Toto Blanke -

Toto Blanke (Sept. 16, 1939 — Oct. 24, 2013) was a German guitarist who played in the ethno-jazz/rock band Association P.C. during the early 1970s. As a bandleader, he headed two albums on Vertigo in 1975 and 1976, followed by a sting of solo and combo releases — several with his backing band Electric Circus — on Aliso Records and other labels during the late 1970s and 1980s.

Background

Toto Blanke was born Hans Otto Blanke on Sept. 16, 1936, in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia. His mother sang church songs and operettas, and his grandmother aspired to become an opera singer. Blanke taught himself guitar and learned written notation when professional jobs required sight-reading. He attended Theodor primary school and Gymnasium Theodorianum, where he completed his Abitur in 1957, then studied architecture in Braunschweig through 1964.

Blanke began his performing career in Paderborn with the City Cents, a dance band that played Hotel Hase on Kilianstraße. He also worked with vibraphonist Gunter Hampel and pianist Otto Wolters while enrolled in Braunschweig. Blanke moved into professional music around the end of the 1960s.

Blanke joined drummer Pierre Courbois and keyboardist Jasper van’t Hof in Association P.C. in 1969, with Peter Krijnen and Sigi Busch among the bassists. Association P.C. recorded Earwax in October 1970 and moved to MPS for a sequence that included Sun Rotation, Erna Morena, Rock Around the Cock, and Mama Kuku. Blanke worked with keyboardist Joachim Kühn in the final Association P.C. lineup.

Blanke assembled Kühn, reedist Charlie Mariano, bassist John Lee, and drummer Gerry Brown for July 1974 sessions at Conny’s Studio in Siegburg, followed by acoustic-guitar dates at Studio Bero in Münster for his first album, Spider’s Dance.

Discography:

Spider’s Dance (1975)
Electric Circus (1976)
Tales of Tomorrow (1978)
Friends (1979 • Toto Blanke’s Electric Circus)
Live at the Quartier Latin (live, 1979 • Toto Blanke’s Electric Circus)
Family: Featuring Stu Goldberg (live, 1979 • Toto Blanke’s Electric Circus)
Somewhere in Time (1981)
Silhouettes (Duets for Acoustic Guitars) (1981 • Toto Blanke & Rudolf Dašek)
Bella Donna (1983 • Toto Blanke’s Electric Circus)
Fools Paradise (1989)
Talking Hands: Live (1990 • Jorge Cardoso, David Qualey, Rudolf Dašek & Toto Blanke)