Welcome to the Nostalgic Ramber





Hans Jeff Borger is heard on WRGE 97.9 FM in Ocala, FL featuring Christian programming.

"The Nostalgic Rambler" radio show can be heard on Youtube. Just search for Hans Jeff Borger Nostalgic Rambler.





Why a blog? I wrote a book "The Little Grownup: a nostalgic Michigan boyhood" which should appeal to most baby boomers. A mass market book? Well, not yet...but the potential is there! (Be sure to buy it at "finer on line bookstores" everywhere!)

The comments presented in "The Nostalgic Rambler" probably won't be of interest to the masses...anymore. If grandma and grandpa and their friends were still alive, then it would be a different story.

I live in the past. My time warp is a comfortable cocoon even if it sometimes drives my wife crazy. The music of the 1940s and 50s, the stars of those days were big stuff in their day, but are now almost forgotten. Oddly enough, I was born in '64 so those iconic years were for the most part over by that time.

Through "The Nostalgic Rambler" I maybe can help share my love and knowledge for those times and things...all at one time important pieces of Americana but now a bit faded in memory.

The woman who did the blog about cooking all of Julia Childs' French Cuisine Cookbook in a year got a sweet movie deal out of her blog experience. I wouldn't mind that but would be happy to know that you are reading this....and maybe enjoying my time warp, too.



Hans Jeff Borger



Thursday, November 3, 2011

Happy Sounds of Bert Kaempfert

























By the end of the 1950s the Big Band sound was about over. A few bandleaders found success though with an updated sound. One of those was Bert Kaempfert. He wrote such hits as "Strangers in the Night" and "Spanish Eyes."

Kaempfert has always been one of my favorite big bands. No, he doesn't sound like the typical 1940s orchestra. Somehow his music seems more current today than the sometimes too dusty sounding nostalgic Miller/Dorsey/Shaw types.

Bert was a German who oddly enough had a connection to hiring the Beatles to back up another artist on an album! His sound definitely wasn't rock n roll though. His 1961 hit "Wonderland By Night" is a trumpet wrapped in sheer beauty.

Lots of his songs used a "shuffle rhythm", a catchy beat which just made the music all the more happy sounding. Listen to "A Swingin Safari" and enjoy someone's very clever pics put to this snappy tune. Here's another cute song called "Afrikaan Beat"which is also a toe tapper.

Kaempfert was basically a studio band but once in a while he made some live appearances including this one here.

Kaempfert died at the young age of 56 back in 1980. Too many cigarettes. His legacy continues on at his website. Click here to visit.
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2 comments:

  1. moviemag46November 3, 2011 at 11:34 PM

    Strange timing....I just bought my first Bert albums this week, part of a great haul of 43 LPs for .49 each at the Salvation Army...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jeff BorgerNovember 13, 2011 at 9:30 PM

    and I'm sure you are listening to them on your very cool hi fi! :)

    ReplyDelete

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