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JMPC Records is proud to offer the definitive instrumental recording "Beautiful Morning" by composer and violinist Herbert Rehbein, one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century and a member of the exclusive Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Rehbein is probably most famous for his collaborations with fellow German songwriter Bert Kaempfert, with whom he enjoyed a highly successful and enduring songwriting partnership. Songs written by the team of Rehbein and Kaempfert have been performed by some of the most famous crooners in the world. Frank Sinatra recorded many of their tunes, including "The World We Knew (Over and Over)," "My Way of Life," "You Turned My World Around," 'Sweet Maria," and "Lady." Dean Martin recorded "I Can't Help Remembering You" and "Welcome to My Heart." Rehbein also arranged Sinatra's huge hit "Strangers in the Night." Sammy Davis Jr. made a hit out of Rehbein and Kaempfert's song "Lonely Is The Name" and Al Martino enjoyed success with "Wiedersehn." Rehbein is also well-known for having composed the theme song to the 1972 Olympic Games.
"Beautiful Morning" offers a glimpse into Rehbein's instrumental work, which ranges on this recording from lounge-style easy listening marked by soaring violin passages to soft rock denoted by winding guitar solos. Musicians include Aldo Banfi (synthesizers); Oscar Rocchi (piano); Claudio Bazzari (guitar); Flaviano Cuffari (drums); Paola Donnarumma (bass); and Sergey D'Cyska (violin)."Beautiful Morning" was an international hit and remains one of the most sought after of Rehbein's solo recordings.
Like our other JPMC artists, Rehbein has lived and breathed music his entire life. He was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1922 and began playing music at age nine when his parents bought him a second-hand violin. It was said that Rehbein had wanted a piano, but his parents couldn't afford one - in the end, it seems like Rehbein was simply meant to play the violin as he grew to become one of its most accomplished players. Rehbein practiced feverishly as a boy, learning the works of great composers like Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, and Brahms.
Rehbein's musical pursuits were sidelined with the advent of war in 1941, but luckily he was assigned to the military's Music Corps on the island of Crete in the Mediterranean where he honed his musical skills with the local gypsies. Later in the war, he did spent three years in a Yugoslavian prison camp, but he was allowed to continue practicing violin and so impressed the local authorities with his talent that as the war wound down he was named violin soloist and musical director of the Belgrade Radio Orchestra.
He didn't return to Germany until 1952, when his mother's illness forced him to come home. It was around that time that his longtime songwriting partnership with Kaempfert was formed, and from there Rehbein's star began to rise. Their compositions quickly achieved international success, especially in the United States, where they caught the ear of Decca Records' executive Milt Gabler. Gabler's influence helped paved the way for even more widespread commercial success.
Later in life, he lived in Switzerland and became the director and violin soloist of the Swiss Radio Orchestra. The world lost a great creative soul in 1979 when Rehbein succumbed to cancer at age 57. He was inducted to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1993.
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