DIE SABA-STUDIO-COMBO, Bossa Catania
Posted: June 27, 2014 Filed under: 60s, Germany, Instrumental Records Leave a comment
Some late reference to the football word cup in Brazil. Bought this last year at a flea market in Hamburg. It´s from the early 1960s, when SABA was still a variety label, and before it focused purely on jazz. No information online about this record or the artists. As usual, it has never been reissued in any format in fifty years.
Nice easy listening Herbie Mann-style bossa nova…
DIE SABA-STUDIO-COMBO, Bossa Catania
THE BERTLANDERS-STARBAND, Yah-dah!, 1958
Posted: June 12, 2014 Filed under: 60s, Berlin Records, Germany, Jazz Records 4 Comments
Found this in the 50 cent bin of a local thrift store recently. Sleeveless, but still in okay condition. Here´s all the information that I could find about this mysterious, completely forgotten group.
– Bert Landers was a Berlin band leader who recorded a great number of records for various German labels, but mainly for the budget Tip. He also recorded under the name of Berth von Landers und sein High Society Orchester. I assume that The Bertlanders-Starband is actually the studio orchestra of Bert Landers in one of its earliest formations.
– The Bertlanders-Starband are: Heinz Wulfestieg – trumpet; Karl Wolfgang Wiesenthal – trumpet; Bert Button – trombone; Dieter Siebert – alto-sax; Volkmar Schmidt – tenor-sax, Detlev Clausen – piano; Joachim Gilow – bass; Kurt Giese – drums
– Trumpeter Heinz Wulfestieg (1936–1977) was a half-brother of actress Hildegard Knef.
– Alto-Saxophonist Dieter Siebert might be identical with 20th-century classical music composer Wilhelm Dieter Siebert (1931-2011). His Wiki-resume mentions that he played Jazz in the late 50s.
– I further assume that Volkmar Schmidt is saxophonist, clarinetist and orchestra leader of East-German groups Gruppe Schmidt, Schulz & Co., Orchester Volkmar Schmidt and Volkmar Schmidt Combo.
– Drummer Kurt Giese later became a producer for North German radio (NDR) and arranged Chet Baker´s “Last Great Concert” in 1988 in Hannover, two weeks before Baker´s death.
– Trumpet solo on Franz Grothe´s Mitternachts-Blues by Karl Wolfgang “Charley” Wiesenthal.
These four tracks, exclusively recorded by Opera – Europäischer Phonoclub, have not been reissued in 50 years.
Yah-dah! is a nicely up-dated version of one of the earliest Jazz recordings,Yah-de-dah, first recorded in 1917 by the Frisco Jass Band.
THE BERTLANDERS-STARBAND, Yah-dah!, 1958
THE BERTLANDERS-STARBAND, Who´s sorry now, 1958
THE BERTLANDERS-STARBAND, Tequila, 1958
THE BERTLANDERS-STARBAND, Mitternachts-Blues, 1958
Careless Cats im Bassy
Posted: June 4, 2014 Filed under: 30s Leave a comment
The Careless Cats are a new swing/jazz group, who are quickly making a name for themselves in the local swing dancing scene. Their vocalist Nina and their pianist are both dancers and it does show in how they always keep just the right tempo for us dancers. Nina also happens to be one of my favorite dance partners, both as a lead and as a follower.
The philosophy of the Bassy club is “strictly music before 1969”. It´s a rock´n´roll club, so we thought we should be emphasizing the jazz element in swing music with our new JAZZ DANCE CLUB. We´re also trying to put the jazz bands where they belong: on a proper stage, with proper lighting and sound.
In aller Bescheidenheit, dit wird ganz geil….
We´d be happy to see you!
Swinging Tuesday!
Jazz Dance Club
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Careless Cats at Bassy Club, Schönhauser Allee 176 A
Starts: 8:30
A swing dance taster class starts at 7!
Cover: 5 Euro
Here´s two songs that I recorded when the Careless Cats played at Queen Quotti last November:
CARELESS CATS, Cement Mixer, 2013
CARELESS CATS, Sweet Sue
LINKERTON/ GRUPPE VORWÄRTS, 1977
Posted: June 3, 2014 Filed under: 70´s, Berlin Records, Germany, Political Records, Private Pressings Leave a comment
The very first record that I posted in 2007 was similar to this one, in that it was also local, political and privately pressed. While the former was anarchist, this is a straight communist record. It was issued to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Freie Deutsche Jugend Westberlins (FDJW), the youth organization of the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Westberlins (SEW). The Socialist Unity Party of West Berlin was more or less a Berlin branch of the SED, the governing party of East-Germany.
In short, these cats were West Berlin fans of communist East Germany. After reunification, the party quickly dissolved. Not surprisingly, it was later revealed that East Germany had financed the party with more than 10 million German marks a year. I´m sure none of that money went into the making of this record. It´s got the touch of a genuine DIY project, from the “graphics” on the front sleeve, to the paper of the labels and the lack of any address or copyright. To say this release looks private, is an understatement, it looks clandestine.
Musically both bands are close to the radical leftist Krautrock of fellow locals Lokomotive Kreuzberg and Floh de Cologne (from Cologne). Recorded in 1977, these guys were not into fun stuff like Blitzkrieg Bop or sniffin´glue, but 37 years later their earnest commie rock is a lot funnier than most Berlin punk records of that period…
LINKERTON, Vertreter-Arie, 1977
GRUPPE VORWÄRTS, Denk´ Daran, 1977
(Ein kurzer Text über diese Platte erschien am 22. Mai als Folge 242 meiner Berlin Beatet Bestes Kolumne in der Wochenzeitung Jungle World, nachzulesen hier.)
About me:
My name is Andreas Michalke. I´m a cartoonist from Berlin, Germany and I like collecting records. Most of the records I find in thrift stores or at flea markets here in Berlin. I like a lot of music but I thought I`d focus on odd German records. Preferably with cartoon covers.
All my scans are high-resolution. If you double-click on them they will get much bigger.
Berlin Beatet Bestes 
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