Jazz, blues and nostalgia, by Sjaak Roodenburg. Digging for treasure in the rich oeuvre of Toon Hermans, who was born 100 years ago today.
Apart from the known successes like ‘De slinger van de koffergrammofoon’, we mainly play hidden gems. Like the exuberant happiness of his French orientated early songs, Toon who fights against his general tiredness in his studies with Professor Rötelflöt and telling how he was born in the circus – with the overwhelming Frau Knutze and her ‘Riesen Löwe’: ‘Menschenkinder!’ Also, a promotional record of his failed film ‘Moutarde van Sonansee’, his absurdist ‘Kolderliedjes’ and his American adventure that sizzled out before its time. His shows were prepared in detail, but Toon could also improvise superbly- for example his string of witty remarks when some latecomers enter, just when he’s about to sing a song on his beloved Limburg. And of course, Love, in ‘C’est l’amour’, his tribute to voluptuous ‘Marie’ who stood straight as an arrow on her gorgeous stand (‘so ordinary, yet so beautiful), and something of his very last session, for an unfinished album that should have been the ‘most beautiful’ of his career. And maybe it was…
An hour of Timeless Toon. Surprisingly versatile!
