During 25 years of cooperation with Polydor, Bert Kaempfert arranged,
composed and produced a countless number of songs. From 1961 until
shortly before his death in 1980, close to 40 album productions by Bert Kaempfert and
his Orchestra were released in Germany alone under the Polydor
label.
These albums contain more than 460 productions of his own beautiful
compositions together with evergreens and world standards.
Composer-conductor-arranger Bert Kaempfert created a sensation with the
million-selling hit recording of the hauntingly beautiful
Wonderland By Night.
With it, he almost single-handedly reestablished the popularity of the
big band, and in so doing became one of its most popular and vital
forces.
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Wonderland by Night
has been followed by a bright succession of Kaempfert hits − perhaps the most significant being
Afrikaan
Beat, together with
A Swinging Safari
and
That Happy Feeling.
The first two titles were original Kaempfert compositions, and they
represent − with their brilliant trumpet passages and beautiful
intrusions of massed strings − one of the most rhythmically exciting and
melodically imaginative sounds ever conceived by Mr. Kaempfert or anyone
else on the scene.
Mr.
Kaempfert, like many other modern young men of his time, had long been
fascinated by the music of Africa; and in particular by the unique
rhythms and "penny whistle" sound that was the result of the merging of
European and African negro elements in South Africa. Thus, some of
his albums were the outcome of much research and study. Their moods
ranged from softly sentimental to almost boisterously swinging. The
sound is characteristically rich.
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The Album
A Swinging
Safari
was one of the first productions undertaken by the Polydor studio in
Hamburg-Rahlstedt. As with
Wonderland By Night,
which marked the beginning of Bert Kaempfert's career in America, that
production was also first released there. Both Kaempfert
compositions,
A Swinging Safari and
Afrikaan Beat, were soon world
hits. Dean Martin made the title
Take Me
famous with his own vocal version, and
That Happy Feeling,
Market Day
and
Happy
Trumpeter
became long running hits on American radio.
Bert Kaempfert always had a special love for "black music". When he
first heard a South African recording of the so called "penny whistlers", he
was so impressed that he wanted to produce an album in the same vein.
And Bert Kaempfert went on to do just that, but at the same time remaining
faithful to his own inimitable style; he was never an imitator of
other musicians. Combining strings, choir, and his famous trumpet
solos, he still managed to reproduce the penny whistle sound which runs
through his arrangements like a clear stream. Ladi Geisler, long
standing bass guitarist with the Kaempfert Orchestra, remembered: "Bert
Kaempfert tried to swap the penny whistle for a piccolo. Now... that
was a real piece of innovation. Then, finally, it was all ready
and Bert was really pleased: he had managed, he had captured the sound
of the penny whistle using the piccolo".
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The huge success of that
album, which in the meantime had made its debut in Europe, was soon
to be rewarded with a Golden Disc. Over and over again,
A Swinging Safari made new friends. In addition to other prizes, Bert
Kaempfert was to receive in 1968 a second Golden Disc for that
production, and with it equaled the world record of 9 Golden Discs, which until then had been held only by The Beatles. But Bert
Kaempfert was
to be even happier to learn of the popularity of that production in South
Africa.
Knowledge of that recording is still immense. Nearly everyone who
hears the opening bars of A Swinging Safari
realizes that they have
heard them before. And the intro to Afrikaan Beat
is today one of
the most unmistakable symbols of Bert Kaempfert and his Orchestra, with its typical "cracking bass"; again, Ladi Geisler recalled: "We
musicians
were, as always, spread out in front of one microphone. My amp
stood about 9 feet away, the same distance as the trombones.
Bert advised me to go easy on the lower notes (these were to come
from the double-bass) and the high notes were to be accentuated so that
it would 'really crack'. This was how the term 'cracking bass' was born".
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The Kaempfert Touch
There is always something
special about a tune with the Kaempfert touch – the dominant bass line, the
regimented swing of the beat, the muted brass and the general air of quality
that permeates every bar.
Bert Kaempfert was born in Hamburg, Germany, and was an only child. His interest in music
began very early when he was found trying to make tunes on the old home parlor piano. His parents happily encouraged this natural
enthusiasm, first by sending him for private lessons, and later (after
the more academic schooling was completed) enrolling him at the Hamburg
School of Music, from which he graduated with flying colors. In
addition to piano, he learned to play clarinet, saxophone and
accordion, and put these to good use when, after leaving the
conservatory, he joined the then popular Hans Busch band. His talent as an arranger and composer soon came to the attention of
a
young Polydor Records company in Hamburg and Bert was contracted as an artist, arranger and A&R man.
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In the last capacity, Bert Kaempfert should be
forever remembered as the man who first recognized the talent of John
Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliff,
the original Beatles
– and teamed them with singer Tony
Sheridan for their
first professional recordings.
Bert's own recording career effectively began in 1960 when the single of
his own song, Wonderland by Night, topped the American charts and became
a million seller. In 1961, the Bert Kaempfert Orchestra was voted
"Number One Band of the Future" in the American Cashbox poll.
In 1965, Kaempfert was
engaged to write the music for the Universal film "A Man Could Get Killed".
One of the numbers in the score was Strangers In The Night, a song that brought Frank
Sinatra back for his first chart-topping single in many years.
The same year had seen his British chart debut with
Bye Bye
Blues, still the most distinctive example of the Kaempfert
sound.
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In 1966, Bert received another Gold Disc − for
A Swinging Safari
− and won the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Prize for
Strangers In The Night, voted "Best Motion
Picture Song of 1966".
A prolific songwriter, Bert introduced his compositions on his albums,
carefully blending the new with the familiar. And, frequently, the familiar were also Kaempfert originals such as
Red Roses For A Blue Lady,
Afrikaan Beat,
Spanish Eyes
and
Danke Schoen.
Wayne
Newton's recording of this last song was another American million dollar
seller.
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Bert Kaempfert, the man, was quiet, modest, elusive and even unwilling
to talk about his musical success. He was happily married, with two daughters and
several
grandchildren. The family lived in a modern and roomy farm house
just outside Zug, in Switzerland, where Bert could indulge in one of
his favorite hobbies: fishing. This also took him to America and
Florida, where he regularly fished in the Everglades
– and indeed
fishing was the prime activity at his second home in Mallorca.
Relaxation
–the keynote of Bert Kaempfert's music– was also Bert Kaempfert's art of living and
secret of success.
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Bert Kaempfert
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