Saturday, March 10, 2018

AccuRadio Song of The Day-James Last and his Orchestra

Artist:James Last and his Orchestra f/David Sanborn
Song:The Seduction
Album:Classic: The Universal Masters Collection




I guess German bandleader James Last was more notorious than famous. But his bland big band party music was very popular in Europe. And I guess his albums sold well because he kept recording them and Polydor kept releasing them. There are some artists that you wonder who actually listens to them because I have never known anyone who would admit to enjoying James Last. The Seduction was his only US chart single. It's different from Last's usual music. He was born Hans Last Apr. 17, 1929 in Bremen, Germany. He learned to play piano as a child and switched to bass as a teen. After WWII, he joined Hans Gunther Oesterreich's Radio Bremen Jazz Orchestra and then The Last-Becker Ensemble jazz group spun off in 1948. He was named best jazz bassist in Germany in the early 50s. Then he took a house arranger job at Polydor Records and that's what he did until the mid-60s. Last released the album Non Stop Dancing in 1965. it was usually a medley of songs arranged as dance music complete with exuberant crowd noise played by a big band. His albums were very popular in Europe though I can't tell you why. Apparently Last has sold 200 million albums in his lifetime. He also had his own TV show in the 70s. He didn't have any hit singles except the 1980 single The Seduction which reached #28 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Seduction was the love theme for the popular film American Gigolo. It's from Last's 1980 album Seduction which was more jazz than his usual music. David Sanborn makes a guest appearance on sax. The album was recorded in Los Angeles. Jerry Hey of Seawind wrote the arrangements. Among the musicians on the album were Mike Brecker, Ernie Watts, Bill Reichenbach, Chuck Findley, Michael Boddicker, Don Grolnick, Abe Laboriel, James Gadson and Paulinho da Costa. I don't know how often Last recorded albums like that. Most of his albums seemed like continuations of Non Stop Dancing. I guess he knew where his bread was buttered. Last continued to tour and record until his death on June 9, 2015 at age 86. This comp will introduce you to his music. Here's James Last and His Orchestra performing The Seduction on his TV show in Germany 1980. The sax player is not identified.

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