Raymond Droz (January 23, 1934,
La Chaux-De-Fonds
La Chaux-de-Fonds () is a Swiss city in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometers south of the French border. After Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg, it is the fourth largest city l ...
- June 29, 2000,
Zurich) was a Swiss
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 m ...
trombonist, arranger, and bandleader.
Droz won first prize at the first Zurich Jazz Festival in 1951 as a trombonist. In the next few years he played with
Claude Albert and with his own
Dixieland jazz
Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ...
band, and in 1956-1957 worked in
Lausanne
, neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...
as a radio technician. He toured with his own bands, which included as sidemen
Charly Antolini
Charly Antolini (born 24 May 1937) is a Swiss jazz drummer.
Career
Born in Zürich, Antolini started playing the traditional Swiss Basler drum. In 1956, he went to Paris, where he played with Sidney Bechet and Bill Coleman. He joined the Tre ...
,
Jean-Pierre Bionda,
Raymond Court, and
Pierre Favre
Peter Faber (french: Pierre Lefevre or Favre, la, Petrus Faver) (13 April 1506 – 1 August 1546) was a Jesuit priest and theologian, who was also a co-founder of the Society of Jesus, along with Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier. Pope Fra ...
. Between 1958 and 1964 he was a member of the orchestra of
Kurt Edelhagen
Kurt Edelhagen (born 5 June 1920 – 8 February 1982) was a German big band leader.
He was born in Herne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Edelhagen studied conducting and piano in Essen. In 1945, he started a trio, then a big band a year later. ...
in
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
, then became the first trombonist to be part of the radio entertainment orchestra of
Schweizer Radio DRS
Schweizer Radio: Radio der deutschen und rätoromanischen Schweiz (SR DRS; "Swiss Radio: Radio of the German and Romansh Switzerland") was a company of SRG SSR which operated the public German-language radio stations of Switzerland from 1931 un ...
, where he contributed many arrangements and compositions. He also arranged for the
Ted Haenzi Big Band. He performed with
Clark Terry at the Montreux Jazz Festival and in Switzerland with small ensembles. In 1985, he resigned from the DRS orchestra after health problems, but still played occasional sessions. He also worked with
Heinz Kretzschmar (1960),
Bill Ramsey (1965),
Buck Clayton
Wilbur Dorsey "Buck" Clayton (November 12, 1911 – December 8, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter who was a member of Count Basie's orchestra. His principal influence was Louis Armstrong, first hearing the record "Confessin' That I Love You" ...
(1966),
Rex Stewart
Rex William Stewart Jr. (February 22, 1907 – September 7, 1967) was an American jazz cornetist who was a member of the Duke Ellington orchestra.
Career
As a boy he studied piano and violin; most of his career was spent on cornet. Stewart drop ...
(1966),
Othella Dallas (1967),
Gabriela Schaaf (1979) and
New Zurich Jazztett (1981).
References
*"Raymond Droz". ''
The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz''. 2nd edition, ed.
Barry Kernfeld.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Droz, Raymond
1934 births
2000 deaths
Swiss jazz trombonists
Swiss jazz bandleaders
20th-century trombonists