Jazz Trouble

The enthusiasm of Europeans for American jazz was almost too much for Bandleader Lionel Hampton. Trouble struck during his midnight concert last week in Amsterdam's revered Concertgebouw. TIME Correspondent Israel Schenker cabled this communique:

Concert starts calmly, but oldtimers remember September 1953 Hampton concert at Concertgebouw: one boy hysterical; hospital; dancing on stage; wild time. Manager said never again. Too shocking for home of great orchestra once conducted by Willem Mengelberg.

This time concert gets to halfway point without trouble. Then Hampton calls for Flying Home. Band responds. Music gets hotter. Saxophonist gets up for solo, squirms, twists, flops, lies on back, feet up. Critic for Algemeen Handelsblad makes note for next day's review: "Tenor saxophonist lies on ground and copulates with his shimmering instrument." Hampton rattles drumsticks on his soles. Calls out "Hey bob-a-reebob!" Crowd calls (Dutch accent) "Hey bob-a-reebob!" Fellow cries "Louder, louder!"

At each side of podium stand Concertgebouw flunkeys, eyes popping. "Heathen cabal," says one.

Audience now wildly prancing, dancing, flinging arms, tossing legs, screaming, shrieking. "Stop it," demands hall manager. Handkerchief jabbed into coat pocket, trim, with cold eyes, he strides to center stage, faces band. Holds up arms, band stops. Crowd doesn't--just gets wilder. Boos, whistles, stomps. Is Concertgebouw licked? Ars longa? No! Administrator plunges into corridor.

Minute later two blackbooted city cops turn up. Hampton looked big, now looks small. Cops grab him. One each arm. Goes quietly. Band watches, bemused. Nobody else wants to jump into Lionel's den. Audience shocked. Screams and catcalls. Some laughter.

Backstage. Cops ease Hampton into dressing room. "And now cool off, father," says one, in Dutch. Hampton stunned. "What did I do? Arrested for jazzing," he moans. "Call the ambassador!" Tears off shirt. Washes. Puts on green wool shirt. Doesn't want catch cold. After 45 minutes go by, has cooled off. Police let him out. Band and Hampton drop into bus, churn off to Schiphol Airport and fly off. Real gone.

Said Hampton next day in France: "We were just doing a concert, just a concert. We started playing, and the kids started dancing all over the place. I thought they'd tear lip the place. Then the police came in and said they were arresting me. I guess there were about a dozen police there arresting me." What caused all the trouble? "All the Euro peans--they like that Flying Home. Sometimes I play it about twelve times in one night. There's a big epidemic going on over here for our jazz. They go for our heavy beat. It's just an epidemic. You can't explain it. Every night it's the same thing. Of course Amsterdam was the only place I got arrested."

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