Reviews
Alexandre Zindel Von Kopf bis Fuß
By Nan Bovingdon
It is 7 degrees this morning--sunny,
clear and icy outside. What better way
to spend the morning than to sit inside
and listen to a truly polished, eclectic
and unique CD by German singer and
autoharpist Alexandre Zindel?
I had read about Alexandre on his
website, www.autoharpsinger.de, (the
in-English portion, that is), where he
writes, “Although I consider myself
a singer in the first place and use the
instrument for accompaniment mostly, I
am today the only German who is doing
regular solo concerts with the autoharp.”
Still, at first listen, I was surprised by
what a singer he is, and how authentic
and skilled in various styles of music.
For instance, “Les Feuilles Mortes,”
originally a 1940’s French song (“The
Dead Leaves”) which we know as
“Autumn Leaves,” Alexandre sings
in French, beginning in the manner of
a mellow crooner - think Mel Tormé
without the fog - then easily soars into
a tenor’s territory, singing in syllables
reminiscent of a DoBe DoBe Do
singer. His gentle autoharp backup
suits this beautifully and tastefully.
Even at first surprisingly, this is NOT
your grandmother’s autoharp style or
material--but then “I Come From
Alabama” (with a banjo on my knee) is
played in the traditional ‘harp style’ we’d
expect, before it swings into the middle
section in a James Taylor manner,
with interesting and different chord
progressions and plaintive vocal.
Alex’s first musical influence was
gained by singing in a choir, then he
moved on to pop music from the ’80s
and then backwards to the ’70s Elton
John, Stevie Wonder, James Taylor and
Genesis.
After that he discovered jazz and
studied music in Cologne, singing in the
jazz department.
All of which help explain his wide
selection of material on this CD. From
Stevie Wonder through Bill Haley,
traditional blues and folk, June Carter’s
‘Ring of Fire’ - and his ability to move
from one style and type to another, with
comfort and ease. This is impressive
versatility.
Of note: Bill Haley’s “Rock a
Beaten Boogie” - Does anyone else
out there remember what a smashing
breakthrough in modern music “Rock
Around the Clock” was considered to
be?
I think that was when the way a
performer’s knees were gyrating became
part of the total musical presentation.
I wasn’t familiar with the “Beaten
Boogie” song--maybe it was side B of
something Alexandre re-discovered?,
but his very 50’s melodic low to tenor
howling vocal is perfect for the genre.
And when the tune breaks into “Hound
Dog” you’ll swear you’d taken a a time
travel journey backward. The autoharp
plays tastefully on top of the nice groove
of the rhythm back up.
Choir singing to ’70s-’80s pop tunes
to jazz singing isn’t a typical path to
autoharp playing, and in fact Alexandre
discovered the autoharp just six years
ago. Only then did he begin to listen to
and play more folk music.
He also writes music, learned about
AQ’s song writing contest, and entered
and placed third right out of the gate,
so to speak. His winning entry, “Immer
Lieben” (Always Loving) will be
released on a CD of his own material
soon. If you Google him, you’ll find
a free listening site with “Wildwood
Flower,” “Goodnight Irene” and
“Greensleeves” among the familiar
titles.
Two special treats for me on this
CD were the title track, “Von Kopf bis
Fub” (From Head to Toe Prepared for
Love) and “Wandering.” Von Kopf has
English lyrics, “Falling in Love Again,”
which led me directly to YouTube and
the familiar rendition of this song by
the ever slinky Marlene Dietrich. And
by the way, Alexandre’s vocal is just as
gorgeous as hers. I got to thinking he
could be accompanied by the sound of
rain on a tin roof, and still sound great.
“Wandering” took me back to my
childhood in the Pacific Northwest and
one of my first and fondest memories of
hearing the beauty in folk music--way
back in the 1950’s. It was the theme song
of a folk music program (which we saw
on our microscopic old black and white
TV) done by the northwest folk singer,
Walt Robertson, and is on his 1955
Folkways recording of his American
Northwest Ballads. The Zindel version,
with interesting chords and plaintive
vocal presentation, is closer to James
Taylor’s-one of his early influences.
There is a lot of good stuff on this
CD. Interesting variety, songs in
three languages, wonderful singing,
and autoharp used appropriately and
tastefully. I recommend it highly.
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