Biography by Jason Ankeny
Dutch film music revivalists the Beau Hunks formed in 1992 with the express purpose of re-creating the classic scores of producer Hal Roach's Depression-era comedies. With a fluctuating lineup including trumpeter Menno Daams, saxophonists Ronald Jansen Heijtmajer and Robert Veen, trombonist Jilt Jansma, tuba player Peter Stove, guitarist Ton van Bergeijk, bassist Gert-Jan Blom, pianists Jakob Klaasse and Jan Robijns, violinists Ilona de Groot and Tineke de Jong, drummer Louis Debij, and researcher Piet Schreuders, the orchestra sought inspiration in the work of Leroy Shield and T. Marvin Hatley, the Hal Roach Studios staff composers responsible for writing the familiar scores of the comedies of Laurel & Hardy and the Our Gang/Little Rascals troupe. With the original recordings and sheet music long lost, the Beau Hunks painstakingly transcribed new arrangements for their acclaimed 1994 release The Beau Hunks Play the Original Little Rascals Music. They expanded their scope on subsequent efforts, including 1995's Celebration on the Planet Mars: A Tribute to Raymond Scott, 1998's The Modern American Music of Ferde Grofé, and 1999's Saxophone Soctette (a tribute to Paul Whiteman). Our Relations appeared in early 2001.
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