Håkan Ingvar von Eichwald (1908 in Turku, Finland - 1964 in Malmö, Sweden, was a Swedish bandleader and composer. Von Eichwald grew up in Turku with his Finnish-Russian parents. He debuted as a five-year prodigy child on the piano. He received his first musical training in Finland and later in Vienna (Austria) and Würzburg (Germany). He came to Sweden in 1926 to present an operetta he composed, but it was rejected. Instead, he became a pianist with the Hjalmar Meissner orchestra at the Vasa theater. During the same period, he abandoned his plans to become an operetta conductor, when in 1930, he was offered the possibility to form an orchestra at the 'Kaos' wine restaurant. This was also the reason why he refused another offer to become rehearsal music leader at the Royal Theater. The Kaos Orchestra was a dance and concert orchestra comprising the complete instrumental array with two trumpets, a trombone or violin, three saxophones or clarinets, two pianos or accordion, a banjo or guitar, a double bass or tuba and drums. It was Sweden's first permanent big band and even got success abroad with a tour to several European cities in 1931 and 1932, with concerts in Hamburg, Berlin, Zurich, Breslau (presently Wrocław in Poland) and Prague. Von Eichwald was launched as the Swedish Jazz King and rivalled the great English dance orchestras. In 1933, von Eichwald formed a new orchestra at the 'Kaos', but he had some difficulty combining all his activities during 1932-35, when at the same time he was conducting at the Oskar Theater. This is why assistant conductor Arne Hülphers eventually took over the latter orchestra, which was then renamed Arne Hülphers orchestra. During the summer seasons 1935-1946, von Eichwald led a large orchestra that toured the folk parks. In 1936 and 1937, he took over the leadership of an orchestra at Berns, and in 1937-39, he became the new leader of the Crown Prince Felix Dance Orchestra, which subsequently was renamed Håkan von Eichwalds orchestra. Their signature tune was "Happy Days Are Here Again". In February 1939, the band performed at the Femina-Palast in Berlin. Besides touring, von Eichwald was occasionally engaged as an operetta conductor at the Vasa Theater in Stockholm and at the Swedish Theater in Helsinki. After World War II, he became musical director of the Northwest Skåne's Orchestra Society in Helsinki during 1946-1959, and from 1962 on he was conductor of the Malmö City Theater. Von Eichwald was also active as a studio musician, and in the 1930s he appeared on over 300 recordings, most of them entertainment music. This hot jazz record, though, was waxed in 1931. It features a rarely heard tune from the Swedish musical movie Brokiga Blad. Unfortunately, this disc was in very poor shape, so I sadly had to filter drastically the original sound. Yet I trust you'll still enjoy this very rarely performed tune.
