Chris Barber's Jazz Band in Berlin - November 28, 1965

updated February 2017 - click here!

By 1961 the Berlin Wall had separated the two parts of Germany for more than 28 years. The Chris Barber Band toured regularly in the eastern part of Germany, mainly in East Berlin. The concerts there were held at the Friedrichstadt-Palast.

Peter Kazubski has sent us the original concert flyer and - despite the fact that the flyer is written in German - we present it here. We have to add three remarks to that concert flyer:

  • Of course, John Slaughter did not play the drums, but the blues guitar.
  • Instead of Dick Smith, Micky Ashman played the bass.
  • Graham Burbidge, the regular drummer at the time, had injured his hand a few days before the concert in East Berlin and could not play. Someone recommended the Dutch Swing College Band drummer Lu Ssanet and he did a good job, not having played with the Chris Barber Band ever before. 

This concert was recorded in 1965 by East German Television. Last year (2009), the German TV stations Bayern and Südwestfunk transmitted this concert on the occasion of Chris Barber's 80th birthday and it can be found on youtube.
 

Concert poster of 1965 by courtesy of Bernd Heinrich, leader of the Tower Jazz Band, Berlin

update February 19, 2017

Christian Burgdorff / Germany, was able to buy at an auction a copy of the GDR Magazine "melodie und rhythmus" Nr. 20 of 1965, featuring the Chris Barber Jazz Band and announcing the above mentioned concert in November 1965. A good example to show how marketing was done in these days even in the German Democratic Republic!

Christian Burgdorff sent us a scan of the pages relating to the Chris Barber Band. Thank you Mr. Burgdorff for giving us this documentation. Click on the picture below to read the Chris Barber related information. (The text is - of course - in German language.)
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