Bigbands Live: KURT EDELHAGEN (1954) [Vinyl LP 180g]

	£		20
	$		26

1954. Germany, a nation under Allied occupation and still bearing the scars of its Nazi past, tuned its radios to witness the “Miracle of Bern” and world cup victory just nine years after being at war. At the same time in Baden-Baden, a perfectionist bandleader sporting a baton and horn-rimmed spectacles was drilling his musicians. Kurt Edelhagen arrived in Baden-Baden in 1952, after seven year’s on the road touring the British and American soldiers clubs. Now he was at Südwestfunk, rehearsing for international celebrity. His rehearsal discipline was dubbed “Prussian” on account of his severity with musicians, his goal being to follow in the footsteps of his great idol Stan Kenton: hermetically tight, steely cold, but with a momentum and swing that went to the head. You Go To My Head – the old standard returned to the programme with the first seductive whiff of modern jazz from Miles and Dizzy, Bud Powell and Clifford Brown. Reason enough, then, for Edelhagen to record his own version, with the Konitz-cool Franz von Klenck on alto. Tuxedo Junction is a black song from Alabama – arranged here by the young Roland Kovac, who, having only recently joined the orchestra, slipped Helmut Reinhardt a Mulliganesque baritone solo. 

Like any bandleader of distinction, Edelhagen was open to influence from outside, inviting arrangers and stars to work with his orchestra in a quest for movement, timing, glamour. In April ’54, for example, Klaus Ogermann appeared as a guest on SWF Jazztime. Kurt Edelhagen placed a microphone in front of his nose, and with a wonderful blend of Ralf Bendix and Nat King Cole, Ogermann crooned My Destiny and That Old Black Magic (available as bonus tracks with the digital download). In the studio recordings from July ’54, released here in their entirety for the first time, Ogermann appears as composer and arranger: Tiny’s Beat and Minor Sound were just a taste of greater things to come. The orchestra then headed to Freiburg, and an encounter between the grande dame of stride piano, Mary Lou Williams, and “Colonel” Edelhagen. Williams was living in Paris at the time, and if sources are to be believed, this was the only concert she ever gave in Germany. Audibly moved, Edelhagen told the audience: “We are truly speechless that she is here playing with us today.” Of the six pieces performed (two available as bonus tracks with the digital download), Williams played five in a trio with Werner Schulze on bass and Bobby Schmidt on drums, all of them audibly inspired – as in Blues On The Bongo Beat – by the rhythmic energy of the great lady. Then in Nancy And The Colonel the All Stars demonstrate as a unit that they and their bandleader had rediscovered the façon they had supposedly lost. 

In late 1954, Edelhagen made another studio recording: Alpha Jazz by Roland Kovac. A showpiece that turned into a suite, with sweeping gestures, he contrasts intricate ostinati with dense soundscapes over Latin American rhythms. And with that the year was over. 1955 saw West Germany become a sovereign state once again, and the Paris Agreements set the seal on the start of the economic miracle. In the East, young jazz musicians could only dream of the kind of contract Jutta Hipp had signed with "Blue Note". Mary Lou Williams returned to the USA, converted to Catholicism with Lorraine Gillespie in 1957 and devoted herself to sacred music. Roland Kovac turned to writing film scores and 20 years later became a preceptor of easy listening. Klaus Ogermann left Europe in 1959 and arrived in Los Angeles as Claus Ogerman, where his arranging skills for Frank Sinatra, Antonio Carlos Jobim, George Benson, Prince … earned him no fewer than 16 Grammy nominations. Today he lives a quiet life in Munich and elsewhere. Kurt Edelhagen and his men remained in Baden-Baden – for two more years. 


Catalogue No.: 101742