James Last/Astrud Gilberto- PLUS

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

hey everybody, when i was up in canada last week for the supertramp concert, i picked this really interesting cd up. i had no idea it excited but now that im listening to it, dude its the like 'blueprint' album for all the later late 80s brazillian inflenced smooth jazz, this album MAKES SO MUCH PERFECT SENSE. I am loving it. now shes singing over a DX-7, and now theres a man duet-singer whos trying to do his best Michael McDonald. Its aweeeeeeesome!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.gayo114.com/image/musicbox/albumimg/33/22933

oh my god, whats this song called, trk 4, "listen to your heart"- wowowowow!

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

im not suprised no one knows this one- i didnt know it excited myself. i tried to upload some to youtube but i erased it all cause it instantly was flagged for copywright. trust me, if you ever see this cd, GET IT!

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

guys im sorry im pushing this. i just know u guys would love it if i could actually properly describe it to you-- if you are a fan of Astrud Gilberto, Bossa Nova, Modern 80s Bossa Nova with DX-7's...you would dig this CD. i see on the net a later US i believe issue uses a different cover. this is the original. I do not know who james last is, but i ttttttthiiiiiiiiiink i saw this really strage 60s pop record on phillips, i saw this in my collection, they do a euro big band pop cover for A WHITER SHADE OF PALE, so i was all: oooooooo! i guess this dude was legit, if hes not jamming with Astrud herself. appearently she didnt do a million albums in the 80s, this is the major work- the album is pretty incredible...it is GROOVIN' - let me tell u. ONE organissmo member besides me must have this album,- state your name, location and format!

[Big Beat Steve]

James Last ... UGH!

Had some good credentials as a German jazz bassist of the early to mid-50s who played with many of the big (German and touring foreign) jazz names, and then (from the mid-60s or so) led an ultra-well-known big band in Germany (and still leads it, I think, though he is well into his 80s).

The "James Last sound" has been a trademark for decades around here - for better or worse, because he really was a jack of all trades and shrewd businessman, as he "big banded" everything in sight, ranging from the pop hits of the day through local folklore, light classics, "party singalong" records, and the usual big band swing "warhorses", of course.

The musical competences of the band members always were high, but this was NOT a "swing" or "jazz" or "progressive" big band (except for some symbolic excursions into that field) and was never meant to be but rather left its mark as an all-round easy listening party pop big band.

It had become a common quip that whenever any sort of marketable music with mass appeal potential crept up anywhere within hearing distance, James Last was sure to arrange it into his book, pouring his "my sound fits all" molasses over the entire score to mold it into another example of the typical "James Last sound". Whatever chart hits or musically hot mainstream, middle-of-the-road trends there were, pretty soon there was bound to be a James Last record of it in the shops. And, having come of age muscially at a time - the 70s - when he really was a big shot in the mainstream pop world around here, I can assure you that sound was the "easy listening bane" of everybody out for something musically more substantial.

Germany's revenge for Mantovani, Lawrence Welk, Percy Faith etc. combined, if you want ...

Honestly, with the benefit of hindsight, if I'd been forced to listen to German mainstream big bands all the time, I'd have preferred Max Greger or even Bert Kaempfert or the post-jazz "Black Forest" period Horst Jankowski any time.

But I'll admit that nostalgically speaking, some of his repertoire can pass as some sort of "exotic"/"exotica" act as it was sooo typical of the middle-of-the-road tastes of those times that in a way it becomes quite exotic decades later (and, in case TTK reads this, his band DID gig in "lounge" settings too ).

Edited June 7, 2011 by Big Beat Steve

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

sounds awesome!!!!

[Big Beat Steve]

OMG! :wacko:

You really think so??

Whatever happened to your ears?? :blink:

[JSngry]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iOcAV6Tj2E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj_0mhtut60&feature=related

[crisp]

Big Beat Steve's description is correct as far as it goes and James Last is probably the most nakedly commercial of all the "easy listening" bandleaders, but as with all this music, part of the pleasure is in the artifice/absence of ego, part in the constant variation on a formula and part in discovering the occasional buried gem. This might be a single track on an otherwise routine album, or even just a solo or orchestration touch on an otherwise routine track. That won't satisfy those who want deep personal expression all the time, but if you like to take regular breaks from personality-led music, the contrast can be very enjoyable.

I'm into "easy" as well as classical and jazz and recently got a Vocalion reissue of two Last albums, Voodoo Party and Well-Kept Secret. Its highly recommended: skilfully arranged and played instrumental funk with the slight weirdness that comes from anything that starts from the point of not caring whether the listener is impressed or not. Caveat emptor and all that, but don't necessarily dismiss out of hand.

Full disclosure: I like Mantovani too.

[flat5]

A place where I worked used J. Last records when repairing turntables (1986).

We did not care what happened to the records.