NORBERT HEIZMANN & NOTTY'S JUG SERENADERS

“BESSER ALS WIE GAR NINT - Eingeborenenmusik vom westlichen Bodensee” 

LadwigJazzRecords LJR.20075 (D.2008) CD

Norbert Heizmann, Stimme/Ukulele/Kazoo * Thomas Banholzer, Jug/Trompete/Percussion/Stimme * Hermann Bruderhofer, Stimme/Banjo * Notker Homburger, Stimme/Gitarre * Andi Reinhard, Saxophone/Stimme/Jug/Kazoo/Percussion/Jodel

Live aufgenommen am 28. und 29. September 2007 im Pfohlkeller in Konstanz von Uwe Ladwig.

KONSTANZ LIEGT AM BODENSEE / NO GOHT'S MER EINFACH GUET / I SAG JO NINT / AS TIME GOES BY / WENN I NU KÖNNT / WENDELGARD-LIED / EVERYTHING HAPPENS TO ME / DOCHTELOS / SCHIMPF UND SCHAND / DE HINTENAUS-BLUES / ARMER GIGOLO & I AIN'T GOT NOBODY / DIE FISCHERIN VOM BODENSEE / I HAB DEHOM E HUNDELE / DE SECKEL / WIFE AND MOTHER / DASS DU MEI LIEBSCHTE BISCH / GELL, ETZ WUNDERSCH DI / BESSER ALS WIE GAR NINT

"... I enjoyed (the CD) very much. I liked just about every track but there were two or three - the faster, very rhythmic ones - that I thought were tops - great string band music. A nice synthesis of the local, regional music of where you live with your taste for old-time American music. I think it works very well. I think it's a great thing that you haven't just turned your back on those local traditions. Yet you don't take the academic approach either, trying to reproduce the old music in a strictly scholarly, note-for-note way. All musicians who love the music of our grandparents are caught in this dilemma, keeping the old music alive without being slavishly imitative or academic about it, yet staying true to it, to its mood and feel, even though we live in such a different world, a world of techno-pop and heavy metal, blasting electric noise. Sometimes it feels silly or futile to keep playing the old music, but then it's so enjoyable to play, and if a few other people enjoy listening to it, what the hell -  ..."

(Robert Crumb, Brief an Homburger, 26. Juli 2010) 

“The opening horn riff, followed by the kazoo chorus announces that Notty’s crazy gang are back. Every few years they pop up with their indefinable take on jug band music – file under: ‘indigenous music from Western Lake Constance’.   All the lyrics on this live recording are in German (kind of…), including the likes of ‘Mary’s Boy Child’ (kind of…), ‘As Time Goes By’, and the vintage calypso ‘Wife And Mother’. They can be serious and make quite beautiful music – try ‘Wenn I Nu Könnt’ – or be jazzily torchy, and even play the blues (kind of…).   Instrumentation includes guitar – some fine slide playing – banjo, ukulele, jug (of course), trumpet and alto sax, all wonderful played, as ever, but admittedly non-dialect speakers are probably missing a lot. The title translates as ‘Better Than Nothing’ but this is in fact far better than a lot of stuff nowadays!”

(Norman Darwen, Blues & Rhythm Magazine # 230, 6/2008)

"Von einer heileren Welt berichten der Konstanzer Norbert Heizmann und Notty’s Jug Serenaders auf „Besser als wie gar nint – Eingeborenenmusik vom westlichen Bodensee“. Die Jug Serenaders sind langjährige Botschafter der Jugbandmusik. Beschaulich, doch munter und selten ganz ernst pluckern sie auf ihren Waschbrettern, Kazoos und Banjos. Eine sympathische Liebeserklärung an die schöne Bodenseeregion und die dort lebenden Menschen. Manchmal, wenn die Trompete einsetzt, vergisst man Konstanz und fühlt sich fast ein wenig nach Mexiko versetzt."

(Martin Steiner, Folker! Das Magazin für Folk, Lied und Weltmusik #04/2008)