Melle Weersma (January 22, 1908, Harlingen - September 14, 1988,

Putten Putten () is a municipality and town in the province of Gelderland, Netherlands. It had a population of in . It is located in the coastal area of the old Zuiderzee (Southern Sea). To the east of Putten lies the Veluwe, the biggest national par ...

) was a Dutch composer, arranger, and bandleader, who played in

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, light music, and symphonic styles. Weersma played in the late 1920s with The Electorians, and then in the early 1930s with Juan Lossas and Bobby 't Sas. From late 1931 to early 1932 he worked in Berlin as a film score arranger. He founded his own short-lived large ensemble called the Red, White and Blue Aces in 1934. Early in 1935 he worked with

Jack Hylton Jack Hylton (born John Greenhalgh Hilton; 2 July 1892 – 29 January 1965) was an English pianist, composer, band leader and impresario. Hylton rose to prominence during the British dance band era, being referred as the "British King of Jazz" a ...

in London, then moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

later in the year, where he did arrangements for

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His co ...

, and

Andre Kostelanetz Andre Kostelanetz (russian: Абрам Наумович Костелянец; December 22, 1901 – January 13, 1980) was a Russian-born American popular orchestral music conductor and arranger who was one of the major exponents of popular orche ...

. Returning to England in 1936, he took a position as an arranger for Henry Hall at the BBC. Weersma moved to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

in 1938, working with dance bands and radio programs, and that same year wrote the song "Penny Serenade", a hit on record for

Nat Gonella Nathaniel Charles Gonella (7 March 1908 – 6 August 1998) was an English jazz trumpeter, bandleader, vocalist, and mellophonist. He founded the big band The Georgians, during the British dance band era. Early life and career Gonella was bo ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he did a stint in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, then returned to Argentina after the war, where he composed his works ''Criollo Suite'' and ''Peruvian Waltz (Gaviota)''. In 1954 he returned to the Netherlands, where he worked in the radio and records industries.

References

*"Melle Weersma". '' The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz''. 2nd edition, ed.

Barry Kernfeld Barry Dean Kernfeld (born August 11, 1950) is an American musicologist and jazz saxophonist who has researched and published extensively about the history of jazz and the biographies of its musicians. Education In 1968, Kernfeld enrolled at U ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Weersma, Melle Dutch jazz bandleaders 20th-century composers Dutch composers