What are you listening to now ?

puredrifting said:
This is some funky goodness. Betcha Jaco Pastorious looms large in that bass player's development?
Click to expand...
Jaco definitely looms large- their Dean Town is an homage to the Jaco-penned Weather Report song Teen Town.

rsbush said:
I have a couple of first hand Jaco stories that are both sad and wonderful.
Click to expand...
As do I- sad, wonderful and aggravating... I saw him 7 or 8 times, always amazing.

First story was Jaco hitting on my then-girlfriend as we were exiting Ft. Lauderdale's Musician's Exchange around 2am and he was arriving.
He was either drunk, on a manic high (which possibly powered his creativity), or both.
I had to get in his face and tell him to back off. I didn't not know if it would work, and we were on exterior metal stairs leading to the second floor club. It did, fortunately.

Last story is, I was at the Santana concert at the Sunrise Musical Theater when Jaco jumped on the stage, then got kicked off (Santana may or may not have beckoned for him to come on stage).
Hours later, he was beaten at a bottle club, never gained conciousness , then died, escaping the demons in his head. What a price for genius...

But I can say, without doubt, that I saw the world's best bassist.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled What are you listening to now? thread...
 
i am listening to bob dylan's nobel acceptance speech where he references buddy holly and this is followed by a long buddy set.

pretty great.

yeah, man ;-)

be well.

rob
 
Since we're on the jazz theme - Max Raabe und Palast Orchester is the German big band, dedicated to the jazz, pop and cabaret standards of the pre-Nazi era Germany. In Europe, they do about 2/3 of the old German songs; in the US, they do more English language numbers.









 
1970's? 1970?!!!

OK, everyone knows the US Top 40. But Europe had their stars of the yesteryear.

Dschinghis Khan was a German band specifically put together for the 1979 Eurovision contest. They're known for these two super hits - Dschinghis Khan and Moskau - which they continue to perform for the various nostalgia themed concerts, albeit with a slightly different lineup.



Boney M was created by producer Frank Farian (also responsible for Milli Vanilli) and sold some 150,000,000 records.



Frank Farian also produced Eruption's biggest hit, cover of Neil Sedaka's "One way ticket".


Chocolat was another one-hit disco group.


Dee D Jackson was a two-hit wonder English singer.


Baccara was a Spanish duo that a couple of huge disco hits.


Afric Simone is a Mozambique born singer, here with his biggest hit Hafanana


Arabesque was another German made disco band (trio) that was popular in Europe and Asia.

 
Last edited:
So, I was reading some other forum while listening to "Die Lustige Witwe" (The Merry Widow) by Franz Lehar.




 
Cary Knoop said:
Staying classical ...
Click to expand...
Technically speaking, Lehar, Kalman, Abraham, Stolz, et al. are representative of operetta, aka light opera, which combines elements of classical music but, at the same time, has more lighthearted humor and dancing. the above names are considered the 2nd Wave of the Viennese Operetta, essentially the first half of the 20th Century.

This is the 1st wave.




 
DLD said:
Technically speaking, Lehar, Kalman, Abraham, Stolz, et al. are representative of operetta, aka light opera, which combines elements of classical music but, at the same time, has more lighthearted humor and dancing. the above names are considered the 2nd Wave of the Viennese Operetta, essentially the first half of the 20th Century.
Click to expand...
"Dein ist mein ganzes Herz" is one of my favorite operetta songs from Franz Lehár.
Starting on a diminished chord and treating it as a tonic, how special!

(blocked in the UK as this is licensed by Channel 4)
 
Last edited:
I linked Jonas Kauffman's version (abetted with Domingo's live hugs). Domingo's is in his prime phenomenal great above.

But he's no Fritz Wunderlich.


It's a German aria and Domingo's German isn't his best.

Plus, he's no Wunderlich.

Because -

 
Last edited:
There's also a sad historical background about many of these writers. The "Merry Widow" was Hitler's favorite operetta and it was being performed throughout the Nazi reign, albeit without the mention of its Jewish librettists, Leo Stein and Victor Leon. Lehar, as a Hungarian, was under no threat from the Nazis but his Jewish wife was. Upon the Anchluss of Austria in 1938, Hitler sent an emissary to assure Lehar that he'd be given a special Aryan status, as long as he was willing to play nice with the regime. Lehar, then in advance age, accepted and was given a number of awards, including the German Cross in Gold, the highest award that could be given to a non-German. His wife was not in any way inconvenienced either.

Emmerich Kalman (real name Imre Kopstein) was given the same offer but refused it and made his way to the US. Both of his sisters were murdered when the Germans took control of Hungary (long story with the Hungarian regent Admiral Horthy and his son's kidnapping by the SS).

Alfred Grünwald, a librettist who mostly worked with Kalman and Abraham, came to the US with his family, including his son Henry (born Heinz Anatol). Henry Grunwald became the editor-in-chief of Time magazine, and later an ambassador to Austria under Ronald Reagan. One of Henry's daughters is Mandy Grunwald, a well known political consultant.

Grünwald frequent partner, Julius Brammer escaped to France, then to the Vichy France, where he passed away in 1943.

Fritz Löhner-Beda who wrote the libretto for several of Lehar's operettas, including the above two, was arrested and beaten to death by the Nazi KZ guards in 1942. Rumors were that Lehar tried to get him out but couldn't.

Lehar died in Vienna in 1948. Kalman with his family moved to Paris where passed away in 1951, having suffered a heart attack after learning about the fate of his sisters. Alfred Grünwald also died in 1951, in New York City.

And the travails of Paul Abraham make for a book of their own.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top