Biography
The Belgian jazz pianist John Ouwerx anticipated commercial demand for swinging music across the lowlands long before most contemporaries devoted themselves to novel waffle inventions. No one could have foreseen his eventual association with tracks whose titles emerged garbled as “Only Forever Locve Universe the Things You of Acres” and the marginally clearer “I Can’t Love You Anymore Sweeping the Floor.” Responsibility for that linguistic disaster lies with erratic computer translation programs that mangled the original Decca sides cut by Ouwerx and fellow Belgian jazz hotshot Johnny Jack; the same software later tagged the genre as “piano lecture,” prompting a needed clarification of the actual repertoire.
Ouwerx spent his early years in Belguim at the dawn of the twentieth century before relocating to New York City during the sweltering summer of 1925. Despite immigration complications he held a steady organ post at the Strand Palace. Four months after arrival he made history back home by delivering Belgium’s first performance of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” Throughout the remainder of the 1920s he played with the group Bistrouille A.D.O. while also delivering lectures on jazz. His 1928 itinerary carried him through the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, and onward to Egypt. Additional travels with violinist Marek Weber’s ensemble took him to Hungary and Germany, plus further engagements among Swiss audiences. He next turned to arranging film scores and commenced recording in 1931 alongside Gus Deloopf.
By 1934 Ouwerx was stationed in Antwerp, performing with Robert De Kers’s band and with Stan Brenders. The latter association yielded Ouwerx’s broadest recognition when Brenders recruited him for an expansive ensemble session spotlighting Django Reinhardt’s guitar. The resulting string-section dates, occasionally trimmed to a smaller violin-and-viola contingent, produced “Divine Beguine,” “Nuages,” “Djangology,” “Eclats de Cuivres,” “Django Rag,” and the striking “Dynamisme.” Ouwerx remained under Brenders’s direction from 1936 through 1944. Afterward he pursued ambitious multi-piano concerts featuring two and four instruments, reuniting him with Johnny Jack as well as Egide Van Gils and Fud Candrix.
Ouwerx maintained a regular presence at Brussels’s Continental before departing for the Belgian Congo, where he established his own piano bar. Nearly ten years of performances there preceded his return to Belgium in time for the 1958 World’s Fair. He devoted his final fifteen years to operating a Brussels piano bar, where his distinctive touch and lyrical melodic approach remained undiminished.
Ouwerx spent his early years in Belguim at the dawn of the twentieth century before relocating to New York City during the sweltering summer of 1925. Despite immigration complications he held a steady organ post at the Strand Palace. Four months after arrival he made history back home by delivering Belgium’s first performance of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” Throughout the remainder of the 1920s he played with the group Bistrouille A.D.O. while also delivering lectures on jazz. His 1928 itinerary carried him through the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, and onward to Egypt. Additional travels with violinist Marek Weber’s ensemble took him to Hungary and Germany, plus further engagements among Swiss audiences. He next turned to arranging film scores and commenced recording in 1931 alongside Gus Deloopf.
By 1934 Ouwerx was stationed in Antwerp, performing with Robert De Kers’s band and with Stan Brenders. The latter association yielded Ouwerx’s broadest recognition when Brenders recruited him for an expansive ensemble session spotlighting Django Reinhardt’s guitar. The resulting string-section dates, occasionally trimmed to a smaller violin-and-viola contingent, produced “Divine Beguine,” “Nuages,” “Djangology,” “Eclats de Cuivres,” “Django Rag,” and the striking “Dynamisme.” Ouwerx remained under Brenders’s direction from 1936 through 1944. Afterward he pursued ambitious multi-piano concerts featuring two and four instruments, reuniting him with Johnny Jack as well as Egide Van Gils and Fud Candrix.
Ouwerx maintained a regular presence at Brussels’s Continental before departing for the Belgian Congo, where he established his own piano bar. Nearly ten years of performances there preceded his return to Belgium in time for the 1958 World’s Fair. He devoted his final fifteen years to operating a Brussels piano bar, where his distinctive touch and lyrical melodic approach remained undiminished.