“The Jazz People Return Home”
In Denmark’s Berlingske Tidene, journalist Bent Henius, who had been in Sweden with Uffe Baadh from 1943 to 1945, reported that the two of them were assigned to the “Pioneers” (the sapper squad) in the Danish Brigade (DanForce). Nearly 5000 Danes had been trained in Sweden to take over Denmark when the Germans surrendered. When this happened, early in the morning of May 5, 1945, most of the Danes, including Bent and Uffe, were assembled at a tent-camp a few miles from the border. They were immediately shipped across the narrowest part of Øresund, from Helsingborg on the Swedish side to Helsingor (of Hamlet fame) in Denmark. It was a relatively peaceful venture.
In another article that appeared in Tribune during July of 1945, Bent explains that, while 4500 brigadiers of the DanForce were demobilized after a couple of weeks and saw no action whatsoever, the sapper squad, including Uffe, was transferred to Jutland where, under British command, they supervised the disarming of millions of mines along the Western front. This meant pointing their guns at surrendered German soldiers who were forced to do the very dangerous work of removing the mines.
My dad never spoke about this time in his life. In fact, his American family never knew of it until we read these translations over 60 years later. It’s hard to imagine Daddy with a gun, and I can only imagine the horrors he must have experienced in these weeks. Furthermore, there were reports that he had injured his foot in a training incident in the south of Sweden.
Perhaps he was given a medical discharge, because by July it was reported that he had joined trombonist Peter Rasmussen’s band for an upcoming tour “over the sound to Sweden” but that “it will probably take some time before he starts working with the band as he’s got a plastered foot following minor surgery.”
Uffe Reflects from Denmark on the Jazz Scene in Sweden and his Future
In a July, 1945 Tribune interview with Niels Griffel, Uffe is asked,
“Will it be difficult to adjust to playing with Danish bands again?”
“Oh, no, man! Swedish musicians are very skillful, but there are few who are inspiring to play with. Moreover, their audiences are as frigid and unlively as can be imagined. I have really longed to get back home again.”
“So why do the Swedish big bands sound so fine?”
“First and foremost because they give the musicians opportunity to play together day in and day out and they rehearse often and very thoroughly. Here in Denmark there are no full-sized orchestras except on special occasions and that’s why we’re inferior in that area. The Swedes manage to keep a few big bands going full-time partly because the musicians are paid less, and the refreshments cost more.”
“Have you also listened to some American swing music while in Sweden?”
“Of course I have - are you crazy? I have corresponded with Ray McKinley, Glenn Miller’s drummer [who took over the leadership of his band after Miller vanished in December, 1944]. I wrote to him when we [Thore Ehrling’s band] were going to have a radio broadcast over the Allied Forces Network. He listened to it, and he sent me a letter with some comments on my work.
“And, now what?”
“I will travel out there as soon as there is an opportunity.”
Musicians Struggle for Work in Denmark and International Touring Resumes
The weeks and months after the liberation of Denmark were chaotic for most of the country, with massive unemployment adding to the challenges of restoring civilian life. For Uffe, with a foot injury, jumping back onto a drum stool was no easy feat. Work was scarce. According to Musikern (the Swedish Musicians’ Union paper) in August, 1945, “There are lots of restrictions in liberated Denmark, and it’s a terrible situation for musicians. In April, 1945, there was 44.5% unemployment; by May this increased to 46.6%.”
That month, Peter Rasmussen and his band left Denmark for a tour to Sweden and Norway.
From Musikern: “One of three Danish bands visiting Sweden in August of 1945 has been trombonist Peter Rasmussen’s, playing at the Cabaret Hall at the Liseberg amusement park in Gothenburg and a tour of eight concerts before going on to Oslo for a couple of appearances.”
A reviewer in Sweden points out that: “It was a really fine band except for the drummer’s “forte” which made the totality sound imbalanced.”
Listen to Nightlife, recorded by Peter Rasmussen’s Sekstet, 1945, with Uffe playing like he means it with plenty of energy and, yes, forte.
The band traveled back and forth between Copenhagen and Sweden often over the next months.
American Musicians Bring Fresh Impulse in Jazz to Denmark
Don Smith, former drummer with Red Norvo’s band, visited Copenhagen in February, 1946, and was recognized at Skandia one evening in a G. I. uniform. In an interview in Jazz Information/Tribune about what was happening in jazz in the US, he said:
“The best swing orchestra I have encountered here in Europe is that of Peter Rasmussen, taking advantage of all possibilities by the small ensemble - and they swing to a degree that you have to go to my native country to find their equals.”
Here is Peter Rasmussen’s Septet, in Duke Ellington’s Hayfoot Strawfoot, 1946
In September and October, 1946, Don Redmond’s Orchestra was the first American jazz band to visit Scandinavia after the war, touring Denmark, Sweden and elsewhere throughout Europe. This tour was the brainchild of Danish baron and jazz impressario Timme Rosenkrantz, who had spent the war years in New York. Upon his return home in 1945, he felt strongly that musicians in Denmark needed to hear the new impulses of American jazz. Don Redmond’s big band brought with them the bright new sounds of the “progressive tendencies” of bebop.
Denmark’s jazz fans came out in droves for the concerts and listened to the band’s broadcasts on the radio. After the shows, late at night the Redmond musicians sought out jam sessions with the locals. It must have been a thrill for young Uffe to sit in with these accomplished American bebop players. Orkester Journalen, October 1946 reported: “On September 8 Redman and his musicians encountered musicians from Peter Rasmussen’s band at the Restaurant Skandia.”
Turning Points
The next months proved pivotal for Uffe and the Scandinavian jazz musicians.
In March, Peter Rasmussen’s band booked a 10 day tour to Sweden, promoted largely by the jazz journal Estrad. The journal proudly announced, “Estrad has decided to be the main arranger for this tour, not so much for making a profit as for presenting a band that we feel has reached such high standards that we Swedes absolutely must get the opportunity to experience it once again to see, admire, and learn.”
“Don’t miss the experience of the band that so astonished Don Redman’s musicians.”
“If this night isn’t sold out, the place will never be.”
Estrad reviews the tour, and the main concert on March 7, at La Viste in Stockholm:
“The tour was a great success. Huge audiences turned out when the horrible snow-storms didn’t prevent them. At La Viste, the place was sold out within minutes, several hundred had to be turned away, and the dance floor was immensely crowded. Many musicians came to listen to the Danish orchestra, our fellow-countryman, Lasse “Bob” Laine, among them. He felt (and told Peter Rasmussen) that the band would no doubt be a success in America.”
Uffe Baadh and Bob Laine Meet for the First Time
In 1929, pianist Bob Laine was one of the first Swedish jazz musicians to break into the US jazz scene. Bob had returned to Stockholm to visit his parents just days before the La Viste concert, and jazz historian Lars Westin points out: “The evening at La Viste must have been the first meeting between him and Uffe.”
In the years to come, Bob would become not only a fellow Scandinavian musician in California, but a neighbor, Uffe’s lifelong friend, and even a guardian angel.
Big Fish in a Small Sea Looks to Cross the Big Ocean - to the Big Apple
When Peter Rasmussen’s band booked a four-month tour of Portugal for the summer of 1947, Uffe was not with them. When Bob Laine and Ake Hasselgaard recorded an album on June 7 in Stockholm, another drummer took his seat. Uffe’s beloved sister, Marie, had been in her last days, very ill with cancer. Busser, as she was called, died at Frederiksberg Hospital in Copenhagen on June 16. She was just 29 years old, and left behind a young son, Jørn, age 5.
Heartbroken, yet yearning for a fresh future in the new world, Uffe made plans to leave. His passport shows a US visa granted July 3, and on July 5, 1947 he left Denmark. Taking his drums, Danish/English and English/Danish dictionaries, the phone number and address of his American sponsors, and not much else, he set out once again, perhaps by train or ferry, to Sweden’s port city of Gothenburg to sail on the historic Gripsholm.
He was not the only Scandinavian musician traveling west that season. Timme Rosenkrantz had sailed from England on July 1, Uffe on July 5, and Åke Hasselgard likely on the same voyage or the Gripsholm’s next trip. Thore Jederby would leave Sweden by air in September, and Bob and Iris Laine, joined by Rolf Ericson, sailed on the Gripsholm in November, reportedly joining the ship’s band in some swinging jam sessions.
Their paths would cross again in the new jazz scene in New York and California.
But in June, before Åke sailed, he and Bob recorded one last album, Stockholm Blues. Here’s Sunday with Bob Laine, Gosta Torner, and Stan Hasselgard:
Many thanks to Lars Westin and others for their research, translations, 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
4 - New York City / Timme Rosenkranz, Benny Goodman, Harry James
5 - Hollywood / Stan Hasselgard, Wardell Grey, Lenny Bruce, Claude Thornhill
6 - Palm Springs / Elvis Presley, Buddy Rich, Tommy Dorsey, Kitty White
7 - Keep the Beat / Red Callendar, Cal Bailey, Lars Laine, Shirley Bandar