Fichelscher Toby

“Busting The Bongos” presents previously unknown tapes with film music and photos from the year 1960, provided from the Berlin archives of Manfred Burzlaff, Hans Jürgen Pohland and Jan George - the lost sounds of "jazz phantom" Tobias "Toby" Fichelscher (1927-1992). Toby belonged to the leading German jazz musicians of the 1950s. As a regular guest he sang and played at the German Jazz Festival and was a two-time poll winner. Through his performances in many Berlin clubs, in legendary venues such as the "Riverboat" high above the Fehrbelliner Platz or the "Eierschale" at the Breitenbachplatz, he helped to make jazz popular again after the war.

Toby performed without fluent English as a blues and jazz singer, scatted and played the bongos in the powerful style of his role model, the Afro-Cuban percussionist Chano Pozo ("On Chano's Track"). Before the Berlin wall was built, he was also known in the local jazz scene as an eccentric "5-finger boogie pianist '. The man regularly appeared in the clubs of Berlin with the band of vibraphonist Manfred Burzlaff. Here, even the young and then-unknown jazz drummer Joe Nay could mainly be heard with Toby Fichelscher and the quintet of Manfred Burzlaff. For the record company Bertelsmann Fichelscher sang some rock 'n' roll songs. In addition a few of his blues and jazz recordings have been released on vinyl EPs by labels like Brunswick and Amiga.

Jazz, especially from Germany, was regarded as "cash poison" at the time, so no label wanted to produce a whole album with Toby. In 1960 the small company "modern art film" produced the semi-documentary film "Tobby" about the life of the Berlin jazz singer Toby Fichelscher - "a film beyond the routine" (press release). Inspired by the revolutions of former Italian and French directors the film shows the existentialist Berlin jazz scene and the real jazz beatnik Toby Fichelscher, "unmasked" and in a Nouvelle Vague style. "I've never seen a movie like Tobby before, a film that reproduces the real atmosphere of Jazz" (Joachim Ernst Berendt in the "Tobby" program booklet).

In addition to the most important music excerpts from Hans Jürgen Pohlands film "Tobby", the compilation also includes the soundtrack to his short film "Schatten" ("Shadows") and tiny soundtracks to his regional cinema commercial for “Max Knaak" ("Fashion trip ") - back then well known as one of Berlin`s finest fashion department stores. All music was performed by Toby Fichelscher (bongos, percussion, vocals) and the “Manfred Burzlaff Quintet”, which was only replaced by the house band of the “Riverboat” club, the "Firestone Dixie Jazz Band", for the traditional jazz version of "My First Blues". "On Chano's Track" is already known and the only regular release on this CD and LP, recorded in 1957 at the Amiga Studio in East Berlin and pressed on vinyl EP as well as on the early GDR jazz LP "Traditional Jazz Studio No. 1 ".