As I prepare to celebrate a major landmark anniversary in my radio industry career in my next Musings, which will be coming up in two weeks, I’m once again bringing you an Encore from five years ago.
If you are like many in this world who love the instrumental side of the Easy Listening genre of music, this is just one of three Musings that I’ve shared, which is about the music of one of our most beloved artists.
Of course, I can be talking about none other than Hansi … also known as German conductor, composer, and arranger James Last!
Even if you’ve read this before or are a devoted lover of his music and know his life history, re-live it all by reading on:
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been going through our vast “storehouse” of what’s called ephemera … you know, what’s defined as “collectible memorabilia, typically written or printed ones, that were originally expected to have only short-term usefulness or popularity.” In our case, I include photographs, and some of it we’ve had for many years … with each of us bringing some along when we joined lives in marriage 43 years ago.
All of that is simply an introduction to a glossy booklet whose cover is shown above. In many ways, it’s a very generic booklet, made up primarily of pictures of the grand Maestro … as seen here. What year is it from? This information is found only in two places within the 36-page booklet, obviously meant primarily as a souvenir piece for concert-goers. The first is seen on this ad and appears again on the adjoining page, which lists the performance locations and dates under the heading, UK TOUR 1983.
The tour consisted of 24 performances, five of which took place in London’s grand Royal Albert Hall. It also made stops in cities such as Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland, and Birmingham and Bristol, England.
As for his personal life, Hans Last met and fell in love with a young lady named Waltraub Wiese, and they married in 1955 … a marriage which spanned 42 years until Waltraub’s death in 1997. At about the same time, he joined the North German Radio Dance Orchestra and, within a year, began writing arrangements for the band. These were to become the first rudiments of the James Last sound as it would, within a few short years, become recognized around the world.
It wasn’t long after the two were married that they visited south Florida and soon purchased a home there, as the weather was more conducive for playing golf — which they both loved — and Hansi could invite his musicians to join him at the “James Last Sunshine Club.” Plus, the more time he spent here in the U. S., the less he had to face the German press, who reportedly, at least in the earlier days, weren’t all that enthusiastic about the musical success he was achieving. The maestro was quoted as saying that “As a German, you are nobody within your own border.”
This is a photo of the James Last band taken during a performance as Hansi is sharing a joke with the audience. (Sadly, the photo is spread across two pages in the booklet, with the center line running through his face.)
Whether you choose to call him by his birth name, Hans Last, or as the Polydor record company folks re-named him, James, which he became known as in his home country of Germany … or as he was called most everywhere else in the world where his music was heard and loved, “Hansi” … in our book, he’ll always be The King of Happy Music!
His name has the makings of another Abbot and Costello routine. "What's your last name?" Last.