Kaempfert on compact

Press, 26 December 1985, Page 11

Kaempfert on compact

Classical records review

ALLAN FRANCIS

BERT KAEMPFERT. Famous Swing Classics. POLYDOR COMPACT DISC 817 816-2

Compact Disc gives Bert Kaempfert a distinctly ethereal quality, a feeling that one is perched on a cloud and the music is coming from heavenly sources. The clarity is so vividly alive, yet warm enough to grip the listener’s imagination that it is easy to be convinced that this music does in fact have origins in outer space.

A more earthly comparison may be that of 3-D and the ordinary film process, where everything after Marylin Monroe on the big screen seemed flat and unspectacular. Such is this relative listening process, compact disc versus LP. It has never been so evident before. Even more unusual is the fact that one can get so enthusiastic about a musician who ranks more amongst the cocktail hour devotees than in the “true” world of jazz. Kaempfert stoops to devices that are less than what the purist might allow — tricks such as the heavenly choir and strings! But what is so catching are the brass riffs, the spectacular reeds and the punctuated phrases that find welcoming responses from all factions in society. The familiar muted trumpet lead strides out after the intitial statement by the ensemble and there are no surprises in the Kaempfert attack, nor in the shift progressively up to the climax. Indeed, it all sounds pretty much the mixture as before, and a quick look at the cover assures us that it is so. Why the fuss? Perhaps Kaempfert needed another dimension to adequately show his stuff, and he has unquestionably got it here. Regardless of the fact that this is an accumulated batch of transfers, the programme has gained much from the added listening quality. This means that the originals must have been pretty good too; all that he needed was some clear upper air to do justice to those smooth arrangements. The Compact Disc has certainly given him that and Saturday afternoons will never be the same again. Nouveau jazz addicts, mid-roaders, geriatrics from the 50’s (or even 30’s or 40’s) will love this batch. It is just right for the cocktail hour and the beer and peanuts consumers; Much of those Hermanesque brass shouts of joy were lost in muddy recordings; now they are in full flight in “Apple Honey,” the fine edge of the clamour being surpassed only by the corresponding elation of an All Black victory.

The band goes through the book with due respect to those concerned: Les Brown with “Little, Brown Jug,” Count Basie with “One O’Clock and Two O’Clock Jump,” Goodman with “Airmail Special,” Tommy Dorsey with “Marie” and “Opus' 1/ Ellington with “A Train” and “Perdido” and so on. The arrangements are rough enough to suggest the authentic flavour of the originals, yet smooth enough for those who can’t stand the pace. Both are essential. (“West Side Story” might have missed the mark by dropping the raw edge of the original.) Personally, I can see a bright summer season for this one, where the richness of warm Saturdays will be enhanced by the equally warm harmony of the German view of established jazz standards of endless, boyish delight. JAMES LAST. Classics Up To date. 12 tracks of “classics” by the James Last Orchestra. POLYDOR ■ COMPACT DISC 821 115-2. f2 After the opening number “Ballade Pour Adeline,” one is hardly geared for a batch of so-called “classics,” “Adeline" being neither classical nor memorable. Still, this is the mood of the entire programme and the succeeding “Adagios,” “Romances,” “Sonatas” and “Concertos” all fall into line of soupy strings, the occasional oboe and a drifting piano strongly reminiscent of our old bete noir, Richard Clayderman. That it will be immensely popular is taken for granted. This is a sure-fire programme that makes few demands but is utterly inconsequential. EARL KLUGH. Soda Fountain Shuffle and other originals. POLYDOR COMPACT DISC 7599 25262-2. Earl Klugh has undoubtedly hit the right spot with his style of composition and playing. He is universally accepted as today’s top exponent of the easy listening guitar.

He can’t seem to put a foot wrong. This one simply extends an already immaculate record; his tone and general style are so entidng that each track is a logical successor to the one before. All originals, this time, the results of knowing his audience.

“Just Pretend,” “Baby Cakes,” “Some Other Time” and “April Love” are some of the numbers on this one — the latter being no relation to the Pat Boone hit song from the film of the same name. .