The James Last Orchestra is a German big-band orchestra with strings. The orchestra was established in 1964 as a studio orchestra, led by jazz musician Hans Last. The orchestra started touring in 1968, and has been extremely popular in Europe and all over the world.
Around 1970 the rhythm section was reorganized as a rock group (lead guitar: Helmuth Franke, rhythm guitar: Peter Hesslein, drums: Barry Roy Reeves, bass: Benny Bendorff, percussion: Christian Lembrecht and later Herbert Bornholdt). Bornholdt and Hesslein were members of the German progressive rock band Lucifer's Friend (another member, Peter Hecht, played with Last for a few years in the late 1970s), and Franke was a member of the pop-rock band Wonderland, whose recordings were produced by Last.
Last initially used many of the musicians who, like himself, were based in Hamburg and were regularly employed by the Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR, or North German Radio) big band. Over time, many of the NDR musicians could not always get time off to tour with the Last band, so Last used this chance to make the orchestra more international. Some of the top musicians who have played in the James Last orchestra include Canadian violinist Trudean Conrad, Welsh drummer Terry Jenkins, Belgian trombonist Georges Delagaye, Swedish trumpeter Leif Uvemark and a number of American trumpeters including Bob Lanese, Rick Kiefer and brothers Chuck Findley and Bob Findley. Another trumpeter, Derek Watkins from England, recorded with the Beatles, playing on Strawberry Fields Forever and Revolution 1. Some musicians are family: father-and-son violinists Dmiter Pintev and Stefan Pintev, and husband and wife Bob Coassin (trumpet, USA) and Anne-Louise Comerford (viola, Australia). Bob Coassin is widely known in America. All in all, nearly 20 different countries are represented in the membership of the orchestra.
James Last has taken much influence from the world of rock and pop when arranging music for his orchestra. A typical example is his version of Here Comes the Sun from the album Beachparty 2 which is influenced by the version sung by Richie Havens in the film Woodstock. Last's epic version of Greensleeves is a combination of the styles of Iron Butterfly and Blood, Sweat & Tears, two bands that he publicly declared his favourites in the late 60s. His studio recordings do not always capture the energy unleashed at his live concerts where a combination of skillful arranging and talented musicians give some surprising performances. His versions of "Nature Boy" featuring Chuck Findley and "MacArthur Park" featuring Derek Watkins are two examples.
Other musicians who have worked with the James Last Orchestra, either live or on record, include:
Leif Uvemark, Bob Lanese, Dieter Kock, Rick Kiefer, Ack van Rooyen, Gary Grant, Lennart Axelsson, Derek Watkins, Hakan Nyquist, Jan Kohlin, Bob Coassin, Chuck Findley, Bob Findley, Alex Malempre, Etienne Cap
Konrad Bogdan, Wolfgang Ahlers, Horst Raasch, Georges Delagaye, Nick Hauck, Pete Beachill, Anders Wiborg, Ole Holmquist
Jo Ment, Harald Ende, Werner Rönfeldt, Stan Sulzmann, Matthias Clasen, Herb Geller
Alan Sparks, Jürgen Schröder, Big Jim Sullivan, Erlend Krauser
Thomas Zurmühlen
Terry Jenkins, Stefan Eggert
Pablo Escayola, Max Raths, Wolfgang Schlüter
Thomas Eggert, John Pearce, Joe Dorff
Sue Glover, Sunny Leslie, Kay Garner, Lyn Cornell, Russell Stone, Neal Lancaster, Tony Burrows, Joanne Stone, Madeline Bell, Irene Chanter, Simon Bell, Mac Kissoon, Katie Kissoon, Sonja Jones, Tracey Duncan, Ingrid Arthur, Peter Schaper, Anella Kissoon, George Chandler, Jimmy Helms, P.P. Arnold, Ruby James, Sylivia Mason James, Pearly Gates
Eugen Raabe, Dmiter Pintev, Trudean Konrad, Gillian Catlow, Anne-Louise Comerford, Stefan Pintev, Juliane Holz, Zwetelina Haubold, Martin Lehmann, Boris Bachmann, Rebecca Thümer, Wulf Lohbeck, Kirsten Ibarra, Nadine Goussi Aguigah, Mathias Brommann, Kiki Zumach, Maria-Elena Pacheco, Katie Vitalie Ekatarina Bolotova, Adrian Bleyer, Katharina Kowalski, Dana Anka Matchin