Sigrid Meyer and Serene, 1982, from Austria

There are several songwriters here, all quite proficient.  The first track was written by Michael Henning who went on to the Berlin Experimental Orchestra-- what a great name, will have to check it out when I have more money.  There is of course a lot of free jazz in here, not unexpected, which some might take a pass on.  Equally annoying to me is the scat-type vocalizing which drives me bonkers, as mentioned before, due to my over-attendance to many of those summer jazz festivals around town that attract the nonagenarians who proceed to dance in the aisles whenever a poor imitation of Ella Fitzgerald starts doing those stupid doo-wop-de-poops at which point I always reach for my beer with a view to spilling it on the oldsters' white sneakers.  Perhaps next time I'll try to sit through one of those concerts by wearing a large depends diaper like the rest of them do.

Full credits on discogs.  A gorgeously altered (in a very progressive direction) little ballad called "Kinder"  (Children) which was evidently borrowed from a German folk singer called Bettina Wegner:





Get ready for a shock when you listen to the original, simplistic version, from Bettina:





Like Radka Toneff, it's amazing what genius can do with such unpromising material.  You can barely even recognize the original chord structure or even melody such was the transformation.  Looking at the back, a credit was given to "Berg" who doesn't otherwise appear on there, presumably the arranger here.  When I hear something so beautiful, it's like magic, a process that is unbelievable, like something transcendental.  It's like a miracle, to give you faith.  Late at night if I can't sleep and I listen to my 'favourites' playlist on the ipod I am amazed at the creations people have made that are so gorgeous and intricate and I almost have to cry thinking I have to abandon these beautiful things one day.  How can we ever leave a world that has such beauty in it?  But better not think about these things.


And a beautiful singer indeed she was.