Soviet Jazz: Eddie Rosner, Trumpet (1944) - Caravan (Ellington)
EDDIE ROSNER

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Caravan (D. Ellington) – State Jazz of the Belorussian Republic of the USSR dir. by Eddi ROSNER, trumpet solo: Eddi Rosner, Aprelyevski Zavod (USSR; 1944)

NOTE: Ady (Eddi) ROSNER – Polish jazz musician called "The White Louis Armstrong". Born Adolph Rosner in 1910 in Berlin to family of Polish/Jewish immigrants from Cracow. As prodigy child, in age of 6 he was sent to Stern's Conservatory in Berlin, which he left in age of 15 as a violinist with excellent marks. Yet, instead of continuing classical career, he chose playing trumpet with other Polish musicians in the popular dance band of Marek Weber (who was also a Polish/Jewish immigrant in Berlin). Weber, who was himself a Conservatory graduate, noticed Ady’s unique ability of making a creative fusion of his classical music education with the newest beat of jazz. In 1930, Rosner joined The Syncopators led by Stephan Weintraub, and toured in Europe. In Paris, he was enthusiastically celebrated by the jazz-fans and called the "Polish Louis Armstrong”. He was admired for sophisticated musicality and tricks during the play, eg. playing on two trumpets at the same time. For some time Rosner cruised between Hamburg – New York with The Weintraubs, then he settled in Ostende to work with a Belgian musician Fud Candrix in a successful jazz band. After the Nazi Party’s victory in Germany, Rosner left the Netherlands and in 1934 traveled to Warsaw, where he became a sensation in the best night clubs. He formed his own jazz band with which he later traveled to Cracow, where his family lived and from 1937 they played in the club “Casanova”. In 1938 he had a tour in France, where he recorded some sides for Columbia (now, very much sought for by the 78rpm’s collectors). During last year before the war, Ady Rosner married Ruth Kaminska, daughter of Ida Kaminska - famous Polish actress of the Jewish Theatre in Warsaw. They opened a night bar/restaurant in Lódz, but several months later, when Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht invaded Poland, Ady Rosner and a group of musicians crossed the newly established German-Soviet border and came to the city of Bialystok in what was then the part of the Soviet Union. Rosner was initially welcomed by the Soviet authorities and was allowed to perform in Bialystok with his band, billed as the Bialystok Jazz or the State Jazz of the Belorussian Republic of the USSR. During the following two years, Rosner’s orchestra toured all over the Soviet Union, having performances in Moscow and other big cities. In place of the monotonously nasal and quavering tones of most of the Soviet bands, Ady Rosner offered a rich sound vitalized with unexpected chord progressions. He was the first bandleader in USSR who employed in his band a sound engineer for a fancy amplification system which Rosner arranged in 1940, when the Soviets confiscated equipment of the Polish radio factory Elektric in Wilno. The band invariably appeared in white tuxedos or double-breasted suits in pastel colors. His use of multi-colored lighting and show-tricks such as two men costumed as a camel, who crossed the stage during performances of “Caravan” - surprised the sophisticated audiences. When Rosner appeared before his band with a closely trimmed moustache a la Henry James, whom he idolized, with his American-gold Beuscher cornet raised high, he was the very image of the Western jazzman – the picture not necessarily acceptable by Soviet apparatchiks. Yet, the personal admiration of Stalin protected Rosner for some time and helped him become the leader of the Soviet State Jazz Orchestra… until 1945, when everything changed. Stalin became increasingly hostile to Jewish people and also to foreigners, many of his former favorites were banned, even the leading musicians, like Prokofiev or Shostakovich were censored. Rosner fell into disfavor, especially when he applied for emigration to Poland. He received refusal and soon thereafter he was arrested in the city of Lwów, now incorporated into the Western Ukraine, when he was trying to cross the border with his family. Charged with "anti-Soviet" treason, Rosner was sent to a Gulag with a 10 year sentence. For the next 8 years Rosner led a band in a prison camp near Magadan, to be released in 1954. In the mid-1950s, Rosner again conducted one of the best Russian big bands, but the official press and critics were instructed to avoid mentioning his name and he was refused to perform in major concert halls. During the 1960s Rosner and his band were gradually pushed into obscurity, while he continued sending applications for his and his family’s emigration. Each time he received a refusal. At last in 1973, when his heart disease proceeded, Rosner was allowed to travel to his birthplace, Berlin, where in 1976 he died in poverty, as his royalties had been blocked in the USSR.Today, his name sounds familiar only to the knowlegedable public and jazz historians.