Horst Jankowski as a Jazz Pianist

[Teasing the Korean]

I absolutely adore Horst Jankowski.  I've paid more than a dollar for some of his albums.  I think his MPS album For Night People Only is one of the greatest albums of the 1970s, including the definitive version of "Light My Fire."

I read on his Wikipedia page that Horst started out as a jazz pianist.  Can any of our European members tell us if this early period was captured on records?  If so, I doubt that these early records were released in the US.

Thanks in advance.

[sidewinder]

Several weeks ago I bought a copy of his ‘Jankowskinetic’ LP on MPS/BASF, UK pressing, from 1970. That one definitely counts as a jazz album, a very enjoyable one too in a sort of Euro-Gene Harris style.

Back in that era his ‘Walk in the Black Forest’ single seemed to be in the radio constantly, I recall. That hit probably floated a lot of projects on the SABA label.

[Teasing the Korean]

8 minutes ago, sidewinder said:

Several weeks ago I bought a copy of his ‘Jankowskinetic’ LP on MPS/BASF, UK pressing, from 1970. That one definitely counts as a jazz album, a very enjoyable one too in a sort of Euro-Gene Harris style.

Back in that era his ‘Walk in the Black Forest’ single seemed to be in the radio constantly, I recall. That hit probably floated a lot of projects on the SABA label.

And when Herb Alpert covered it on his mega-selling Going Places album, Horst must have collected a pretty penny.  

I will keep an eye out for that album you mentioned.  Thanks!

[Big Beat Steve]

The Horst Jankowski jazz records to go for are his EPs for Brunswick (1957) and Telefunken (1958) (chamber jazz with classically influenced overtones, though not excessively so), his EP "Jazzing in Stuttgart" on Manhattan (1957, also issued as "Jazztime Stuttgart" on the Bertelsmann record club label)  and his 1961 "Gäste bei Horst Jankowski" (Guests at Horst Jankowski's) LP on Metronome (never mind what Bruyninckx says - the LP was not on the Saba latter-day cult label but on Metronome). "Gäste" is more modernistic - with shades of late 50s Basie and "Euro hard bop". A cult LP around here as one of the tracks (his version of Basie's "Cute") for a long time was the signature tune of a radio jazz show here.

The Telefunken EP was reissued (along with EPs by Fatty George and Michael Naura) on a Telefunken LP you sometimes still can find at a good price in the secondhand jazz bins: "Jazz in Deutschland 1957/58 - Kühl und Modern" (as some may have guessed there was a "Hot" volume featuring Dixieland bands from the same period too). Strangely enough I had never been able to find a copy of these in the record shops after those reissues came out in 1976 so had to buy my copies several years later secondhand in those pre-internet days.

Another one to go for, maybe, is the "Tony Scott & Horst Jankowski Trio In Concert" CD released many moons ago on the (Dutch) Point label. It features concert recordings from teh festival in Ljubljana (Yougoslavia) in May. 1957.

I made a point of rounding up those early LPs and EPs (it took me a LONG time to find a copy of the "Gäste" LP after I had finally heard it at a neighbor's home in the early 80s, and then, of course, as was bound to happen, a second copy ended up with me not soon after I had found the fiist after some 15 years' searching ) but was never moved overly by all his Saba/MPS/Mercury "Black Forest", "Sleigh Ride" et al. records, on the one hand because they had been doodled and noodled to death as MOR background mood music on the radio in the 70s (when I started getting into jazz) and has soundwise connotations for me that just do not quite suit me. On other hand because those "later" Jankowski LPs for the very most part are priced in silly regions considering what they are and that they are not that rare in secondhand shops (so there still must be a market for them - probably "cult" records to some). I have kept half an eye on the Jankowskinetic LP, however, but am not pressed and therefore waiting for one to come up at a "steal" price.

Edited March 8, 2020 by Big Beat Steve

[sidewinder]

My ‘Jankowskinetic’ cost £2.50. In good nick too !

[jazzcorner]

14 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

The Horst Jankowski jazz records to go for are his EPs for Brunswick (1957) and Telefunken (1958) (chamber jazz with classically influenced overtones, though not excessively so), his EP "Jazzing in Stuttgart" on Manhattan (1957, also issued as "Jazztime Stuttgart" on the Bertelsmann record club label)  and his 1961 "Gäste bei Horst Jankowski" (Guests at Horst Jankowski's) LP on Metronome (never mind what Bruyninckx says - the LP was not on the Saba latter-day cult label but on Metronome). "Gäste" is more modernistic - with shades of late 50s Basie and "Euro hard bop". A cult LP around here as one of the tracks (his version of Basie's "Cute") for a long time was the signature tune of a radio jazz show here.

 

Horst Jankowski was featured in many radio broadcasts from radio Süddeutscher Rundfunk Stuttgart which I have taped for my collection.

For his discography look here: https://www.discogs.com/artist/59283-Horst-Jankowski

Horst Jankowski is also found on my MPS 2-LP-set "Jazz made in Germany"  MPS 0088.053 from 1981. He was member of the Erwin Lehn orchestra at radio Stuttgart (former SDR). Here is the content of that set + a pix from his "Jazztime Stuttgart EP (Bertelsman label) with 4 tracks:

you go to my head / blue moon / There's a small hoterl / basically Jake

 

Edited March 9, 2020 by jazzcorner

[Teasing the Korean]

Thanks all for the replies!  I'll see if I can find any of these albums YouTube or Spotify.

On March 7, 2020 at 1:03 PM, Big Beat Steve said:

...but was never moved overly by all his Saba/MPS/Mercury "Black Forest", "Sleigh Ride" et al. records, on the one hand because they had been doodled and noodled to death as MOR background mood music on the radio in the 70s (when I started getting into jazz) and has soundwise connotations for me that just do not quite suit me. On other hand because those "later" Jankowski LPs for the very most part are priced in silly regions considering what they are and that they are not that rare in secondhand shops (so there still must be a market for them - probably "cult" records to some). I have kept half an eye on the Jankowskinetic LP, however, but am not pressed and therefore waiting for one to come up at a "steal" price.

I love those records and the MPS EZ sound in general, but I've never paid much for a Horst Jankowski record.  They were always everywhere for short dough.