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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZASMUSSEN, Svend(b 28 February 1916, Copenhagen, Denmark; d 7 February 2017). Violin. He toured for years with a trio called the Swe-Danes (a play on Sweden and Danish, with vocalist Alice Babs (who's Swedish) until '61. He reunited with Babs off and on, touring Brazil with her '74. He also played classical music. He was regarded as a comic entertainer in Scandinavia; there are videos of the trio's act in which they played on the closeness (yet differences) between the two languages. In fact he was famous in the rest of the world for playing first-class jazz violin, later experimenting with amplifiers; but he was one of those, like Fats Waller, who combined jazz and entertainment so that he enchanted audiences who didn't know anything about jazz. Countless recordings included Yesterday And Today, with Toots Thielemans; European Encounter with John Lewis, Violin Summit with Stuff Smith, Stéphane Grappelli and Jean-Luc Ponty; Duke Ellington's Jazz Violin Session, with Ray Nance and Grappelli; Two Of A Kind on Storyville with Grappelli; also quartet Fiddler Supreme on Intim Musik, quintet June Night on Signature, quartet Fiddling Around recorded '93 on Imogena. Compilations Phenomenal Fiddler on Phontastic are two volumes of great fun, Vol. 2 featuring '41-50 sides from the Odeon and Tono labels. He was still at it in the 21st century: Makin' Whoopee! is on Arbors. |