Joachim-Ernst Berendt, Stories For Friends: 75 Years

The Joachim-Ernst Berendt, Stories For Friends: 75 Years double CD came about as a celebration of Joachim-Ernst Berendt's 75th birthday, but with typical modesty Berendt simply commented that his birthday wasn't what mattered, it was just important the music happened.

Prof. h. c. Joachim-Ernst Berendt, the author of the best selling book on jazz ever (overall sale about 1,5 million copies), also known as the "Pope of Jazz" in Germany, died in Hamburg, Germany, on February 4, 2000, at the age of 77, after being hit by a car.

Berendt was born in 1922 in Berlin/Germany. In 1945, he was one of a co-founder of the S dwestfunk, one of Germany's big Radio and Television networks. Up to his retirement in 1987, he had led more than 10,000 broadcasts featuring the music he loved. In total, he wrote 33 books, translated into 16 languages, dealing mostly with music and philosophy, and produced more than 250 albums for MPS, Columbia, World Pacific, Atlantic/WEA, Electrola and other labels in Germany and Japan. He founded the "Berlin Jazz Days", directed many international festivals and concerts (at the "World Expo Osaka", the "Olympic Games Munich", and the "World Music Event 1982" at New York's Lincoln Centre. In 1970 American-based music publication "Jazz and Pop" voted him Europe's best jazz producer.

During his Mozart Meets Tibet project (see review Rituals Of Transformation), Berendt and world music producer Christian Scholze were talking about what they should consider as the next project. Berendt suggested a choice of aphorisms, short stories and legends, that could be interpreted musically, which he then collected and made the final selection. Berendt then chose the musicians and Scholze contacted them. John McLaughlin was amongst the first to be contacted, and he suggested that the enterprise should be organised non-commercially, and that the musicians should perform for free, and for the profits to be spent sensibly. All agreed, so the players only got their costs reimbursed. It was Berendt's wish to spend the profits on children's projects, thus around 6DM per sale goes to "terre des hommes". Charities benefiting are a summer camp for gypsy children in Hungary, a project for street children in Cape Town and a children's theatre collective in the Philippines. The publishers Zweitausendeins ("2001") also contributed by keeping the production costs as low as possible.

The beautiful piece that McLaughlin contributes and plays is Krishna and the two kings, worth the price of the CD in itself, and doubly worth it as it's for charity, and you also get the other 2 sides of world famous musicians, including Attila Zoller, Lee Konitz, The Music Ensemble of Benares (Varanasi), Max Roach, Markus Stockhausen, Philip Catherine, John Surman and the Modern Jazz Quartet, all playing an extraordinary range of world musics.

McLaughlin's 5-minute long Krishna and the two kings starts atmospherically with bass piano notes ringing out over a background of strings that accompany the introduction as it climbs up the scale to meet himself playing an acoustic guitar (something that hasn't been heard for a long time), perfectly countering the piano's previous phrase, bringing the pitch back down via a characteristic flurry before the melody proper begins with a simple statement and a lightly brushed cha-cha rhythm. Then the magical surprise of the piece - another guitar enters, this time the more familiar synthed hollow-body Gibson. As it sounds like John playing both guitars, overdubbing was used to create the duet, perhaps something McLaughlin has not done since My Goal's Beyond. Perhaps he was thinking that each guitar represents one of the Kings.

Krishna and the two kings is based on a Hindu parable. The story goes as follows:

Duryodana / Duryodhana / Dhuryodhana: Chief and eldest of the evil-minded sons of Dhritharashthra, the Kouravas, who fought the great Mahabharat war with their cousins, the Pandavas.

Dhammaraja / Dharmaja / Dharmaraaja / Yamaraja / Yudhishthira. Eldest of the Pandavas, the King of justice, Lord of Death, death personified, symbol of duty.

Lord Krishna wanted to test the wisdom of his kings. One day he summoned a king called Duryodana. Duryodana was well known throughout the land for his cruelty and miserliness, and his subjects lived in terror.

Lord Krishna said to King Duryodana, "I want you to go and travel the world over and find for me one truly good man."

Duryodana replied, "Yes, Lord," and obediently began his search.

He met and spoke with many people, and after much time had passed he returned to Lord Krishna saying, "Lord, I have done as you have asked and searched the world over for one truly good man. He is not to be found. All of them are selfish and wicked. Nowhere is there to be found this good man you seek!"

Lord Krishna sent him away and called another king called Dhammaraja. He was a king well known for his generosity and benevolence, and well loved by all his people.

Krishna said to him, "King Dhammaraja, I wish for you to travel the world over and bring to me one truly wicked man." Dhammaraja also obeyed, and on his travels met and spoke with many people.

After much time had passed he returned to Krishna saying, "Lord, I have failed you. There are people who are misguided, people who are misled, people who act in blindness, but nowhere could I find one truly evil man. They are all good at heart despite their failings!"