Sonorama

[mikeweil]

As it turned out I will meet Ekkehart Fleischhammer of Sonorama Records in Berlin this upcoming Saturday. A mutual friend there recently made his acquaintance.

Any questions that I might ask him?

http://sonorama.de/

[mikeweil]

No questions?

[optatio]

I would like to have a release as LP/CD of the recording 'Karl Berger: Total Music Ensemble, 1968'

https://inconstantsol.blogspot.com/2009/01/karl-berger-total-music-ensemble.html 

https://www.discogs.com/release/33418631-Karl-Berger-Total-Music-Ensemble-Hamburg-1968?srsltid=AfmBOoqAmYZDPOB4sDigXh7-r_5DnKIq_nQzWjRKo12CZuFQlVKk6wYF 

[Big Beat Steve]

2 hours ago, mikeweil said:

No questions?

O.K., so here goes: 

A wisecracking question or hint about Sonorama C-100/L-100 (Cool Europa):
Isn't a cover photo dating from 1949 (Fred Bunge blowing a lone trumpet to some kid onlookers in war-ridden Hamburg, photo by Susanne Schapowalow) a bit out of tune (literally ) with a record covering the 1959 to 1963 ("Wirtschaftswunder"!!) period? 

More seriously, a question about some rarities and obscurities that should fit the release program of the label:

1) As Sonorama has released or reissued a couple of items on SWEDISH jazz from the 50s and 60s, are there any more plans for reissues of other Swedish artists/groups that have consistently been overlooked by labels such as Dragon or Caprice?

2) LPs were released back in the day with music from the German Amateur Jazz Festivals of 1958 and 1959 (on Metronome) and 1962 and 1963 (on Columbia). But nothing ever for the 1960 and 1961 festivals. Neither for the very first Amateur Jazz Festivals in 1955, 1956 and 1957. Does Sonorama know anything about the existence of recordings/tapes from these festivals and if so, any plans for future release projects? 

3) A real, total, absolute obscurity: The July 1962 issue of the short-lived German jazz mag "JAZZER" carried the below brief news item. Does Sonorama have any knowledge of the existence of any such recordings and if so, any leads as to where to track down the music for a belated release?

Edited yesterday at 11:15 AM by Big Beat Steve

[mikeweil]

Meeting with my old friend from schooldays, yours truly (far left), and Ekkehart Fleischhammer (far right)

[mikeweil]

11 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

O.K., so here goes: 

A wisecracking question or hint about Sonorama C-100/L-100 (Cool Europa):
Isn't a cover photo dating from 1949 (Fred Bunge blowing a lone trumpet to some kid onlookers in war-ridden Hamburg, photo by Susanne Schapowalow) a bit out of tune (literally ) with a record covering the 1959 to 1963 ("Wirtschaftswunder"!!) period? 

He simply loved Schapowalow's photo for its symbolic meaning. So much for cover art esthetics.   

11 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

1) As Sonorama has released or reissued a couple of items on SWEDISH jazz from the 50s and 60s, are there any more plans for reissues of other Swedish artists/groups that have consistently been overlooked by labels such as Dragon or Caprice?

No.

11 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

2) LPs were released back in the day with music from the German Amateur Jazz Festivals of 1958 and 1959 (on Metronome) and 1962 and 1963 (on Columbia). But nothing ever for the 1960 and 1961 festivals. Neither for the very first Amateur Jazz Festivals in 1955, 1956 and 1957. Does Sonorama know anything about the existence of recordings/tapes from these festivals and if so, any plans for future release projects? 

He does not see a potential buying audience for any of those you mentioned.

11 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

3) A real, total, absolute obscurity: The July 1962 issue of the short-lived German jazz mag "JAZZER" carried the below brief news item. Does Sonorama have any knowledge of the existence of any such recordings and if so, any leads as to where to track down the music for a belated release?

This is really obscure. He confessed it is the first time he ever heard of that musician, group, and the magazine.

[mikeweil]

He told it is really unpredictable how sales develop. Some items printed in one thousand copies still are in stock after twenty years and he has no idea if they ever will sell. Others sold so fast he had them re-pressed immediately. He has to be careful with investing and always looks for top quality original source material.

Anybody looking for items marked as sold out on his website are encouraged to contact him directly. Chances are he still has a handful of copies in stock.

[Big Beat Steve]

Thanks very much, Mike.

To reply briefly to Mr Fleischhammer's comments:

1) Pity about the Swedish jazz, as there still is quite a bit of territory that is uncharted reissue-wise. But I'll agree that this is a niche market probably not easily exploitable if you are not that close to the Swedish market.

2) Understandable but still regrettable. Provided that recordings remain at all, the 1960 festival, for example, might have yielded the very first documented recordings by Gunter Hampel, Alexander von Schlippenbach and Joe Viera, among many others; each one of them had applied for participation with their own groups. 

3) Yes, a real obscurity, that "Modern Jazz Group 60" from Pforzheim. After I had discoved this news item in the JAZZER mag I wrote to Wolfram Knauer of the Darmstadt Jazz Institute but he had no knowledge whatsoever of this either. But since Sonorama seems to have a knack of unearthing unreleased tapes off the beaten tracks of the "usual suspect" artists I figured a question might be worth it. 
BTW, the list of applications for the 1960 German Amateur Jazz Festival lists a "Hard Bop Group Pforzheim". This might well be them.

 

As for the sales or non-sales of Sonorama records, is there any indication which ones, for example, are particularly slow movers? I have bought several new Sonorama vinyls at our preferred local record shop through the years, but Lars Gullin's comparatively recent "Liquid Moves" CD, for example, already showed up there in the 1 EUR "secondhand odds and ends" special offer bin (and, needless to say, is on my shelf now ).

 

Edited 2 hours ago by Big Beat Steve