• JLast
  
  

    Already an avid listener to jazz and dance music, James was already nurturing ambitions to have his own band and play his own music. In 1948 he took the first steps with his Last-Becker Ensemble, a six-piece outfit that included brothers Werner and Robert. He says: "Had I continued my musical studies in Bremen I would probably have become a conductor of serious music by the time I was 24". Instead he was playing jazz to servicemen and building a reputation as a bassist - and a bassist of sufficient calibre to win him Top Bassist award in a German jazz poll for three consecutive years (1950-1952).

    In 1955 James disbanded the sextet and joined the North German Radio Dance Orchestra and a year later wrote his first arrangements for the band. These, used in orchestrations for such top German artists as Freddy, Caterina Valente and Helmut Zacharias, were to form the first rudiments of the James Last sound as it is recognised today. The next big break came in 1964 when he signed a contract with Polydor - the beginning of one of the most successful artist/record company partnerships in the history of popular music. The partnership came at a time when Beatlemania was at its peak - not, one would have thought, the ideal time for the emergence of a dance band!

    But Last's technique was deceptively simple - strong melodyear catching arrangement; punchy, foot-tapping rhythm; clean cut brass blended to produce the unique sound.

    By 1968 Last's Party sound was the rage of Germany. Album followed album to top the charts and the band was voted Top Orchestra Of The Year by the German record distributors organisation.