45 RPMs 50: Bert Kaempfert ~ Wonderland By Night

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Bert Kaempfert ~ Wonderland By Night

 45 RPM record

photo by Styrous®

 

 

Bert Kaempfert (born Berthold Heinrich Kämpfert, 16 October 1923 – 21 June 1980) was a German orchestra leader, multi-instrumentalist, music producer, arranger, and composer. He made easy listening and jazz-oriented records and wrote the music for a number of well-known songs, including  Moon Over Naples, which was sung by Al Martino, and Strangers in the Night, which was used in the score for the movie A Man Could Get Killed (which starred James Garner and Melina Mercouri) and was made famous and became a major hit for Frank Sinatra in 1966.                

 

 

 

Bert Kaempfert ~ Wonderland By Night

 45 RPM record in sleeve

photo by Styrous®

 

Wonderland By Night (German title Wunderland bei Nacht), with its haunting solo trumpet by Charles Tabor, muted brass, and lush strings, topped the American pop charts and turned Kaempfert and his Orchestra into international stars. Tabor was an Austrian jazz trumpeter, born 5 January 1919 in Vienna, Austria, died 29 July 1999 in Griesstätt, Bavaria, Germany.          

 

 

Bert Kaempfert ~ Wonderland By Night

 45 RPM record

photo by Styrous®

Wonderland By Night was written by Klaus Günter Neumann with English lyrics by Lincoln Chase who wrote, Jim Dandy, which was recorded by American R&B singer, LaVern Baker.     

A cover, recorded and released by Louis Prima, also charted in the same year, reaching #15 on the Billboard charts. A vocal version by Anita Bryant, which included orchestrations by Lew Douglas, reached #18 on the US Pop Chart. Engelbert Humperdinck and Johnny Mathis also recorded vocal versions, while Floyd Cramer did a great cover on piano, with his "Nashville sound", of course.     

 

 

Bert Kaempfert ~ Wonderland By Night

 45 RPM record label

photo by Styrous®

 

 

Kaempfert was born in Hamburg, Germany. He was hired by Hans Busch to play with his orchestra, before serving as a bandsman in the German Navy during World War II. He later formed his own big band and toured with them,       

 

His first hit with his orchestra was Wonderland By Night. Recorded in July 1959, the song could not get released in Germany, so he took the track to Decca Records in New York, which released it in America in the fall of 1960.       

Wonderland By Night was a Billboard number one hit for three weeks, starting January 9, 1961. It was recorded in July 1959.     

       

Bert Kaempfert ~ Dreaming the Blues

 45 RPM record

photo by Styrous®

 

In his capacity as record producer, Kaempfert played a part in the rise of The Beatles. In 1961, he hired the Beatles to back Tony Sheridan on an album called My Bonnie. Sheridan had been performing in Hamburg, and needed to recruit a band to play behind him on the proposed tracks. Kaempfert auditioned and signed the Beatles, and recorded two tracks with them during his sessions for Sheridan: Ain't She Sweet (sung by rhythm guitarist John Lennon) and Cry for a Shadow (an instrumental written by Lennon and lead guitarist George Harrison). The album and its singles, released by Polydor Records, were the Beatles' first commercially-released recordings.

On October 28, 1961, a man walked into the Liverpool music store owned by Brian Epstein and asked for a copy of My Bonnie, a song recorded by the Beatles but credited to Tony Sheridan. The store did not have it, but Epstein noted the request. He was so intrigued by the idea of a Liverpool band releasing a record that he investigated. That event led to his discovery of the Beatles and, through his efforts, their signing by George Martin to Parlophone Records after Kaempfert helped them avoid any contractual claim from Polydor.    

           

 

 

The "B" side, Dreaming the Blues, is a languid, New Orleans, ragtime, tune that is a perfect vamp song! I used it for one of the girls at the Hungy i on Broadway (link below).

 

 

 

Bert Kaempfert ~ Dreaming the Blues

 45 RPM record

photos by Styrous®

 

 

I have always enjoyed reading the artists who recorded for a label that were advertised on the record sleeves: I'd count to see which were the ones listed I had.     

 

Bert Kaempfert died suddenly on June 22, 1980, at the age of 56, following a stroke at his home in Majorca, the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain.            

 

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Kaempfert among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.        

 

   

 

           

Tracklist:

Side 1:

A - Wonderland By Night (Wunderland Bei Nacht), written by Klaus Gunter-Neumann* - 3:12

Side 2:

B - Dreaming The Blues, written by Bert Kaempfert - 3:00

Companies, etc.

    Manufactured By – Decca Records, Inc.
    Published By – Roosevelt Music Co., Inc.
    Pressed By – Decca Records Pressing Plant, Gloversville

Credits:

    Soloist [Trumpet] – Charly Tabor

Notes:

Recorded in Europe by Deutsche Grammophon/Polydor (R) Series
 

Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Pressing Plant ID (B side label): ✤
    Matrix / Runout (A side matrix code - label): (DGG 24 086 A)
    Matrix / Runout (B side matrix code - label): (DGG 24 086 B)✤
    Matrix / Runout (A side matrix code - runout (stamped)): 45 DGG24086A 7
    Matrix / Runout (B side matrix code - runout (stamped)): 45 DGG24086B 3
    Matrix / Runout (A side matrix code (variation 1) - runout (stamped)): 45 DGG24086A 2
    Matrix / Runout (B side matrix code (variation 1) - runout (stamped)): 45 DGG24086B 5
    Matrix / Runout (A side matrix code (variation 2) - runout (stamped)): 45 DGG24086A 10
    Matrix / Runout (B side matrix code (variation 2) - runout (stamped)): 45 DGG24086B 2
    Rights Society: BMI

Bert Kaempfert And His Orchestra* ‎– Wonderland By Night (Wunderland Bei Nacht)
Label: Decca ‎– 9-31141
Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single, Gloversville Pressing
Country: US
Released: 1960
Genre: Jazz, Pop
Style: Big Band, Easy Listening

       

  

Viewfinder links:       

         

all things Beatles          

Anita Bryant       

Engelbert Humperdinck        

Pillow (She-Beast) & The Hungry i       
Frank Sinatra        
     
Net links:       

         

Stereogum ~ Bert Kaempfert ~ Wonderland By Night (review)        

Way Back Attack ~ Wonderland by Night (review)      

     
YouTube links:                 

             

Anita Bryant ~ Wonderland By Night       

Floyd Cramer ~ Wonderland By Night       

Engelbert Humperdinck ~ Wonderland By Night       

Bert Kaempfert ~ Dreaming the Blues        
Bert Kaempfert ~ Wonderland By Night         

Johnny Mathis ~ Wonderland By Night       
        
              

      

Styrous® ~ Friday, October 16, 2020

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LaVern Baker articles/metions

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Bert Kaempfert ~ Wonderland By Night  

Doc Pomus ~ Doo-Wop Wonder      

Tom @ 80 ~ the play list     

     

     

     

       

     

     

     

     

LaVern Baker - 1956 

publicity photo 

     

    

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Doc Pomus ~ Doo-Wop Wonder

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Doc Pomus

date & photographer unknown

 

 

Doc Pomus was an American blues singer and songwriter but known predominantly for the lyrics he wrote for some of the greatest songs of the doo-wop and Motown era. He wrote Teenager in Love for Dion and the Belmonts, Suspicion for Elvis Presley, and hits for Big Joe Turner (A Boogie Woogie Country Girl being one of my favorite songs) (link below), the Beach Boys and, of course, Save The Last Dance For Me done by The Drifters (link below). 

When he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Pomus said, "Rock and roll wouldn’t have happened without Big Joe Turner."

He was born Jerome Solon Felder on June 27, 1925, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, the son of Jewish immigrants. He became a fan of the blues after hearing a Big Joe Turner record.   

Jerome Solon Felder 

date & photographer unknown

When he was a boy, he had polio and was only able to walk with the help of crutches.   

Jerome Solon Felder 

date & photographer unknown

Later, because of post-polio syndrome exacerbated by an accident in 1965, Felder eventually had to rely on a wheelchair. His bus, known as the 'Docmobile', had a custom pneumatic elevator lift for his wheelchair.       

Doc Pomus - 1980's 

photographer unknown

          

Using the stage name "Doc Pomus", Felder began performing as a blues singer when he was a teenager. His stage name was not inspired by anyone in particular; he just thought it sounded better for a blues singer than the name Jerry Felder.    

Performing at various clubs in and around New York City, he performed with Milt Jackson, Mickey Baker, King Curtis and many others. He recorded approximately 40 sides as a singer in the '40s and '50s for record companies such as Chess, Apollo, Gotham and others.      

In the early 1950s, Pomus started writing magazine articles as well as songwriting for artists such as Lavern Baker, Ruth Brown, Ray Charles and Big Joe Turner. His first big songwriting break came when the Coasters had a hit with his song Young Blood; I love this song! There was a cool version of Young Blood (link below) performed by The Beatles for the BBC on June 1, 1963. This song was first released on the LIVE AT THE BBC album in 1994.      

He was married to actress and dancer, Willi Burke, who was in several Broadway musicals (On The Twentieth Century, Fiorello!, etc.) He wrote the song, Save The Last Dance For Me on their wedding night. It was later recorded by The Drifters (link below). 

Doc Pomus & Willi Burke

photographer unknown

He collaborated with pianist Mort Shuman to write for Hill & Range Music Co./Rumbalero Music at its offices in New York City Brill Building. He asked Shuman to write with him because he didn't then know much about rock and roll, whereas Shuman was familiar with many popular artists of the day. They wrote the hit songs A Teenager in Love, Save The Last Dance For Me, Hushabye, This Magic Moment, Turn Me Loose, Sweets For My Sweet (a hit for The Drifters and then The Searchers), Go, Jimmy, Go, Little Sister, Can't Get Used to Losing You, Suspicion, Surrender and (Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame.      

Mort Shuman & Doc Pomus

date & photographer unknown 

 

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Pomus wrote several songs with Phil Spector, Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber and other Brill Building-era writers. He also wrote Lonely Avenue, a 1956 hit for Ray Charles.     

In the 1970s and 1980s, Pomus wrote songs with Dr. John, Ken Hirsch and Willy DeVille for what he said were "...those people stumbling around in the night out there, uncertain or not always so certain of exactly where they fit in and where they were headed." These later songs are considered by some, musician and songwriter Dr. John and producer Joel Dorn, to be signatures of his best craft.
      
Alex Halberstadt published a book about Doc Pomus entitled, Lonely Avenue: The Unlikely Life & Times of Doc Pomus which refers to his hit song, Lonely Avenue. It was published by Da Capo Press in 1972. It was named a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice and a Best Book of 2007 by The Times (London).

Lonely Avenue: The Unlikely Life & Times of Doc Pomus 

The documentary film A.K.A. Doc Pomus, conceived by Pomus' daughter Sharyn Felder, directed by filmmaker Peter Miller, edited by Amy Linton and produced by Felder, Hechter and Miller, details Pomus' life was released in 2012.

A.K.A. Doc Pomus

Doc Pomus died on March 14, 1991, from lung cancer, at the age of 65 at the NYU medical center in Manhattan.     

         

       

        

Viewfinder links:      

The Beach Boys          
Ray Charles           

The Drifters ~ Save the Last Dance for Me
Doc Pomus                      
Elvis Presley         
Big Joe Turner       

      

Net links:      

       

Boogie Woogie Flu ~ Doc Pomus        
CJ News ~ TJFF saves the last film for Doc Pomus review      
Felder Pomus ~ Doc Pomus     
Jewish News ~ Shouting The Blues: A pudgy Jewish kid reborn as Doc Pomus 

NY times ~ A.K.A. Doc Pomus  review        
NY Times ~ Lonely Avenue: This Magic Moment review       
Peter Guralnick ~ Magic & Flying: Doc Pomus
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ~ Big Joe Turner          
Stereophile ~ Lonely Avenue: The Unlikely Life & Times of Doc Pomus review  
Tablet Magazine ~ Blues Brother        
       

YouTube links:      

          
Doc Pomus ~        
        My Good Pott   
        Send For The Doctor   
        Save the Last Dance For Me and how it almost wasn't   
The Beatles ~ Young Blood                 
The Coasters ~ Young Blood          
Big Joe Turner ~ A Boogie Woogie Country Girl                
A.K.A Doc Pomus Official Movie Trailer - 2012    

The Genius of Doc Pomus (1 hr, 39 min.)  
          

        

         

Doc Pomus

date & photographer unknown

      
      
       
       
Styrous® ~  Thursday, June 27, 2019

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