UTOPIC CITIES: Progressive Jazz in Belgium 1968-1979

On the 11th June, independent groove label Sdban Records will release ‘Utopic Cities: Progressive Jazz in Belgium 1968-1979’ featuring an eclectic selection of forward-thinking jazz from the Belgian underground, including the left-field fusion of Marc Moulin’s Placebo, Koen De Bruyne and Solis Lacus; the intense post-bop of Jacques Pelzer and Lou MacConnell; the cutting edge soul jazz of Philip Catherine and Open Sky Unit and the otherworldly avant-garde of Babs Robert and the Brussels Art Quintet.

Recorded in the aftermath of the revolutionary year 1968, this music is the fruit of a highly creative momentum in Belgian jazz history that produced a unique sound which distinguishes itself from its American source of inspiration by an indefinable characteristic that can be hardly better described than ‘Belgian’. The release follows Sdban’s critically acclaimed ‘Let’s Get Swinging: Modern Jazz in Belgium 1950-1970’, released back in 2017.

Often considered a dark period for Belgian jazz, the sixties in general saw worldwide interest in the genre fade, with the country’s local scene crumbling little by little. The largest jazz association and concert organization, the Hot Club de Belgique, had ceased operations in 1961. The festival of Comblain-la-Tour, once dubbed ‘the European Capital of Jazz’, had followed in 1966. Saxophonist Bobby Jaspar, Belgium’s leading modernist, had passed away prematurely in New York in 1963. Many other musicians of the golden generation that emerged after World War II, like Toots Thielemans, Francy Boland or Christian Kellens, had long since moved abroad to pursue careers in jazz (see also Let’s Get Swinging: Modern Jazz in Belgium 1950-1970). Those who stayed behind were often obliged to work in the field of commercial music or even take up jobs outside of music. Jacques Pelzer, for example, spent his days running a pharmacy, while Jack Sels unloaded boats in the Antwerp harbor. Most of the jazz clubs fought a continuous struggle to survive, while others catered to fans of blues and traditional jazz in order to secure their existence. It wasn’t until the rise of a new generation of free-thinking musicians at the turn of the decade that the Belgian jazz scene got its second wind…..