Jörg Hegemann, Foot Tappin' Boogie

There is something very pleasing about getting older, as it takes time to mature in character. This is true for great wines, whiskeys and some cheeses, but also for artists such as musicians and writers. And perhaps the greatest pleasure lies in maturing together, as every day there is a new wine ready for drinking and a new musician to reach a level of accomplishment that is impossible to reach without true devotion and the ever-important element of time.

Jörg first approached me in 2002, asking if I was perhaps interested in translating the booklet of his new CD. The recommendation had come from a mutual friend, Thomas Aufermann, and I reluctantly accepted without knowing what genre of music Jörg played. As it turned out, the album was called ‘Eight to the Bar’, a reference to eight beats to one bar, the foundation of the Boogie Woogie. At the time of writing my first translation for Jörg, the Boogie Woogie was a genre that I was completely unfamiliar with. And as I had never heard the Boogie performed live, I had to rely on the CD recording to form my opinion. Sadly, as was the case with many live recordings of the time, there was a general lack of dynamics and a lack in stereo imaging that made it difficult for me to assess the genre.

With each new album that I was asked to translate, I could hear that Jörg’s skills as musician were becoming ever more refined. And while I gradually grew accustomed to the music and could enjoy it more, the quality of the recordings was not on par with Jörg’s skills as musician. Audiophiles are a neglected species, and I am sure that listening to the CDs on a car radio would have produced acceptable results, but in the world of meticulously set up HiFi rigs, the recordings fell desperately short of perfection. And I confess that I was troubled by this and even addressed the issue with Jörg. Over the telephone he consoled me, saying that his 2021 album was to be recorded in a proper recording studio with all the bells and whistles of a modern production.

‘Foot Tappin’ Boogie’ is Jörg’s 10th full CD album. It is also the 6th album for which I was asked to translate the CD booklet, and it is Jörg’s first album to offer music at a recording quality level that we audiophiles can really appreciate. Listening to just 30 seconds of this album gave me a satisfied grin on my face that I had trouble supressing all the way through to the last song. Jörg’s exceptional gift as musician meets sophisticated recording studio quality to create a true firework of a Boogie Woogie performance. Considering the age and increasing rarity of the genre, paired with Jörg’s exceptional skills as musician, ‘Foot Tappin’ Boogie’ might easily be the best Boogie Woogie recording ever made. I found myself running through our apartment yelling "He did it! He finally got it right!"

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Of course, it helped that Jörg had called upon a formidable group of musicians to make this recording come to life with him. There is the album’s guest star: double bass man Paul G. Ulrich; his 20-year companion in music: drummer Jan Freund; and Jörg’s long-time friend and Boogie shouter: Thomas Aufermann. Together, they make the Boogie sound effortless, highly rhythmical, and extremely engaging. The recording is well-balanced with the instruments nicely spread out over the stage to form a homogenous musical event. Well done.

If you are looking for an audiophile album to take you on a mature and eloquently presented journey through the world of Boogie Woogie that has the skills and the sound quality to match, this is the album to go for. I will keep this CD close at hand in my short-listed audiophile collection and share it with fellow audiophiles, that they too can experience the full depth and breadth of the Boogie.