Jo Alex

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Josef August "Jo" Alex , also Joe Alex , pseudonym Herbert Sand (born February 23, 1895 in Recht , Malmedy district ; † 1973 in Berlin ) was a German jazz and entertainment musician ( accordion , alto saxophone , clarinet ), arranger and composer . Mainly because of his few recordings, he did not gain the fame of the "triumvirate" Will Glahé , Heinz Munsonius and Albert Vossen .

Live and act

Alex played 1925-29 in the orchestra of Dajos Béla , in 1933 with Robert Renard with his Instrumentalia Dance Orchestra, and with the singer Robert Koppel . In 1933 he recorded several titles for the Brillant record label; a year later for Telefunken . From 1935 he had a contract with the Tempo label, for which he recorded as musical director under the name Tempo-Meister-Orchester or Musette-Orchester . Further records were made for the Lindström company (Gloria), including "Harmonika Duette" (with Will Glahé, among others). In 1930 he wrote the soundtrack for Die große Sehnsucht (directed by Stefan Szekely ), which was released as a record with the Marek Weber Orchestra.

As an accordionist, he recorded some records for Tempo with his own band ( Jo Alex with his soloists ) in the early 1940s , such as “Es sind haben haben kein Jahre Past” (# 5087, with Karl Golgowski, vocals), “Ferner ran” ( # 5130) and "Sorgebrecher" (1942) by Heinz Munsonius. He wrote numerous compositions for piano and accordion such as "Ferien in Spanien", "Lustiger Hamburger" and "Alexander Boogie". a total of 509 titles, largely under the pseudonym Herbert Sand . His arrangements were less hot and swinging than they turned towards folk music; its instrumentation also allowed flute and xylophone to be used.

After the end of the war, Alex lived in Oberhausen for a short time before moving to Kaldenkirchen and initially working as a musician and composer on a local level. In 1950 Alex composed the song "Hoch Kaldenkirchen" in honor of the Kaldenkirchen Musikverein, which is sung as the city anthem to this day. In 1951 he went back to Berlin, where he a. a. worked for the radio station RIAS . Joe Alex died in Berlin in 1973 at the age of 78 and was also buried there in the St Michael cemetery.

Publications (selection)

  • Good old friends - 18 well-known songs and dances for accordion, easily edited from 24 basses . Berlin, Meisel 1941

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Portrait page about Joe Alex ( Memento of the original from July 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kreisfeuerwehrkapelle.de
  2. ↑ a b Information at Schellacksender.grammophon-platten.de
  3. ↑ Tom Lord : Jazz discography (online)
  4. ^ Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series, 1959, p. 143
  5. ^ Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series, 1963, p. 1041
  6. ↑ With compositions by Jara Benes, Hans-Otto Borgmann, Franz Grothe, Peter Kreuder, Robert Küssel, Gerhard Winkler a. a.
personal data
SURNAME Alex, Jo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Alex, Josef August (full name); Alex, Joe (full name); Sand, Herbert (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German jazz and entertainment musician (accordion, alto saxophone, clarinet), arranger and composer
DATE OF BIRTH February 23, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Right , Malmedy district
DATE OF DEATH 1973
Place of death Berlin