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BEGINNINGS
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on April 17th 1931, Bill Ramsey grew up with the abundance of musical styles found in the "Queen City" of the thirties and forties. At home, music played an important role. Bill's father, a talented amateur pianist, played the classics and enjoyed listening to jazz; his two teenage sisters were avid collectors of the records of the big bands of the era: Benny Goodman; Glenn Miller; Artie Shaw; Ellington; Basie. The great folk artist, John Jacob Niles, was a close family friend and frequent visitor; an early influence on Bill's musical tastes. But the sounds of the city were the ones that eventually formed Bill's deepest musical interests. Headquarters of KING Records, famous for Jazz, Blues, R&B and Country -- all of which were daily fare for the city's five or six radio stations -- Cincinnati was also a favorite venue for the big bands, and its downtown clubs offered plenty of swinging, live music. His first real exposure to 'live' jazz came on a trip with his father to New York and a visit to Café Society Downtown, where Meade 'Lux' Lewis, Albert Ammons and Hazel Scott were the stars, and it was not long after that visit that Bill began playing a little "Boogie", by ear. Later, his love of vocal jazz took over and he began singing the blues -- and studying the work of the famous jazz singers. His favorites? Jimmy Rushing, Louis Jordan, Fats Waller. Folk singers like Josh White and Big Bill Broonzey. Leadbelly. The great Joe Williams (who would later become a life-long friend and mentor). They all added bits and pieces to the musical mosaic that would become the Bill Ramsey style. As his interest grew, so did his repertoire. Ella. Nat Cole. Dinah Washington. Billy Eckstine. Bill listened -- and sang whenever and wherever he got the chance. When the Korean War broke out, Bill was studying Sociology at Yale. He enlisted in the Air Force and, instead of being sent to Korea, found himself in Frankfurt, Germany, a city that had developed an especially lively postwar jazz scene and was beginning to create some major jazz names (Albert Mangelsdorff; Vera Auer; Atilla Zoller) as well as attract established stars like Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, Don Menza and Dave Amram. In a short time, Bill was part of that scene. His work in the Air Force as "Chief Producer" AFN-Frankfurt, the key station of the American Forces Network, kept him busy with the world of Jazz. His boss, Programm Director Johnny Vrotsos, also functioned as Norman Granz' partner for the Frankfurt area and gave Bill the assignment of supervising the recording of the big Jazz Concerts that came to the area (Count Basie; Duke Ellington; Louis Armstrong; Stan Kenton -- to name a few). After recording a terrific "Jazz at the Philharmonic", Bill was invited to join Vrotsos. Granz and some of the musicians, including Ella Fitzgerald, for a nightcap. At the hotel bar, much to his embarassment, Vrotsos and some of his AFN colleagues asked Bill to sing for the JATP stars. After the first chorus, Ella turned to Vrotsos and said: "All you got to do is close your eyes." For her, Bill was -- at least acoustically -- black. As far as Bill was concerned, it was "the greatest compliment I've ever had". Again, it was Johnny Vrotsos who encouraged and helped Bill to appear at military and civilian Jazz events, which led to his appearance at the 1st and 2nd German American Jazz Festivals in Nürnberg, singing with Germany's top big band: the Kurt Edelhagen Orchestra. Even as a GI, Bill became so well-known to the German jazz public that in 1954, still in unifrom, he was voted the number two jazz vocalist in Germany by the magazine "Gondel" (then Germany's "Downbeat"). Taking his discharge in Germany, Bill entered Frankfurt's University and continued his jazz activities, on the side. In May, 1955, he appeared at the German Jazz Festival -- the first American to do so -- with the Jutta Hipp Combo, and, later that summer, made it another first by touring Yugolslavia with one of Germany's top traditional bands, the "Two Beat Stompers". To augment a meager GI-Bill income, Bill appeared regularly on weekends as a blues- and folk-singing MC at military clubs throughout Germany and France. During this time he also appeared in two German films. At the end of 1955, he returned to the United States for a short period, before coming back to Germany, permanently, in 1957. In two years, not much had changed. He returned to the University, played the clubs -- and spent every free evening jamming in Frankfurt's famous "Domicile du Jazz". Through 1957, Bill concentrated on jazz, appearing with the "Two Beat Stompers" at the German Jazz Festival; Later joining the "Frankfurt All Stars" on another Jazz Federation tour, this time to Poland, starting with the "2nd Sopot Jazz Jamboree" and ending up at the Culture Palace in Warsaw. A live recording of the Sopot concert (released on the Polske Nagrania label and now a collector's item in Poland) has recently been reissued (September 1997) as part of a compilation CD "Caeldonia & More", Bear Family Records BCD 16151. Only two weeks after the Polish tour, Bill appeared in Scheveningen, Holland at a concert arranged by Paul Acket (founder of the North Sea Jazz Festival), performing with "Eric Kran's Dixieland Pipers" plus Albert Nicholas, Bill Coleman and Beryl Bryden. From this concert came his first single "Caldonia" and "Big Fat Mama" and first EP "Jammin' the Saints", released on Columbia, Holland.This too is part of the compilation CD "Caldonia & More". A SLIGHT SHIFT IN FOCUS About this time, Heinz Gietz, a jazzpianist-arranger and close friend who had gotten Bill started in German movies in 1955, asked if he would be interested in making a pop record. Gietz had become one of the most successful players in the German pop music scene. Composer, arranger and producer, Heinz Gietz had made his name working with such tops stars as Caterina Valente. Bill thought his proposition was interesting. Asked whether he would rather do rock and roll or something amusing, the jazz singer opted for the latter and his first recording was a moderate success. The second, the German cover version of "Purple People Eater", was a major hit. It was followed by a long string of top ten songs (no longer cover versions), written for Bill by his friend Gietz and two of Germany's most successful lyricists. Bill has recorded 50 singles, 30 LP's & CD's, hosted various musical and children's TV shows, appeared in countless TV and radio broadcasts and managed to act in 28 German, Austrian and Swiss films. Bill's success as a pop singer had one negative fallout: jazz purists thoroughly dis- approved of the newly born "Entertainer" Ramsey, and for many years excluded him from their jazz scene. For an American, used to the blurred border between jazz and popular music (Ella; Satchmo; Sinatra), this was both a disappointment and an unpleasant surprise. However, his continued success throughout the German-speaking world as a popular, sought-after entertainer (who just happens to sing jazz very well) has led to "forgiveness", and the purists have, once again, embraced him in their world. Perhaps more important, Bill's pop audiences began to attend jazz concerts and to expect some jazz along with his old pop hits at every personal appearance. BACK TO THE BASICS These days, Bill only records occasionally -- and mostly jazz. Eight CD's are currently available: two compilations of the old hits "Souvenirs" and "Ohne Krimi geht die Mimi..."); the above-mentioned "Caldonia & More", a compilation of various early live jazz performances; two re-releases of jazz LP's: "When I See You" with Toots Thielemanns + Trio and one "The Other Side - Dedicated to Nat King Cole" with the Zürich Radio Orchestra; two recent productions with the Stuttgart Radio Big Band "Gettin Back to Swing" and "S'wonderful - The Songs of George Gershwin", a Gershwin 100th birthday tribute together with Etta Cameron; and finally, released in May 1999, "Hamburg keine ist wie Du", a tribute to his new home town and his favorite ship. Over the years, even at the height of his commercial record career, Bill has continued to do jazz radio concerts and radio archive recordings with the big bands of the German, Austrian and Swiss radio networks. He has performed jazz on countless television shows, appearing with such bands as Ted Heath and Peter Herbolzheimer's Rhythm Combination and Brass. He has appeared, live, in concert (among many others) with Chris Barber, the Dutch Swing College, European Swing All-Stars, Charlie Antolini's Jazz Power, Rod Mason & his Hot Five and the Young Olympia Brass Band from New Orleans. He currently works with solo piano, trios and quartets and big bands with a main-steam repertoire that includes ballads, blues, standards and bop-scatting. He has always found his audience. CHRONOLOGY OF A CAREER: A FEW HIGHLIGHTS The Fifties
The Sixties
The Seventies
The Eighties
The Nineties
The new Millenium
What's in the future?
George Black |