Sweet Smoke

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Sweet Smoke
Sweet Smoke 1974
Sweet Smoke 1974
General information
Genre (s) Jazz rock , psychedelic rock
founding 1967
resolution 1974
Last occupation
Andy Dershin
Jay Dorfman
Marvin Kaminowitz
Guitar, sitar
 Rick Greenberg

Sweet Smoke is a music group that was founded in Brooklyn in 1967 , but whose members lived in Germany from 1969 to 1974 , where they recorded their three albums and were promoted by the sculptor Waldemar Kuhn . The pronounced session and live band was particularly popular in Germany, France and Holland at the time of its existence and played a mixture of psychedelic rock and jazz rock .

history

The band's founding members were bassist Andrew Dershin, saxophonist Michael Paris, drummer Jay Dorfman and guitarist Marvin Kaminovitz (born October 18, 1949), all of whom had played with popular local Brooklyn bands as teenagers in the mid-1960s soon followed by the guitarist Steve Rosenstein. The band was initially called Sweet Smoke of the Happy Plant Pipeful and later shortened their name to Sweet Smoke .

After an appearance at Cafe Wha? in Greenwich Village in March 1968, the operator of the café offered them a longer engagement in Puerto Rico and on Saint Thomas . Though Dorfman, Paris, and Kaminowitz were still enrolled in college, they accepted and skipped their high school diplomas. The band gave six-hour concerts on six days a week in the Caribbean for three months and was thus characterized as a distinct session and improvisation band.

After the end of their engagement on St. Thomas, the band members did not want to return to their parents' homes. Instead, it seemed much more attractive to continue working as a musician in Europe, where Amsterdam in particular had a great fascination with hippies . Andy Dershin and Mike Paris traveled to Southampton in late 1968, with the rest of the band following a little later. The dream of settling in Amsterdam, however, burst in late 1969 when the group wanted to travel to Holland from Germany and was turned away by the Dutch border police. So the group landed at the post office in Emmerich am Rhein to make a phone call and decide how to proceed. In this post office the band members met the sculptor Waldemar Kuhn , who spontaneously offered his help. Kuhn arranged for the band to stay and became the band's first manager. Later the saxophonist Nico Scholtens (* 1947) took over the management, who had come to the culture-friendly house Kuhn as a member of the formation Musica Negativa . The native Dutchman Scholtens opened the way to Holland again for the group.

Sweet Smoke played in the following time at many festivals in Germany, France and Holland and were u. a. to be heard in the opening act for Golden Earring and Focus . Soon the band received a record deal from Electrola to produce three albums. The first album was Just a Poke in 1970 , which documents the band's origins as a psychedelic improvisation band with its two long pieces: Baby Night and Silly Sally . The former is probably the band's best-known piece, mainly because of the distinctive flute melody by Michael Paris. The second is known for a minute-long drum solo by Dorfman, in which stereo effects (ping-pong effect) were used. Conny Plank took care of the sound engineering for the album .

In 1972 the band followed a time trend and the majority of the band members set out on the hippie trail to India , where they were influenced by chanting , Indian instruments and the Hare Krishna movement. In 1973 the band returned to Germany and settled in Sulzheim in Lower Franconia , just a few kilometers from Knetzgau-Neuhaus, where Waldemar Kuhn and his family had meanwhile moved. Kuhn continued to be a key sponsor of the group. His children Rochus and Barberina ("Puppa") can be heard on the band Darkness to Light 's second album from 1973, which was inspired by the trip to India . Puppa Kuhn married drummer Jay Dorfman in a Hindu ceremony, her sister Salome later married Nico Scholtens, who had also moved to Lower Franconia in the wake of the Kuhns and started a winemaking career there after the time with Sweet Smoke.

Soon after the release of the second album, the musicians began to think about their future lives. Michael Paris and Steve Rosenstein left the band, for them came the also Indian-inspired guitarist Rick Greenberg. With him the group recorded the live album Sweet Smoke Live in 1974 on the occasion of a charity event for a project in India at the music academy in Berlin , which in turn only contains two long tracks. Then the group split up for good, as most of the band members planned professional or personal changes. The members remained on friendly terms and occasionally still play music together.

Drummer Jay Dorfman returned to the US and studied art. Then he was one of the first employees at MTV around 1980 and later founded his own television production company. Guitarist Marvin Kaminovitz calls himself Marvin Kane today, studied music in Boston from 1974 to 1978 and then played with various cover and jazz bands, was also active as a stand-up comedian in the late 1980s and has been running a web design company since 2005 . Mike Paris married an Indian woman and moved to India. Andy Dershin has withdrawn into private life.

Discography

Musician

The regular line-up of Sweet Smoke consisted of:

  • Michael Paris: saxophone, recorder, vocals
  • Marvin Kaminowitz: guitar, vocals
  • Andrew Dershin: Bass
  • Jay Dorfman: drums
  • Steve Rosenstein: rhythm guitar, vocals

The musicians also include the following people in their "family":

  • Marty Rosenberg: Percussion
  • John Classi: Percussion
  • Howie Rubin: sound engineer
  • Rochus Kuhn (son of Waldemar Kuhn): Cello on Darkness to Light
  • Puppa Kuhn (daughter of Waldemar Kuhn): Flute in Darkness to Light
  • Jeffrey Dershin (brother of Andrew Dershin): piano, percussion instruments, vocals on Darkness to Light
  • Rick Greenberg: Guitar and Sitar on Sweet Smoke Live

Since the band has lived as a hippie collective for long periods of its existence, the involvement of the “family” goes far beyond their actual appearance on stage or on records. Marty Rosenberg, who is listed as a percussionist on the live album, was a long-time companion of the band and often acted as a roadie. Percussionist John Classi, who can also be heard on the live LP, was a long-time confidante of the band. Sound engineer Howie Rubin not only took care of the mixer, but also took care of the band's finances.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://sweetsmokeband.com/the-sweet-smoke-story
  2. ↑ http://sweetsmokeband.com/the-sweet-smoke-story
  3. ↑ http://sweetsmokeband.com/the-sweet-smoke-story
  4. ↑ Portrait of Nico Scholtens at weingut-scholtens.de
  5. ↑ Just a Poke at discogs.com
  6. ↑ http://sweetsmokeband.com/the-sweet-smoke-story
  7. ↑ Portrait: Salome Scholtens at weingut-scholtens.de
  8. ↑ http://sweetsmokeband.com/the-sweet-smoke-story
  9. ↑ http://sweetsmokeband.com/reflections/jay-dorfman
  10. ↑ http://sweetsmokeband.com/kaminowitz-or-kane
  11. ↑ http://sweetsmokeband.com/reflections/marvin-kane
  12. ↑ http://sweetsmokeband.com/the-family