RARITY #34

RUDI FLIERL 
"SPIELT EARL BOSTIC FAVORITEN"
BERTELSMANN 7589 (EP) – Germany, 1957

Looks like December is gonna be the Rarities Month.  From Onxilib seemingly bottomless treasure chest comes another rare German EP that will appeal to fans of good old instrumental Rhythm & Blues.  German tenor sax Rudi Flierl plays some classic Bostic tunes.  Very competent and soulful playing, it’s interesting to hear them played on tenor instead of Bostic’s alto.  Otto Weiss provides some soulful piano accompaniment and soli. 

I know little about Rudi Flierl (who turned 80 in July this year).  He’s been a mainstay of several German big bands and dance orchestras from the early fifties to the late seventies. 

1952 to 57: Orchester Hugo Strasser
1957 to 62 SWF-Tanzorchester led by American band leader / arranger Eddy Sauter
1963 to 65 Tanzorchester Max Greger
1965 to 80 back with the SWF-Tanzorchester, led by Rolf-Hans Müller 
1980-1999 Flierl directs the Musikverein Zell-Weierbach

RUDI FLIERL  "SPIELT EARL BOSTIC FAVORITEN"

Rudi Flierl, tenor saxophone
Otto Weiss, piano
Helmut Wörsching, bass
Horst Ende, drums

Side A:
1. Flamingo (Ted Grouys)  2:56
2. Liebestraum (Franz Liszt)  3:27

Side B:
1. These Foolish Things (Jack Strachery / Harry Link)  3:03
2. Blue Groove (Flierl?)  3:29

All arrangements by Earl Bostic.
Recorded on 3rd March, 1957 in Munich, Germany.
BERTELSMANN 7589 (EP)

RARITY # 32: SCHRÄGE MUSIK

Max Greger Combo

Telefunken, Germany, 1952

Onxidlib did it again!  Here are two superb Jump Blues recorded in Germany in 1952.  If you ever organise a blindfold test for blues / rhythm & blues buffs, play them any of those two sides, you'll confuse them 100%. They’d never guess the honking tenor was a German saxman / band leader probably better remembered for Schlager / Easy Listening than for gritty jump blues (at least that was the kind of music I knew him for  ...  up to now).  The guy’s MAX GREGER.

Well I must concede I had misconceptions about this guy.  He certainly recorded a lot of commercial stuff but he surely was a real jazzman and he knew how to blow the blues when he wanted to .  Too bad it did not happen more often.  

Just read here.

MAX GREGER COMBO  "SCHRÄGE MUSIK"

• Sonny Gray (Grey?), trumpet (1)
• Hugo Strasser, alto saxophone (1)
• Max Greger, tenor saxophone
• Klaus Ogermann, piano
• Hans Lehmann, bass
• Silo Deutsch, drums

1. ·         Leapin' With Max  3:38 (solos: Max Greger + Sonny Gray)
2. ·         Night Train       2:56 (solo: Max Greger)

Recorded in Munich, Bavaria on November 26, 1952.

TELEFUNKEN UX 4527 (also TELEFUNKEN A 11370 with one title more "Tip Top Boogie").

A bit of history

(thanks to Herr Professor Onxidlib, PhD Faculty of Obscure Records)

The title "Schräge Musik" could be seen as  funny - schräg means angular, crooked or oblique,
or as not  funny at all :  "Schräge Musik" was the Nazi term for Jazz. They even made an anti-aircraft weapon during WW2 which they used to fire at -mostly english planes - from below.   They called it "Schräge Musik".

It is quite possible that Max Greger, or the guys from the label, did know this fact - whether they made insofar a deliberate decision to name it "Schräge Musik" I do not know but I assume that this is true.

More info on Schräge Musik here.

Source : http://www.klaus-muempfer.de/jazz-photos-9.htm

p.s.  the tracks were ripped from a +EP with these two tracks by Max Greger and two by Erwin Lehn.  Unfortunately the Erwin Lehn tracks were beyond redemption.  If anyone has the EP (cover below), we'd love to get a rip of the Lehn's tracks.  Thanks in advance.