BERT KAEMPFERT

THE MAN – THE MUSIC – THE MAGIC - PART 4

THE KAEMPFERT AFRICAN SOUND

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At the end of the 1950’s, with stereo making it’s entry in the World of recorded Music, many musicians were looking for their “own recognizable style” or “sound”.   One of them was a young orchestrator and arranger by the name of Bert Kaempfert.   

After his unexpected World hit “Wonderland by Night” (released initially in the US with the help of his American producer Milt Gabler) in 1961, Bert Kaempfert started to look for a more original sound.    Milt Gabler, having heard some of the initial compositions of Bert Kaempfert (eg “Catalania”, “Cerveza”, “Ducky”, “Explorer” and “Las Vegas”) – was impressed by the “intense bass sound” that could be heard on all of these recordings.   During one of their meetings in the early sixties, he said to Bert : “Bert, give me a bass that is loud and clear, a bass that is prominently present throughout each recording !  We already have enough bands that sound “otherwise” (ie where the bass sound merely was “ one of the instruments making part of the “Total sound package”.

  MILT GABLER

 

With this information in mind, Bert returned to Europe, and – more specifically to his holiday home  in Zug, Switzerland, where he could compose new songs in all tranquillity.   One day, rather incidently, Bert was browsing through some old records in a small local Music shop and found some records with the so called “penny  whistle” sound – a typical South- African style of music. 

Bert was fascinated by these recordings and decided to take them home, i.e. to Hamburg where he would listen and re-listen to them, wondering meanwhile how he could reproduce that typical “penny whistle sound”. 

Bert also had a kind of “refugium” in Hamburg, a small cabin in the woods near the “Brahmsee”, a local lake.  It’s here that some of his worldhits were born.   The start of it all was the master piece “Afrikaan beat” – a song that kinda “defined” the style of albums that would follow soon. 

The combination of the famous “knack bass” with the “penny whistle sound” proved to be a big success with his friends and relatives but it had not been a “smooth and easy ride” to reach the “final” sound.   On the topic of these main elements (knack bass and penny whistle sound) guitarist Ladi Geisler remembers :  “ Fips tried to imitate the penny whistles by means of the piccolo’s but that wasn’t easy at all ; it took a lot of practice before the “good sound” was reached.  Eventually, Fips was happy with the result and was glad that the “charm” of the penny whistles could be reproduced by the piccolo’s.

   

 

When Milt Gabler heard the song for the first time, he was  flabbergasted. 

“This has to become the title track of a new album” he shouted, and he added  “and we’ll bring it on the market as a single too” (45 rpm). 

Gabler’s instinct for “success” is right again and within a couple of weeks, the song is a big radio hit in the US but it also conquers the German market, where it will be in the hitparades for several weeks in a row.  It becomes  the first hit that Bert scores in his home country…. 

Many radio and TV stations used  the song as a “theme tune” for their programs and broadcasts and this obviously made  the song more widely known… 

…….. 

But Bert is even more happy when he hears that the song is a huge success in South Africa as well. 

His “Afrikaan Beat” can be heard contineously on the South African radio station(s).    

US Producer Milt Gabler, having a “nose” for successful songs, feels and “smells” that this World wide success leaves a taste “for more”.  He sends a music sheet to Bert Kaempfert with the melody of another African song, a song “modified” somewhat by the American Guy Warren. 

 

Gabler writes to Kaempfert : “ Dear Bert, enclosed please find a sample of a melody arranged by Guy Warren… I’m convinced you can do better, when it comes to (re-) arranging this piece !” 

And yes, just a few weeks later, a package is dropped in Milt Gabler’s post box : it’s a “test” recording of Bert’s new arrangement for the “Warren” song. 

“Fantastic!” Gabler shouts and having heard Bert’s version, he immediately adds a new (commercially fine tuned) title to the piece : “ That happy feeling “

Another Kaempfert World hit has been born.

Then, one thing follows after another very quickly.  Bert Kaempfert becomes inspired by “That happy feeling” and writes “A Swingin’ Safari”, “Happy trumpeter” and “Market day” as well as a couple of other “African sounding” titles, which enables Gabler to compile an entire album. 

All titles are then recorded in the German “Rahlstedt” studio, in Hamburg, and Bert is quite pleased with the fact that he is allowed to record the album in the (then) “one of the most technically advanced studios in the World”.   

By adding  violins, voices and brass to the “basic frame” of the knack bass and the piccolo flutes, Bert creates a very recognizable “sound of his own”. 

Finally, different album versions  are released on the American and European markets, i.e. the album titles are different and the track list will differ a bit, but, in the end, it’s the same fabulous music  that is contained in these releases. 

 

In Europe, Polydor releases “A Swinging Safari” while in the US, “That happy feeling” is launched into the American market.    The albums become huge sales successes both in Europe and in America. 

Asked about the “why” and “how” related to the sales success of this style of music, ‘Ladi Geisler, in a 1976 interview stated : “The instrument that finally made a difference, was the so called “E Bass’. 

But that instrument  had only be released recently by the American Gibson company. 

Before, it simply was impossible to bring the bass sound to the foreground…  If you listen to some of the first Glenn Miller recordings, you will notice that it only is “during the more quiet periods in the song” that one can clearly hear the bass. 

Bert was very enthusiastic when he first heard the E-Bass.  He told me to put emphasis on the higher notes – the lower notes should be “tackled by” the contrabass.

It worked !  And then,  I added “the final touch” by implementing  a so called “plektrum”, a special little plate that can be used to intensify the string tension.  A great new sound hence had been created and we all knew that more “African sound” music would follow soon…… 

And it would follow soon but …. There also was a time gap between the two albums that would contain the most “African sound” Music.  “A Swinging Safari” was released in 1962 and fifteen years later, in 1977, Bert came up with a “follow up” album on that huge  success album, with an album called “Safari Swings Again”.

 

And once more , history repeated itself : some of the tracks were regularly used  by Radio and TV Broadcast companies (eg “Limbo Lady” was often used as background music in several radioshows of the early 80s period..)  and thus, fans and music lovers alike were “alarmed” by a fabulous new Kaempfert “Safari” album that, like it’s predecessor, would conquer the World swiftly as well. 

Today still, Bert’s “Afrikaan Beat” is used as the theme Music for a display shown in the Dutch Efteling amusement park entitled “the fairy tale of the dancing water lillies” – fairytale written by the former Belgian Queen, Queen Fabiola (who was married to the beloved King Baudouin). 

It proves how innovative and creative Bert’s “Afrikaan Beat” was (and is). 

Millions of people will recognize the “tune” after the first two or three notes. 

“Afrikaan Beat” is a musical treasure, a superbly composed and arranged instrumental, that will be in our hearts forever. 

And so are all the other Kaempfert African sound songs : gems to be cherished forever.

 

PART 5 OF THIS SERIES IS SCHEDULED TO BE PUBLISHED BY END NOVEMBER 2015

 

 

 

BERT KAEMPFERT –

THE MAN .. THE MUSIC ..  THE MAGIC – 3

PART 3 / FIPS FINDS THE BEATLES I

A small number of music fans actually know who discovered the Beatles.  What a contrast it was : the fame and fortune looking “Fab Four” coming into contact with – of all people – “the invisible Mr Hitmaker” = Bert Kaempfert. 

But, seen from a certain angle, there duly IS some logic to be found in the meeting of Mr Kaempfert with the Beatles (or Beat Boys) .

 

Hamburg is the key word here : the city was Bert Kaempfert’s hometown, and if one knows that Hamburg actually is a harbour city, things become a bit more clear already.

The Liverpool based boys must have heard somewhere that “talented people” could “rise” quickly on the ladder of success if they went to perform in – for example – ‘the Top Ten club” located at the infamous “Reeperbahn”. 

Then, fate brought the two together : Bert Kaempfert, one night, probably during “a night on the town” and “by accident”  stumbled upon the four seemingly talented boys….

Bert – working as a talent scout for Polydor (or so called “A&R man” (Artist and Repertoire man) – at that time (1951-1960) brought the 4 illustrious “pop idols” (not yet then but…) to the Polydor recording studios where another English based artist, Tony Sheridan, was looking for some new material in order to make some money “for the trip home” …..

Actually, (it is very difficult to imagine this today, but it was the actual truth)-  the Beatles were in the exact same position : they had to find a way to “make money” because otherwise …. Well, who knows what might have happened …..?  Polydor proposed the 2 different artists (Sheridan and the Beatles) to make one single record, thus hoping that the income of such a “mixed” single would generate enough money for “everyone” to go where ever they wanted to go.

The “experiment” failed however and neither Sheridan, nor The Beatles made any profit from the recording in question(entitled : “My Bonnie…”)

Kaempfert, Sheridan and the Beatles worked together in the studio then for some time (a couple of weeks at the most) when, one day, the “redeeming” Phone call came from a certain Mr Brian Epstein.

He asked Bert Kaempfert “under which circumstances he could hire the Beatles and how the contract could be changed/adjusted with ref to their “release”…)  Bert Kaempfert replied : “no circumstances, no special arrangements : just “take them” !

All this  was possible because Bert’s record company “Polydor” didn’t have great confidence in these “four "long haired" beat boys” …. They (Polydor) saw no “great future” for the band, at least not in Germany.

The rest is history.   The “Fab Four” returned to England and soon, the true talent of these “kids” would become known to the whole World.

Bert Kaempfert, in an interview taken much later, said :

“Later, I was happy with the success of the Beatles, because it showed that I had been right from the very start.  I DID discover their unbelievable talent and it kinda re-inforced my position of A&R man with Polydor).

Soon after, Bert Kaempfert’s own talents became more and more obvious.

His arrangements of songs, his  new compositions, his new musical ideas …   It all pointed in one direction : that of a “man of Music” on his way to “A Musical Maestro” – a “Maestro” that would create a completely knew orchestral style/sound – a sound that would become known the World over as “The Kaempfert Sound”.

Between 1959 and 1973 alone, Kaempfert recorded and released some 30 albums on the Decca USA label.  For those interested in “the details of history” : in total The Beatles recorded 9 songs together with Bert Kaempfert – all of which were released on the Polydor label.

BERT KAEMPFERT – 2

BERT KAEMPFERT AND POLYDOR

 

Bert signed his first artist contract with the record company Polydor and made his first recordings under the alias of Bob Parker.  Kaempfert wrote arrangements for Music publishers and also composed numerous Works like “Catalania”, “Explorer”, “Ducky” and “’Las Vegas.

He then was appointed as a producer and talent scout by Polydor and his productions of “Die Gitarre und das Meer” with Freddy Quinn and “Morgen” with Ivo Robic became top hits.  Both titles were awarded a Gold disc.  Kaempfert’s arrangement of the song “Muss I denn” for Elvis Presley – entitled Wooden Heart”  was a success the world over.

Early 1961 Bert arranged and produced “Wunderland bei Nacht” but the song did not meet with interest at  Polydor and so Bert took the work to the US , where, as “Wonderland by Night” it soon reached Number One in the charts and it was awarded a gold disc – making Kaempfert the first German bandleader to receive such an honour.

Polydor actually made a huge mistake by letting Kaempfert go to the US with “Wonderland” – they lost a lot of money that way….  Even more strange is what happened upon Bert’s return to Hamburg, where Kaempfert discovered “The Beatles” and again…. Polydor showed no great interest !

In order not to hinder their career, Bert released the Group unconditionally from their contract with Polydor.  (They were then hired by Brian Epstein)

 

Due to all these negative reactions by the Polydor company,  Bert became somewhat disappointed in the  company and hence he  intensified his contacts with Milt Gabler, responsable for the “European market” with Decca US.   Milt Gabler already had famous European stars such as Catarina Valente , Werner Muller, Dominico Modugno (“Volare” became a worldwide hit) and Kurt Edelhagen “under his wings” in America and was contineously in contact with the A&R people in Europe and with the Polydor staff in particular. 

But due to the immense popularity of both Valente and Werner Muller, these artists moved to bigger (and better paying) companies like Decca England and by the end of 1960, Catarina Valente and Werner Muller had moved to Decca UK leaving Milt Gabler with a “gap” in a part of his production schedule.  

Milt Gabler then turned to Kurt Kinkele of Polydor and asked him how they were going to replace the talented Werner Muller.   Kinkele replied that he had Faith in an A/R man named Bert Kaempfert.

Milt Gabler : “The only record I had at that time was “Midnight blues” because it was used by the Armed Forces Radio Network in Europe as their theme tune.  In America, the corny tune “Ducky” was more popular…(It was the second Kaempfert composition I had heard).

And then, as already mentioned above, Kinkele and Kaempfert came up with the immortal ‘Wonderland By Night”, a song of which Gabler said : “the song had a very original opening, it was a natural hit…Here in the US we would say that the song had an “ear catcher” immediately, after hearing the very First notes only…”

 

And so the artist “Marc Bones” (an initial alias used by Bert) / “Bob Parker” was on his way to an international career as Bert Kaempfert (and His Orchestra).

Polydor allowed Kaempfert to release a first album with Portuguese Fado’s (arranged by Bert obviosly) “Fados and wine” but this “ethnic” album could not reach a large audience so Polydor once more was hesitating to release further albums.   This recording and its release took place in 1958 and it wasn’t until 1960 that the actual Kaempfert sound (though still far away from the later distinctive Kaempfert sound) came to the foreground.

 

The album “Wonderland by night” (1960/Decca USA/DL74101-) represented the actual start of the successful Kaempfert sound.  Songs included in this album (eg “Happiness never comes too late” and “This song is yours alone” already pointed into the direction of the “true” Bert Kaempfert sound.

Despite the somewhat tense relation with Polydor, Bert Kaempfert stayed with them and no less than 44 albums were eventually released on the label.

Polydor also released 34 singles – which was significant for an orchestra – but in the US Decca did a better job with some 42 singles released on the American market.

Worldwide, sales of Bert Kaempfert records would break all records (period : 1960 up to 1980) : it reached the staggering number of 150,000,000 albums sold.  (To be continued...)

 

KAEMPFERT INFO FLASH - FIPS, FACTS AND FUN !

In the all-time top 10 of "most played" songs in RESTAURANTS
and BARS, Bert Kaempfert's "Strangers in the night" scores a 2ND place.  The only song that is being played (a bit :) more than Bert's "Strangers" is the song "My Way"  composed by Paul Anka.
(French release title : "Comme d'habitude".  This "silver medal" confirms the song's originality, musicality and melodic supremacy.

BERT KAEMPFERT-THAT MAGICAL MUSIC-1

Aged 6, young Bert was hit by a car and, fortunately, didn't have any major injuries..  The  insurance company paid some 500 Deutsche Mark to Bert's mother and she must have "felt" that a "musician first class" was "hiding" inside little Berthold because.... with the money from the insurance she bought a piano.   Bert Kaempfert : "I remember playing a lot on the instrument, but I wasn't to keen on actually "learning" how to play...." "I just played 'listening to my feeling and mood of the moment."  But the "music virus" must have lingered on, because, a few years later, Bert took lessons not only in playong the piano but also the clarinet, saxophone, and accordion.  This combination of reeds and keyboards gave him a versatile skill set from which to draw as an instrumentalist.  Working first in the then "big bands" of Germany, and in Denmark (where he was taken as a prisoner of war) Bert developed an interest in arranging for dance music.  At the same time, he had an interest in African music, which would prove to be useful later in his career.  He formed his own dance band to play catchy tunes at danceable tempos in Europe and in the late 1950s he was signed as an "AandR" man for Polydor records.

In this capacity he produced vocal hits for several Polydor artists, including the 1959 international hit"Morgen" originally sung by Ivo Robic.  While Elvis Presley was stationed in Germany , Kaempfert helped him choose the appropriate music for the film "GI Blues" including the song "Wooden Heart" which became a big hit for Presley in Europe (maybe be because it was based upon the Tyrolian song "Muss I denn".  Accidentally, Bert's name appeared on the list of composers of the song- something completely untrue and even up to this day, nobody really can explain what exactly happened during those days.  At that time Bert was also producing a British singer called Tony Sheridan and at a certain moment, be needed to find a new background group for the singer.  Kaempfert then spotted an English groupwhich had just started their career- playing in German nightclubs and then used "The Beatles" as back-up vocalists for Sheridan. But the Beatles did not want to appear on the record sleeve as "Tony Sheridan and the Beatles so Kaempfert re-named the group as "Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers".  Whatever name was used,this was the actual first professional recording in their illustrious career !  The truth is that neither Sheridan, nor the Beatles themselves had enough money to return to England and so Polydor combined the two then unknown "acts" hoping the sales of the record(s) would generate enough money for them, so that they could go home.  "My Bonnie" and "When the saints", two steady standards of the time were chosen as the A and B side of the 45" record but it  was to no avail.. the record didn't climb to the top of the hitparades so when Brian Epstein -  a famous UK talent scout and producer wrote a letter to Bert Kaempfert "under which circumstances he would release the group" the answer came much sooner than expexted : Bert released them from

the exclusive one year contract and the rest .... is "Beatlemania" !  A couple of months later, Bert started to compose and arrange music and the recordings he made with some of the best studio musicians available at that time, made the "bosses" at Polydor realize that they had  "some true gold" in their hands.... But soon, very soon, other "talent scouts" also picked-up the news about this "German guy that made people wanna dance".  One of them was the legendary American record man, Milt Gabler.

The coming together of these two men (Bert Kaempfert bringing a song called "Wonderland By night" in his suitcase when flying to the US) would eventually lead to one of the most successful collaborrations in the world of easy listening and mood  music.....(To be continued)

 

 

A NEW 24 EPISODE SERIES ABOUT BERT KAEMPFERT : THE MAN ...THE  MUSIC ...THE MAGIC

THE FOLLOWING EPISODES WILL BE PUBLISHED DURING THIS NEW SEASON 2015-2016

MAKE SURE YOU DON'T MISS A SINGLE EPISODE.....
ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE A FAN OF THE MUSIC OF
BERT KAEMPFERT.....!

PART 1--- The Early Years
PART 2 --- Polydor Records and Bert Kaempfert
PART 3 --- Fips finds The Beatles
PART 4 --- The Kaempfert African Sound
PART 5 --- Happy hours in Hamburg
PART 6 --- The Filmtheme That became a World Hit
PART 7 --- Press releases in the sixties and seventies
PART 8 --- Meeting Milt Gabler (US producer)
PART 9 --- A Special friend : Herb Rehbein
PART 10 --- Kaempfert, the Soundtrack composer
PART 11 --- Fips on the radio
PART 12 --- Television themes and troubles
PART 13 --- Bert Kaempfert "Life On Stage"
PART 14 --- Gone but not Forgotten
PART 15 --- Retro lounge at it's best
PART 16 --- Quotes by and about Bert Kaempfert
PART 17 --- Great melodies need great Lyrics....
PART 18 --- The Singles collection
PART 19 --- All the songs .. an impressive library
PART 20 --- The Composer
PART 21 --- The Arranger
PART 22 --- The Conductor
PART 23 --- The Kaempfert Legacy
PART 24 --- A Final Word By The Editor

 

COMING SOON ...

On THIS BLOG (LINKED TO THE YOU TUBE CHANNEL "SOCRESS SYMPHONIES PRESENTS" = SEARCH TERM IF YOU QUICKLY WANT TO FIND THE CHANNEL TRAILER AND CHANNEL ON YOU TUBE) .....

BERT KAEMPFERT AND HIS ORCHESTRA

BERT KAEMPFERT : THE MAN, THE MUSIC AND THE MAGIC

A 24 EPISODE SERIES ABOUT ONE OF THE MOST TALENTED COMPOSERS, ARRANGERS AND CONDUCTORS OF THE 20TH CENTURY.

TEXT PUBLICATIONS, RARE PHOTOS, POSTERS, SONG LYRICS, BERT KAEMPFERT AS AN ARRANGER, THE COMPOSER, THE SOUNDTRACK WRITER, HIS LIVE CONCERTS, HIS PRODUCERS, HIS ALBUMS, HIS AFRICAN SOUND, AND MUCH MUCH MORE ......

BE SURE NOT TO MISS A SINGLE EPISODE !!!
(EPISODES WILL BE PUBLISHED TWICE A MONTH SO WE ALL WILL BE "BUSY" FOR ANOTHER YEAR :-) !!

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SEE Y'ALL IN SEPTEMBER !!!