Uploaded May 2014 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Music Fast Facts : Ireland has won the most Eurovision song contests (7 times). ▼▼▼
KAEMPFERT IN CONCERT
One of the many high points of Bert Kaempfert's live performances was a special segment featuring swing music, a style of music that especially appealed to Kaempfert, with the Count Basie version of Strangers in the night for example, being one of the ones he liked most. And the LP SWING, recorded in October 1977, serves to underscore his love for this particular sound. With SWING he fulfilled a dream going back to the days of his youth, an LP with which a great and talented musician paid his very own musical tribute to the work of legends such as Woody Herman, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller and others. Numbers such as At The Woodchopper's Ball, In The Mood and Lullaby Of Birdland were the classics among the classics in a fabulous array of songs.
Now at last, in Germany as well, Bert Kaempfert's music enjoyed the status that had long been due to it and its creator. German television responded and in 1979 presented "Bert Kaempfert In Concert" -- with the top-class Swedish singer Sylvia Vrethammar appearing with his fabulous orchestra. That, in turn, naturally led to a fresh concert tour throughout Germany, including appearances in Luxembourg and Zurich.
The last notes of this tour had hardly died away before a new decade dawned, and, scheduled for the new year, a tour of England. Following performances in Manchester, Birmingham, Croydon and Eastbourne, this tour concluded with a concert in London -- the venue for this celebrated event again being, as in 1974, the Royal Albert Hall. And even after the fourth encore, the over 5,000 enthusiastic listeners in the Hall were still unwilling to let Kaempfert and his orchestra go. In the end, Kaempfert himself, as exhausted as he was pleased by this reception, stepped forward on this 16 June 1980 and brought the evening to an end with the honest announcement: "I'd love to go on but I've run out of music. And my musicians are thirsty!"
DID YOU KNOW ?
The song "Marie" was composed by Irving Berlin in 1929 but only became a number one orchestral hit in 1937 when it was played by Tommy Dorsey and His Band.
MHO
I just love the "brassy" opening here pointing into the direction of a marvellous arrangement ... Like no other, Bert Kaempfert knew how to write a fabulous arrangement, be it for his own magical creations or for existing (classic) songs like this Berlin evergreen. Bert uses the entire orchestra here, bringing in the strings to take over the basic melody from the brass. When a little "extra" is needed to eg make a musical bridge to the next phrase, Bert makes use of the legendary Botho Lucas Singers (who usually sing only wordless back-up as is the case here too). This is just one thing that reveals Bert Kaempfert's "ear for detail" - a talent (among others) that has made the difference in all of his songs (some 400) and arrangements (close to 800).
Enjoy this newest Kaempfert post !
Music Fast Facts : Ireland has won the most Eurovision song contests (7 times). ▼▼▼
KAEMPFERT IN CONCERT
One of the many high points of Bert Kaempfert's live performances was a special segment featuring swing music, a style of music that especially appealed to Kaempfert, with the Count Basie version of Strangers in the night for example, being one of the ones he liked most. And the LP SWING, recorded in October 1977, serves to underscore his love for this particular sound. With SWING he fulfilled a dream going back to the days of his youth, an LP with which a great and talented musician paid his very own musical tribute to the work of legends such as Woody Herman, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller and others. Numbers such as At The Woodchopper's Ball, In The Mood and Lullaby Of Birdland were the classics among the classics in a fabulous array of songs.
Now at last, in Germany as well, Bert Kaempfert's music enjoyed the status that had long been due to it and its creator. German television responded and in 1979 presented "Bert Kaempfert In Concert" -- with the top-class Swedish singer Sylvia Vrethammar appearing with his fabulous orchestra. That, in turn, naturally led to a fresh concert tour throughout Germany, including appearances in Luxembourg and Zurich.
The last notes of this tour had hardly died away before a new decade dawned, and, scheduled for the new year, a tour of England. Following performances in Manchester, Birmingham, Croydon and Eastbourne, this tour concluded with a concert in London -- the venue for this celebrated event again being, as in 1974, the Royal Albert Hall. And even after the fourth encore, the over 5,000 enthusiastic listeners in the Hall were still unwilling to let Kaempfert and his orchestra go. In the end, Kaempfert himself, as exhausted as he was pleased by this reception, stepped forward on this 16 June 1980 and brought the evening to an end with the honest announcement: "I'd love to go on but I've run out of music. And my musicians are thirsty!"
DID YOU KNOW ?
The song "Marie" was composed by Irving Berlin in 1929 but only became a number one orchestral hit in 1937 when it was played by Tommy Dorsey and His Band.
MHO
I just love the "brassy" opening here pointing into the direction of a marvellous arrangement ... Like no other, Bert Kaempfert knew how to write a fabulous arrangement, be it for his own magical creations or for existing (classic) songs like this Berlin evergreen. Bert uses the entire orchestra here, bringing in the strings to take over the basic melody from the brass. When a little "extra" is needed to eg make a musical bridge to the next phrase, Bert makes use of the legendary Botho Lucas Singers (who usually sing only wordless back-up as is the case here too). This is just one thing that reveals Bert Kaempfert's "ear for detail" - a talent (among others) that has made the difference in all of his songs (some 400) and arrangements (close to 800).
Enjoy this newest Kaempfert post !
