Friday, March 16, 2012

Summer's Almost Here - ...love that Bert Kaempfert


What an album cover.  Hardly needs me to comment.  But her's what I have found out from available sources about Bert: In 1961, Bert hired The Beatles to back Tony Sheridan for an album called My Bonnie. The album and its singles, released by Polydor, were the Beatles' first commercially released recordings.   His instrumental Moon Over Naples, when given words by Snyder, became Spanish Eyes, originally a hit for Al Martino and also recorded byEngelbert Humperdinck, Presley, and many others.   His Danke Schoen, with words added by Kurt Schwabach and Milt Gabler, became Wayne Newton's signature song.  Another contributor to Kaempfert's music was guitarist/bassist Ladislav "Ladi" Geisler, who popularized the famous "knackbass" (crackling bass) sound, using the Fender Telecaster Bass Guitar, which became the most distinctive feature of many Kaempfert recordings - a treble staccato bass guitar sound in which the bass string was plucked with a pick and immediately suppressed to cancel out any sustain. It was Geisler who lent his guitar amplifier to The Beatles for their recording session with Tony Sheridan, after the band's own equipment proved to be inadequate for recording purposes.

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