The Jumping Jewels

1963 LP Jumping High (NL Philips P 08082 L)

1. The Jumping Jewels - Istanbul
2. The Jumping Jewels - Quiereme Mucho
3. The Jumping Jewels - Trek To Rome
4. The Jumping Jewels - Dream Of The West
5. The Jumping Jewels - Wild Geese
6. The Jumping Jewels - South Of The Border
7. The Jumping Jewels - Blue Skies
8. The Jumping Jewels - El Choclo
9. The Jumping Jewels - Rumble
10. The Jumping Jewels - San Antonio Rose
11. The Jumping Jewels - Smoke Signals
12. The Jumping Jewels - Zero Zero

1964 LP Guitars About Town (UK De Wolfe DWLP 2821)

At the end of 1963, Herman Batelaan -- manager of The Jumping Jewels -- had contact with music publisher De Wolfe Ltd. in London. Music-De Wolfe was specialized in the delivery of background music for film, TV and radio, and produces a variety of material for the catalog of De Wolfe with composers and musicians from home and abroad. The Jumping Jewels recorded in a small Philips studio 12 new compositions for release in the UK on a 25 cm (10") LP. The LP was intended for general use as background music. The title of the LP was 'Guitars About Town'. Composers of the instrumentals were: Keith Papworth; Anthony Mawer; Wayne Hill and Jack Trombey -- an authors pseudonym of the Dutch composer Jan Stoeckart. The songs "Black Twist," "Lullaby," "Rock-A-Bye-Baby," "Lottery"and "Twisting Jewels" are his.

The LP, with 12 new pieces written for The Jumping Jewels, remains almost completely unknown for 15 years. Early 1978 an English collector found a box with 25 copies at a clearance in the warehouse of Wolfe Music in London. In 1979 a bootleg of this album saw daylight, made in Brussels by CL Records. In April 1981, the material was finally released in the Netherlands by DSR Records -- titled 'Rock On With The Jumping Jewels'. The accompanying text on the cover was written by Herman Batelaan. Herman explains: "...by complex contractual obligations since the first release, nothing happened with the recordings. A clear case of 'shame' as I subsequently thought by listening to this Dutch instrumental band from a thunderous -- but unfortunately past -- history."

1. The Jumping Jewels - Black Twist
2. The Jumping Jewels - Utopia
3. The Jumping Jewels - Footloose
4. The Jumping Jewels - Lullabye
5. The Jumping Jewels - Guitars About Town
6. The Jumping Jewels - Motorway
7. The Jumping Jewels - Night People
8. The Jumping Jewels - Twist And Shake
9. The Jumping Jewels - Rock-A Bye Baby
10. The Jumping Jewels - Tombola
11. The Jumping Jewels - Shakin' And Breakin'
12. The Jumping Jewels - Twisting Jewels

In 1958 -- in youth club 'Don Bosco', Rijswijk, Netherlands -- the 13-years old Hans van Eijk met Johnny Lion (Jan van Leeuwarden), who formed a singing duo at that time with his brother Fred. Together Johnny and Hans create a band: Johnny & The Jewels. Initially it was a seven piece orchestra which played -- in addition to their performances on party's -- in the parish hall of the Catholic Church. Drummer Frits Tamminga was already in the first line up and also Joop Oonk -- trained by Hans van Eijk for bass player. Peter Tamminga did play piano and Chris Jackson guitar. And then there was a certain Bas -- school companion of Hans van Eijk -- and a girl singer: Nellie. Later on Tjibbe Veeloo replaced the rhythm guitarist of the first line up: Chris Jones. The original 'Frisian' Tjibbe also learned to play guitar with the help of Hans.

Summer 1960, Willy Wissink (Willy & His Giants) operates the dancing pavilion of the roller rink in the Zuiderpark in The Hague. He also performed there with his own group: The Real Rhythm Teens. Johnny & The Jewels play there on weekends. A cousin of laundry owner Herman Batelaan played with Willy Wissink, and so comes Batelaan had contact with Wissink. When Willy leaved The Hague, Herman did take over the dances in the South Park and met Hans van Eijk and his guys. Herman Batelaan sets itself up as business manager. The orchestra was reduced to five men and from October 1960 they continue under the name The Jumping Jewels. Early 1961, record company Phonogram was looking for a guitar group -- in the style of the successful British Shadows -- who could record the world hits "Wheels" and "(Ghost) Riders In The Sky" for the Philips label. Herman Batelaan brought The Jumping Jewels at the right time in contact with Phonogram. The result was that, March, 1961, their version of the two instrumentals could be found in the record stores.

The group scores -- both, with singer Johnny Lion as instrumental -- a reasonable number of hits and grows as the most popular guitar group from the lowlands. But also in the rest of Europe and Asia they sold many records. In 1964 Pakistan, Malaysia and Singapore are visited. In Singapore approximately 10,000 fans saw their performances at the Odeon theater, in the middle of the city. 1965 Is a turbulent year for The Jumping Jewels. In April, they join Johnny Lion in the circus of Toni Boltini, but it also came to a break that summer. Johnny Lion scored a big hit with the Dutch song "Sophietje," without the Jewels. Their share was acquired by The Young Ones. The Jumping Jewels ended then their contract with Herman Batelaan and continued as a backing group for Rob de Nijs -- another popular Dutch singer. Batelaan however went to court because of rights of the groups name. He won the lawsuit which meant the end of the Jumping Jewels. Early 1966 Hans van Eijk and his men made a relaunch as a beat group: 'The Jay Jays'.