New book 'Mon Devoghelaere - Jazzlogboek. Notities van een jazzvogel 1960-1968'

New book 'Mon Devoghelaere - Jazzlogboek. Notities van een jazzvogel 1960-1968'

Thirty years after the death of Flemish journalist and jazz producer Mon Devoghelaere (1943–1995), Vogel Books is publishing his previously unpublished “jazz notebooks”. This compilation was put together by Lander Lenaerts. 

Mon Devoghelaere's ‘jazz notebooks’

From 1960 to 1968, jazz critic Mon Devoghelaere meticulously recorded his jazz activities.

In two notebooks, which he named Jazzlogboek 1 and Jazzlogboek 2, he meticulously noted his thoughts on every jazz-related television programme and film he saw, as well as every jazz concert he attended. These notebooks take us not only to prestigious clubs such as the Blue Note in Paris, the Golden Circle in Stockholm and Ronnie Scott's in London, but also to concerts at the Gentse Universitaire Jazz Klub, jazz bars such as De Muze in Antwerp and Pol's Jazzclub in Brussels, and of course the festivals in Bilzen and Comblain-la-Tour.

Despite his young age – the notebooks were written between the ages of seventeen and twenty-five – Devoghelaere reveals himself in his journals to be an accomplished jazz critic. He not only has an encyclopaedic knowledge of jazz, but also a sharp pen.

Thanks to Devoghelaere's personal approach, his jazz notebooks not only document the Belgian – and by extension European – jazz scene of the 1960s in a unique way, but also the coming of age of a young jazz lover who would become one of the most important jazz journalists of his generation. 

The author: Lander Lenaerts

Lander Lenaerts is a collector, DJ and journalist specialising in jazz. For the Sdban Records label, he compiles historical editions devoted to Belgian jazz (notably Let’s Get Swinging - Modern Jazz in Belgium 1950-1970 and Jack Sels - Minor Works). In the past, he taught jazz history at Jazzstudio (Antwerp). His articles have been published in Jazz & Mo’, The Word (BE), We Jazz Magazine (FIN) and The Move (UK), among others.