feeling” and support for his soloists.
Danish musicians flowed in and out of the Swedish dance bands, often substituting for others who left for their military service. Uffe took over Gosta Heden’s drum stool in the popular Thore Ehrlings Orkester over the next year, touring and making some good recordings.
Here’s Back Beat Boogie with Thore Ehrlings Orkester and Uffe’s steady hand, 1944
Greetings To Sweden
In November, 1944, Uffe’s composition and his band’s recording, Greetings To Sweden, was reviewed to great acclaim, and the publication of the arrangements allowed other bands to try their hands at it. While Rose Room is restrained with a light rhythmic touch, Greetings to Sweden lets Uffe take the flamboyant lead as a soloist.
“The rhythm section is what really ‘makes’ this record, which is a rarity for Sweden - and still at least two of the horn-men involved are amongst the very best soloists in this country. So why is that? There aren’t too many answers to that question. Baadh is apparently one class better than his Swedish colleagues.” - Estrad, November, 1944.
Clash of Swedish and Danish Jazz Styles
Jazz music at this time was dance music, languid swaying melodies for slow dancing and dynamic swing rhythms for jitterbug. The Danish musicians brought a bright and lively style, uptempo, that raised the eyebrows and even ire of the Swedish music establishment, leading to soul searching among the musicians and fans.
Charlie Norman, in his 1980 memoir, continues his tale of Uffe’s effect in Sweden:
“He criticized his new colleagues and won more and more supporters as they noticed how he, by way of his enthusiasm and eminent technical skills, was a model for what they themselves were aiming to be. But don’t think that this calmed things down. Oh no. This caused the elders of the true believers to start a campaign. They worked against the young musician by labeling him an Americanized Jitterbug. And they continued the fight until it was time for the young man to return home. Then everyone was happy, but on different grounds.”
Listen as Uffe keeps the beat with Thore Ehrlings Orkester in Fascinating Rhythm from 1944.
Return to Denmark with the Danish Brigade, 1945
By April, 1945, Uffe Baadh was no longer performing in Sweden. Together with other Danish refugees, he’d been training as part of the Danish Brigade, a military unit trained by Sweden to help liberate Denmark. Upon Germany’s surrender to the Allied troops in Denmark on May 5, 1945, Uffe and the Danish Brigade (or DanForce) sailed on the first boat out of Sweden back to Copenhagen.
“Wasn’t that a sweet little fairy tale? So what is the moral? Well, whenever we can stop being die-hard conservatives and, instead, embrace new and fresh ideas, our musical standards and our tolerance will be beyond recognition.” - Charlie Norman, 1945
Many thanks to Lars Westin and others for their research and reflections of the times, and to the jazz archives at University of Copenhagen, Swedish jazz magazine Orkesterjournalen/Jazz (OJ), University of Southern Denmark and Rutgers Jazz Institute. - VBG
More to come in Keep the Beat - A Jazz Life
3 - Copenhagen and New York City / Peter Rassmussen, Don Redmond, Lars Laine, Timme Rosenkranz, Benny Goodman, Harry James
4 - Hollywood / Stan Hasselgard, Wardell Grey, Lenny Bruce, Claude Thornhill
5 - Palm Springs / Elvis Presley, Buddy Rich, Tommy Dorsey, Kitty White
6 - Keep the Beat / Cal Bailey, Lars Laine, Shirley Bandar, Red Callender
An Americanized Jitterbug!