Cees Slinger (1929 -2007) was the founder and leader of the hard bop combo "The
Diamond Five" featuring the trumpeter and trombonist Cees Smal (1927 - 2001), the
tenor saxophonist Harry Verbeke (1922-2004), bassist Jacques Schols, and drummer
John Engels, playing at the Jazz Club "Sheherazade" in Amsterdam. Before the
foundation some of the musicians already played as the "The Diamonds" at the "Jig
Rhythm Club" in Haarlem, with Verbeke, Smal and the initial bassist Dick van der
Capellen. To avoid confusion with the singing group "The Blue Diamonds", they
changed their name to "The Diamond Five". From October 1958 to April 1962 the
band played at the "Sheherazade", that they had also taken over. Van der Capellen
took no part in the takeover, as he had previously survived a car accident and was
replaced by Schols. In 1962 the musicians sold their club and went on tour, because
the music taste changed to Beatlemania. Although Cees Slinger took a job in the
steel industry he kept playing. Together with Jacques and John he made two LPs
with Ben Webster. In 1973 the LP "Back Together", featuring Greetje Kauffeld, came
out. In 1974 he quit the job and became again a full-time jazz musician. The quintet
jammed with many American jazz artists like Stan Getz, Phil Woods, Quincy Jones
and Don Byas after their official appearances and even played at the Concertgebouw
in Amsterdam in 1963. Between 1959 and 1962, several already documented vinyl
EPs were released on labels such as Fontana or Omega and were summarized for
the 1978 compilation album "Amsterdam Blues". In 1964 they recorded the LP
"Brilliant", which was later reissued on Fontana.
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