Kriminal Tango

Hazy Osterwald founded his Sextett on May 1st, 1949. Still the same year they played the "Festival International de Jazz" in Paris alongside legends like Charlie Parker and Sidney Bechet.
After shows in Europe they got an engagement for the USA in 1951 as Hazy Osterwald USO-Show (O for Overseas). Next the Sextett concentrated again on Europe playing Stockholm, Lisbon and Arosa.1953 saw first recordings for Austrian label Austroton and in 1955 Hazy scored a recording contract with Polydor, recording with Cologne producers Heinz Gietz and Kurt Feitz. In 1957 and 1958 the "Hazy Osterwald Sextett" played already the Paris Olympia to sold out houses.
Members of the «Hazy Osterwald-Sextett» initially were Ernst Höllerhagen (clarinette), Sunny Lang (bass), Gil Cuppini (drums), Pierre Cavalli (guita) and Francis Burger (piano).
In 1957 a first longplay was released on "Heliodor" entitled "Das ist Rhythmus". Their first single for "Polydor" was released in October 1959 and was an immediate smash hit: "Kriminal-Tango". While the Italian original reached only position eight, Osterwald's version made it to number one in the Swiss, Austrian and German charts. The single (Polydor #24048) sold over a million copies. The Jazz musicians in the band at first were not convinced that the title was up to par with their standard. Heinz Gietz's arrangement finally convinced them.
In February 1960 the new title "Panoptikum", just like the third single "Konjunktur-Cha-Cha" in February 1961 scored good positions in the charts. In the USA, in 1961, the title "La Pachanga", in Germany released as "Wieder mal Paschanga (The Music from Caracas)", made it to position 87 in the Billboard Charts. The Hazy Osterwald Sextett there played together with the singer Audrey Arno.
Osterwald toured until 1979, now under the name of "Hazy Osterwald Jetset". A.o. they were the official band at the Olympic Games 1972 in Munich and 1976 in Innsbruck, countless tv productions were made over the years. Hazy Osterwald was one of the biggest house-hold names in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in the 60s and 70s. Hazy Osterwald took a break until 1984, then toured again as "Hazy Osterwald and the Entertainers" leaning more towards Jazz again.
In 1992 Hazy finally retired when he revealed that he suffered from Parkinson's Disease. Hazy Osterwald died in Lucerne/Switzerland on February 26th, 2012.

Over two decades, 60s and 70s, Hazy Osterwald dominated German, Austrian and Swiss tv as one of the foremost tv personalities. This release here displays his enormous musical creativity of over 50 years.