[Some computers might ask you to allow the music to play on this page]
Pieter 'Piet' Sluis |
In many ways this is a request for more information. Can you help?
Paul Gleeson writes: 'I'm getting in touch with what is, I suppose, a strange request. I'm trying to put together a short film piece about an enigmatic Dutch man who lived in Ireland named Piet Sluis. I have a personal connection to him as not only did I grow up in the village that he lived in (Blackrock, Dublin), but I also worked in the shop from where he bought all of his wine and cigars, and met him daily for years.'
'His story is a fascinating and tragic one, as he spent the later decades of his life at the bottom of a bottle following the death of his wife. However, when he was a young man, I believe he was a very gifted Jazz trumpeter. In fact, the father of a good friend of mine, Ronan Guilfoyle, played with him on many occasions over the years in Dublin. I saw his name connected to 'Sandy Brown Jazz' on some tenuous link on the internet, but felt as though I have nothing to lose by reaching out to you to see if you have any great insights into the man, or indeed if you know where I might be able to get a hold of some of his Jazz music? My own profession is in arts and entertainment so my goal is to put together a short piece to show the world what an interesting man he was.'
Here's a short interview with Piet in 2008.
So what do we know about Piet Sluis? There are a couple of short videos with him on YouTube later in life with some of his music playing in the background, but very liitle of his music or pictures of him playing jazz. It would be good if Paul Gleeson can tell more of that part of Piet's story.
Back in the early 1950s there was an artistic invasion of Ireland as a wave of talented Dutch artists and graphic designers hit Dublin where they immediately made a major contribution to the evolution of Design and Advertising – notably in their work for Bord Failte and Aer Lingus; thus forging a new image for Ireland as a burgeoning tourist destination.
This story has been chronicled in Norman Mongan's Open Roads Films documentary [and accompanying Conor Clarke book ORANJE & GREEN Holland-Ireland Design Connections 1951-2002 which features the Piet Sluis Jazzband on the soundtrack.
(I have not been able to find a copy of this documentary online - can anyone help? - Ed).
Among the leading Dutch designers at that time were Guus Melai, Jan de Fouw, and Gerrit Van Gelderen. One of these artists, Piet Sluis, was also an outstanding talent as a jazz trumpeter – quickly establishing himself as a regular on the Dublin Jazz scene from the late 1950s onwards.
Born in Zwolle in 1928, Piet moved to Amsterdam where he worked in various advertising agencies, and also became a founder member of the COBRA (or CoBrA - Copenhagen / Brussels / Amsterdam) art group. He quickly became a prominent player in the Amsterdam jazz scene, so that when he arrived in Dublin in 1955 he already had a well-honed trumpet sound, drawing inspiration from jazz greats Louis Armstrong, Roy Eldridge and Wild Bill Davidson.
Norman says: 'I can still vividly recall playing guitar with a Dublin jazz group The Nightowls in the late 1950s at the now long-defunct Green Lounge Café on St Stephen's Green when one night, in walked a young guy with a trumpet under his arm who asked if he could sit in. Warily we agreed and then this new guy on the block proceeded to blow us away with fiery, crackling solos. Piet had arrived and spent the rest of the evening on the bandstand with us, inspiring us all.'
'By the 1970/80s he was leading his own jazz groups around Dublin. He became a stalwart at the Cork Jazz Festival for eleven years during the late 1970s/1980s, where he had the opportunity to jam alongside his long-admired hero, Wild Bill Davidson.'
'At Bruxelles bar just off Dublin's pedestrian Grafton Street, Piet held forth for several years in the 1980s. He admired some of the big jazz names such as Louis Armstrong, Ruby Braff, Wild Bill Davidson and Bud Freeman of Sinatra's Tommy Dorsey Band, who called Piet 'the finest trumpeter in Europe' and begged him to tour with him. Piet often designed the posters for the jazz festivals in which he starred. He stopped playing in the eighties, he says: "Because all my teeth fell out – at once!" and he bares his gums. "I blame the war" says Pieter, "Children didn't get enough vitamins". '
On the website thefreekick.com, there is an amazing article about Piet Sluis (click here) from 2008 that starts:
'There is a man who sits, every day, on a bench in Blackrock, Dublin, yards from its suave restaurants and boho bars. His trousers are falling down, his Mac jacket is painted with miscellaneous stains and his thick beard seems a botanists' paradise. Occasionally he gets up and shuffles across to the shop for more cigarettes and alcohol. Then he goes back to his bench. He is fed, for free, by Eddie Rocket's, the American style diner......'
'.......“We tried so hard to help him — with nurses, counsellors, meals on wheels, but he’d sneak off to the bench when they were due round. I cleaned his flat with my own hands and escorted him to rehab. But then he’d do something crazy like when he took his front door off so he could use the hinge as a bottle opener — and I’d despair. I became very drained. He was very sweet, grateful and sorry for his behaviour but he just didn’t value himself enough to see the treatment through. He needs so much help and he always has to rebel.”
Here is another video by Ross Ronanyne that includes another another short interview with Piet and some of his music in the background.
Later, it continues ....
'He gave his trumpet away to a passing vagrant, a "wandering minstrel" in Piet's words, with no idea how to play it. 
Piet's flat contains jazz CDs scattered like petals. He plays the CD of his old band, lovingly preserved by a fan and starts to tap his ramshackle shoes on the floor. When he gets to his old friend Collie Walsh's clarinet solo, he crumples into tears. "But oh we had some fun times!" he says.'
'With no teeth and no trumpet, he tried to capture the ecstasy of jazz in paintings and produced portraits of Miles Davis, Charlie Christian, Dave Brubeck and Thelonious Monk....'
Piet Sluis Kid Ori
It ends ..... 'We cannot, we must not – leave this wonderful artist to rot on a bench'.
Piet Sluis died in Dublin in 2008 and was buried in Shanganah cemetery in Shankill. On losing his teeth he was forced to retire from professional playing. In Ireland he is now recognised as one of the leading contemporary artists, with his works being acquired by the National Gallery of Ireland. Click here to see some of Piet's art.
If anyone remembers Piet, and particularly is able to share any photographs of him or his recordings, please contact us.
© Sandy Brown Jazz 2021
You might also like these pages:
Click HERE to join our mailing list