More than 79 years ago, when the Nazis were imprisoning people caught listening to jazz, some enthusiastic youngsters avoided the firing squad by practising secretly in the cellars of The Hague. After the Second World War, they decided to set up a school for jazz music and the Dutch Swing College was born.
Its members gave lectures, organised meetings and taught jazz music, leading to the professional launch of the Dutch Swing College Band in 1960. Since then, the band has won numerous international awards, recorded more than 500 albums and remains the longest performing classic jazz band in the world. The band continues to thrill audiences wherever it performs, and its concert tours in the United Kingdom, Thailand, Malaysia, Hungary, Scandinavia, Cuba and Japan prove that the Dutch Swing College Band is still one of Holland's greatest exports and a leading force in European jazz history.
Today the Dutch Swing College Band is alive and kicking.