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Artist
Toby Fichelscher
10+ albums
swingjazzostalgiecool jazzHard Bop
about
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).
