Cab Kaye - Amsterdam: Cab Kaye's Jazz Piano Bar

Amsterdam: Cab Kaye's Jazz Piano Bar

In the late 1970s, Kaye moved to Amsterdam and became a member of Buma/Stemra (the Dutch copyright organization that oversees distribution of royalties) and the Dutch Association of Professional Improvising Musicians (BIM). In Amsterdam he performed with jazz musicians such as Babs Gonzales, funk jazz flautist Wally Shorts, Bert Koppelaar (trombonist), bassist Wilbur Little and conductor Boy Edgar (e.g. in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw). In the early years in Amsterdam he rented an apartment from jazz saxophonist Rosa King and became a celebrity on the local jazz scene.

On 1 October 1979, he opened his own jazz club in the centre of Amsterdam, Cab Kaye's Jazz Piano Bar at Beulingstraat 9, with his Dutch wife Jeannette. When not touring Poland, Portugal and Iceland, he performed five nights a week in his own Piano Bar, a meeting place for jazz musicians. Frequent visitors included Rosa King, trombonist Slide Hampton, television doctor and saxophonist Aart Gisolf, guitarist Dirk-Jan "Bubblin" Toorop, pianist David Mayer, singer Gerrie van der Klei, Max Roach, Oscar Peterson, Pia Beck and others. During this period, Kaye gave many concerts in the Netherlands, including several with Max "Teawhistle" Teeuwisse in Den Oever and four times at the North Sea Jazz Festival. The first North Sea Jazz Festival performance was with his Cab Kaye Quartet on 16 July 1978; the second was on 10 July 1981 with Akwaba Cab Kaye and his Afro Jazz; the third was in July 1982, accompanied by Aart Gisolf and Nippy Noya; and the last was as a soloist on 10 July 1983.

In the second half of the 1980s Kaye was regularly heard at the Victoria Hotel, Amsterdam. On 10 October 1987 he performed in the Night of Hilversum, a charity against polio organized by the Rotary Club, WHO and UNICEF. On 21 May 1988 Cab Kaye's Jazz Piano Bar closed and afterwards he was heard in public much less often. His final significant performance was on 8 September 1996, at the Bimhuis in Amsterdam. Many musicians and jazz lovers, including Herman Openneer, Pim Gras, the Dutch jazz drummer John Engels and Rosa King, organized a birthday party for the then 75-year-old pianist. He was unable to sing due to his mouth floor cancer, but enthusiastically played piano and jammed with many musicians. Subsequently, he performed only sporadically in smaller venues and privately in Amsterdam’s Dapperbuurt. The last time Cab Kaye played piano (including "Jeannette You Are My Love") was on 12 March 2000, at home, along with Rosa King.