That's not surprising because the multi-faceted German music scene has spawned such extraordinary groups as Blues Company from Osnabrück, Germany.
The group was founded about 25 years ago and has by now become a household name. No one can talk about Blues "made in Germany" without mentioning Blues Company in the same breath. The band's success is rooted in its consistent quality and, of course, in its approach. This "company" doesn't simply pull off a routine "job."
On the contrary. These musicians put their heart and soul into their music. It is a passionate "crusade" for the Blues, and the group's message 3 " The Blues Is Allright" 3 is attracting a steadily growing number of fans into concert halls and clubs.
The driving force behind Blues Company is an innovative "Blues Man" 3 singer, guitarist, and songwriter Todor "Toscho" Todorovic . He was born in 1951 in Lingen, northern Germany. His parents, who had fled from the former Yugoslavia to West Germany after WWII, gave gifted young Toscho many opportunities to develop his musical talent.
After hearing legendary B.B. King play in a jazz club, Toscho was forever captivated by the Blues. He acquired the Blues guitar repertoire and founded a number of small bands; he also studied classical guitar and song at the conservatory. In 1976, at the age of 25, he met the German pianist Christian Rannenberg at a Blues session featuring the Texan sax player Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson. Before long Toscho and Christian Rannenberg had founded Blues Company.
Blues Company has given over 2500 concerts in Germany and neighboring European countries. The group consists of Mike Titre (guitar, bass, blues harp), Olli Gee (bass, organ), Florian Schaube (drums), and Martin Schmachtenberg (vocals), as well as the " Fabulous BC Horns" aka Uwe Nolopp (trumpet) and Robert Kretzschmar (sax, organ). The Fabulous BC Horns give the band even greater punch, both on stage and in the studio.
The musicians of Blues Company have never been purists. Rather, it has always been Toscho's desire not just to plumb the depths of the Blues for its extraordinary range of expression, but also to spark new ideas in all facets of the genre. This front man and his band know all too well that the Blues is always changing and thus stays alive.
Variety is one of the hallmarks of Blues Company, whose numerous CDs masterfully bridge the traditional and the modern. There are lusty Blues-Rock numbers, laid-back swinging Rhythm & Blues, haunting Blues ballads, as well as excursions into Soul and Cajun music. The group's work has borne a lot of fruit. Four of its CDs 3 Damn! Let's Jam (1991), Vintage (1995), Blues, Ballads And Assorted Love Songs (1997), and Invitation To The Blues (2000) 3 are at the top of the charts of the most successful German Blues records of all time.
As impressive as Blues Company's output has been in recent years, the band refuses to rest on its laurels. After Toscho's highly successful and stylistically very modern solo outing 3 Back By Popular Demand, issued in the spring of 2000, and Invitation To The Blues, issued the following fall 3 Blues Company invited to sample its powerful live show. On Two Nights Only, a CD recorded in early January 2001, the band demonstrated on 13 hot tracks how much verve and power it can summon before live audiences. The CD included numbers from Invitation To The Blues ("747," "Good Man Bad"), tributes to major Blues stars ("Bo Diddley's Groove," "They Called Him Muddy Waters"), strong covers (Elmore James's "Rollin' And Tumblin'," Robert Johnson's "Walkin' Blues"), as well as a lot of hot guitar solos and howling horns.
From Daybreak To Heartbreak
The Blues Company recorded their most powerful work to-date in May/June 2003 in one of the best studios in the world – Bauer Studios – with one of the world's best blues producer – - Scott Billington – as a multi-channel and stereo hybrid SACD.
Germany's oldest and most successful blues band – The Blues Company – has pulled out the stops for their new album – From Daybreak to Heartbreak. They booked the Bauer Studios in Ludwigsburg – Germany's most famous recording studio, and producer Scott Billington traveled all the way over from America. Billington has recorded with the greats such as Johnny Adams, Jonathan Richman, Irma Thomas, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Duke Robillard and the Holmes Brothers.
His characteristic production is clearly audible on the new songs and band leader Todor ”Toscho” Todorovic (guitars, vocals) enthused: ”We would never have dared to try a typical New Orleans groove without him.”
And who decided which songs would appear on the new album? The fans! Todor "Toscho" Todorovic: ”We have always tested out new songs in out concerts. The audience's reaction gives us instant feedback about which songs come across well.”
All eleven songs were recorded live in the studio and cover a wide range of blues styles. New-Orleans-Groove, Chicago-Sound, a tribute to Jimmy Reed in the song "Over" and of course a ballad are all present and correct. The ballad on Daybreak to Heartbreak is called ”Over the City” – a song which has no need to hide behind gigantic international production. On the contrary: songs such as ”Keepin' the Blues Alive” or ”Blues is a Feeling” are taken literally by Todor ”Toscho” Todorovic and his sextet, in fact they turn them into a personal mission.
O FESTIVALU 
