Eddie Rosner
Encyclopedia
Adolph Ignatievich Rosner, also known as Eddie Rosner (May 26, 1910 in Berlin
– August 8, 1976 in West Berlin
) was a Polish
and Soviet Jazz
musician called "The White Louis Armstrong
" or "Polish Louis Armstrong" in different sources. This is in part because of his rendition of the St. Louis blues
. He also served as a prisoner in the Gulag
prison
camp in the former Soviet Union
under Joseph Stalin
.
. In 1916, a child of six, he was taken to Stern's Musical Conservatory in Berlin. He initially studied classical music, but became drawn to jazz by the age of fifteen. In 1920 he left the conservatory as a violinist with excellent marks and entered the High School of Music in Berlin, on the Kantstrasse, near the Opera. During the 1920s he caught the jazz bug and switched to trumpet. At that time he adopted the name "Eddie" and played with other Polish musicians in Marek Weber's orchestra. http://patefon.knet.ru/kdf/rozner.html
playing and ability to play two trumpets at once. In his tour of Europe in the 1930s the French celebrated his work and he was featured in many magazines.
. At that time, Eddie Rosner was considered the best jazz trumpeter in Europe and was compared to the American trumpeter Louis Armstrong
.
In 1939, in Warsaw
, he married Ruth Kaminska, the daughter of Polish actress Ida Kaminska
. His career and life could have been in jeopardy after the invasion of Poland by the Nazi Germans on September 1, 1939, but he soon fled occupied Poland and escaped from the Nazis on the outbreak of the Second World War. In September 1939, Eddie Rosner and a group of musicians from his band crossed the newly established German-Soviet border and came to the city of Białystok in what was then the western part of Belarus
, which became part of the Soviet Union. Eddie Rosner was initially welcomed by the Soviet authorities and was allowed to perform in the Soviet Union which at that time embraced the music of jazz.
( data about Ruth Kamińska, (from wiki in polish)
"Quote" -- także Ruth Turkow, Ruth Rosner (ur. 1919, zm. 23 sierpnia 2005 w Nowym Jorku) – polska aktorka teatralna i filmowa żydowskiego pochodzenia, córka Idy Kamińskiej i Zygmunta Turkowa, wnuczka Ester Rachel Kamińskiej i Abrahama Izaaka Kamińskiego.)
, and also toured around the Soviet Union, having several performances in Moscow and other big cities. Eddie Rosner initially achieved an equally glowing reception in the USSR as he had in Europe. Before and during the Nazi occupation of the USSR in the Second World War Rosner's performances were often broadcast over the national radio of the Soviet Union, and several records were released and distributed across the USSR. Joseph Stalin
even called Rosner to say he enjoyed his performance for him. This led to Rosner being made the leader of the Soviet State Jazz Orchestra for a time. He and his band recorded such hits as "Caravan
" and "St. Louis Blues" among many other popular themes.
in the city of Lvov in the Ukraine
, and then he was sent to a Gulag
prison
camp in Siberia
on false charges of "anti-Soviet" treason with a ten-year sentence. For the next eight years Rosner continued to perform in the Gulag camp near Magadan
, and was allowed to use music, or be used, to lift the spirits of other prisoners of the Soviet Gulag. He was released in May 1954, more than a year after Stalin's death.
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
– August 8, 1976 in West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
) was a Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
and Soviet Jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musician called "The White Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
" or "Polish Louis Armstrong" in different sources. This is in part because of his rendition of the St. Louis blues
St. Louis blues
St. Louis blues is a type of blues music. It is usually more piano-based than other forms of the blues, and is closely related to the jump blues, ragtime and piano blues...
. He also served as a prisoner in the Gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
camp in the former Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
under Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
.
Childhood
He was born into a Polish Jewish family in BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. In 1916, a child of six, he was taken to Stern's Musical Conservatory in Berlin. He initially studied classical music, but became drawn to jazz by the age of fifteen. In 1920 he left the conservatory as a violinist with excellent marks and entered the High School of Music in Berlin, on the Kantstrasse, near the Opera. During the 1920s he caught the jazz bug and switched to trumpet. At that time he adopted the name "Eddie" and played with other Polish musicians in Marek Weber's orchestra. http://patefon.knet.ru/kdf/rozner.html
Musicianship
Eddie Rosner made a creative fusion of his classical music education with the newest beat of jazz. After playing with several bands in Berlin, he joined "The Syncopators", led by Stephan Weintraub, and toured around Western Europe. In the 1930s Eddie Rosner and "The Syncopators" By 1934 he had gained acclaim for his trumpetTrumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
playing and ability to play two trumpets at once. In his tour of Europe in the 1930s the French celebrated his work and he was featured in many magazines.
America
During the 1930s Eddie Rosner worked with "The Syncopators" at the "New York" transatlantic steamer. There Eddie Rosner entertained the passengers cruising between Hamburg and various American seaports. By that time, Rosner had made several recordings of his trumpet playing with the band, and planned on starting a new career in America. For that matter he was involved in a correspondence with the famous American bandleader and drummer Gene KrupaGene Krupa
Gene Krupa was an American jazz and big band drummer and composer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style.-Biography:...
. At that time, Eddie Rosner was considered the best jazz trumpeter in Europe and was compared to the American trumpeter Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
.
Escape from the Nazis
"In 1939, it didn't help being a Jew playing Negro music, even if your name is Adolf," joked Eddie Rosner. He left Nazi Germany for Poland. http://www.peak.sfu.ca/the-peak/2001-2/issue4/ar-gulag.htmlIn 1939, in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, he married Ruth Kaminska, the daughter of Polish actress Ida Kaminska
Ida Kaminska
Ida Kaminska was a Polish actress.-Early life:Born in Odessa, Russia she was the daughter of Yiddish stage actress Esther Rachel Kamińska and actor, director and stage producer, Avram Izhak Kamiński . She reportedly married and divorced actor Marian Melman...
. His career and life could have been in jeopardy after the invasion of Poland by the Nazi Germans on September 1, 1939, but he soon fled occupied Poland and escaped from the Nazis on the outbreak of the Second World War. In September 1939, Eddie Rosner and a group of musicians from his band crossed the newly established German-Soviet border and came to the city of Białystok in what was then the western part of Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
, which became part of the Soviet Union. Eddie Rosner was initially welcomed by the Soviet authorities and was allowed to perform in the Soviet Union which at that time embraced the music of jazz.
( data about Ruth Kamińska, (from wiki in polish)
"Quote" -- także Ruth Turkow, Ruth Rosner (ur. 1919, zm. 23 sierpnia 2005 w Nowym Jorku) – polska aktorka teatralna i filmowa żydowskiego pochodzenia, córka Idy Kamińskiej i Zygmunta Turkowa, wnuczka Ester Rachel Kamińskiej i Abrahama Izaaka Kamińskiego.)
Initial success in the USSR
In 1939 Eddie Rosner settled in Belostok and formed the "Belostok Jazz", a big band, which soon became the State Jazz of the Belorussian Republic of the USSR. During the following two years, Rosner and his jazz band toured all over BelarusBelarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
, and also toured around the Soviet Union, having several performances in Moscow and other big cities. Eddie Rosner initially achieved an equally glowing reception in the USSR as he had in Europe. Before and during the Nazi occupation of the USSR in the Second World War Rosner's performances were often broadcast over the national radio of the Soviet Union, and several records were released and distributed across the USSR. Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
even called Rosner to say he enjoyed his performance for him. This led to Rosner being made the leader of the Soviet State Jazz Orchestra for a time. He and his band recorded such hits as "Caravan
Caravan (song)
"Caravan" is a jazz standard composed by Juan Tizol and first performed by Duke Ellington in 1937. Irving Mills wrote the lyrics, but he sometimes is not credited on the many instrumental versions. Its exotic sound interested exotica musicians; Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman both covered it. Woody...
" and "St. Louis Blues" among many other popular themes.
Repressions
After the war everything changed. By 1946 Stalin became increasingly hostile to Jewish people and also foreigners. In that year the Soviet censorship had all foreign art and music banned, even the leading Russian musicians, like Sergey Prokofiev and Dmitry Shostakovich were censored, and Rosner fell into disfavor and planned to emigrate from the Soviet Union. He was arrested by the Soviet KGBKGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
in the city of Lvov in the Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
, and then he was sent to a Gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
camp in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
on false charges of "anti-Soviet" treason with a ten-year sentence. For the next eight years Rosner continued to perform in the Gulag camp near Magadan
Magadan
Magadan is a port town on the Sea of Okhotsk and gateway to the Kolyma region. It is the administrative center of Magadan Oblast , in the Russian Far East. Founded in 1929 on the site of an earlier settlement from the 1920s, it was granted the status of town in 1939...
, and was allowed to use music, or be used, to lift the spirits of other prisoners of the Soviet Gulag. He was released in May 1954, more than a year after Stalin's death.