Swiss “king of swing” turns 80
Hazy Osterwald, the Swiss bandleader, composer, all-round musician and one of the country's leading entertainers for over half-a-century, is celebrating his 80th birthday.
Osterwald took piano lessons at the age of eight and bought a second-hand trumpet for SFr20 ($12) when he was 17.
He received a formal music education at Bern conservatory before joining the Teddy Stauffer jazz band in 1940. Four years later, he formed his first orchestra, which in 1949 developed into the Hazy Osterwald Sextet.
With the sextet, Osterwald toured Europe, played concerts in North and South America, and made several movie appearances. His first big chart success was a recording of “Kriminal-Tango”, which sold a million copies in the late 1950s.
The band later changed personnel as well as its name, first to the Hazy Osterwald Jet Set and the then to Hazy Osterwald and the Entertainers.
Osterwald officially announced his retirement at Montreux in 1979, but it was short-lived and he went on performing with the band through the next two decades. Around 1990 he returned to his musical roots – jazz – while concentrating on playing the vibraphone in a style similar to that of Lionel Hampton.
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