CD REVIEW
– BERT
KAEMPFERT
Wonderland By Night
GREATEST HITS 1958-1962
Jasmine JASMCD2655
[78:54]
'
Releases like this
are almost akin to hens' teeth
these days. Ten years ago, in the
last published issue of the
Robert Farnon Society magazine
Journal Into Melody, at least a
dozen easy listening orchestral
albums were reviewed. So well
done to the label for
resurrecting this selection of no
less than 28 Kaempfert 45rpm
singles.
Hamburg-born
Berthold Heinrich Kaempfert
(1923-80) was a composer,
orchestra leader, arranger,
producer (having a part in the
rise of the Beatles) and
musician, playing piano,
clarinet, saxophone and
accordion. During the war he
served as a bandsman in the
German Navy and finished it as a
prisoner-of-war in Denmark. He
formed his own big band in 1947.
Many of his songs
and instrumentals became world
famous, the latter with their
trademark use of electric bass
and solo trumpet against
sustained strings. In 1961 Wonderland
by Night was his first
really big hit, being an American
Billboard No.1 for three weeks
and selling several million
copies. Five years later Frank
Sinatra was in the same position
with the Kaempfert composed Strangers
in the Night (originally Fremde
in der Nacht).
On this album Happy
Trumpeter, A Swingin' Safari,
Mexican Road, Echo In The Night,
Africaan Beat, Now And Forever,
Dreaming The Blues and Wooden
Heart are among a number of
Kaempfert compositions. Other
tracks include the title tune Wunderland
Bei Nacht, Mitternachts-Blues,
his first hit that made the West
German Top 10 in 1958, Perez
Prado's Patricia, April in
Portugal, Shorty Roger's Cerveza,
Leiber & Stoller's Cha!
Bull!, Gipsy’s Cha-Cha
(Zigeuner’s Cha-Cha), Morgen
(One More Sunrise), Nur Do, Du,
Du Allein (To Know Him Is To Love
Him), Tenderly, La Vie En Rose
and That Happy Feeling.
The last-named
could have been the album's
title. With some wonderfully
imaginative arrangements it has
been a treat to listen to –
a real blast from the past –
and I am hoping that good sales
might encourage Jasmine to bring
back more of 'our kind of music'.
Kaempfert once
wrote: "I want to make music
for everyone. It's meant to give
people pleasure. If it doesn't,
it's failed in its purpose".
Reader, you can be assured
there’s no failure here.
© Peter
Burt 2023
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