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Jug21, 11-12-2003 12:41 PM
Hans Koller Big Band - New York City
01. Opening (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
02. 52nd Street (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
03. Central Park (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
04. Manhattan (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
05. Brooklyn (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
06. Skyline (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
07. Harlem (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
08. Freedom (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
09. Black And White (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
10. Ending (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
Hans Koller – tenor saxophone
Ferenc Aszodi, Benny Bailey, Arthur Pavlicek, Jaromir Hnilicka, Alfa Schmid – trumpet / Peter Herbolzheimer, Gustav Brom jr. , Mojmir Bartek, Franz Simons, Josef Pelc – trombone / Emil Mangelsdorff – saxophone & flute / Frantisek Navratil, Bronislav Horak, Zdenek Novak, Joki Freund, Josef Auders, Jan Konopasek – saxophone / Josef Blaha – piano & oboe / Jiri Mraz – bass / Billi Moody - drums
Produced by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer / Engineered by Rolf Donner
Recorded at MPS-Studio, Villingen, January 18, 1968
Recording directed by Willi Fruth
(P) 1979 MPS Records
Originally released as MPS 15 515
Original artwork by Müller & von Frankenberg
Cover photo by Josef Werkmeister
MPS - MOST PERFECT SOUND EDITION produced by Matthias Künnecke
Artwork adaptation & series design by Stefan Kassel
Digitally remastered by Willem Makkee at Emil Berliner Studios, Langenhagen
Original liner notes transcribed by Rommel Causapin - Texts edited by Jörg Eipasch
Series consultant: Stephan Steigleder - Thanks to Harry Gruber and Christian Krug
Special thanks to Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer
Original linernotes
Hans Koller is without a doubt the great master of the German jazz scene. As soon as he had arrived in Germany from Vienna with his tenor saxophone, he was immediately at the focus of interest. The stations of his career are milestones of German jazz history.
In 1951 he founded his first, much celebrated, quartet in Munich. “We played in a black American club at the Freimann barracks. Those who remember those times will know what I’m talking about. German jazz musicians came from all over the place, just to have been there once. We had to sneak them in secretly, often this trick could only be accomplished after I played the guard his favorite piece, “Stompin’ At The Savoy”, arranged by Jutta Hipp. That was the piece for which we received five stars in Down Beat magazine. One of the black soldiers told us so, we could hardly believe it, we were so proud.”
Two years later Hans Koller moved on to Frankfurt, which was then something like Germany’s jazz capital. Here he expanded his group to a quintet. It was the best combo existing in Germany up to then, and one of the most important of the entire Cool Jazz period. During a mutual tour, Hans Koller, Albert Mangelsdorff, Jutta Hipp, Shorty Roeder and Karl Sanner received more acclaim than the “king of Be-bop” himself, Dizzy Gillespie.
Then, Lee Konitz was the great idol of German jazz musicians. It took Hans Koller years to detach himself from Konitz’s influence, when he, Roland Kovac and Attila Zoller shaped the musical character of their group called “New Jazz Stars”. The classicism of Al Cohn was now most attractive to this circle of musicians. In 1957 Eddie Sauter recruited Koller for his new Big Band at SWF Radio Baden-Baden. There Koller began to arrange, compose and – to paint! One of his pictures he titled “Coltrane”, a network of countless interwoven lines, an attempt to translate music into graphics.
Hans then played for a year with the unforgettable Oscar Pettiford. “Because of him I understood what the great black musicians meant when they said that you tell a story on your instrument when you play. What is more, Lester Young always said that you must know the lyrics of a piece, otherwise you can’t play it. I experienced the truth of this saying through Oscar.”
Actually, Hans always had a secret love for Big Bands. At quite a few festival concerts in Frankfurt, Hamburg or Essen he brought large orchestras to the stage. Consequently, the score of his “New York City” suite, originally intended as ballet music, was already in his briefcase when the Gustav Brom Big Band announced that they intended to visit the “Jazz-Schmiede”, a jazz club in Villingen, Black Forest, the town that is also home of MPS Records.
Gustav Brom has long been acknowledged leading Eastern Europe’s best jazz orchestra. With Jaromir Hnilicka, Jan Konopasek and the outstanding bassist Jiri Mraz, it has at its disposal a rank of soloists of international profile. Befitting the great occasion of recording Koller’s score, additional Big Band specialists of experience were invited, including Ferencz Aszodi and Benny Bailey (trumpets), Peter Herbolzheimer (trombone), Joki Freund (tenor saxophone) and Emil Mangelsdorff (flute and alto saxophone). Hans Koller took over the leadership and with his tenor saxophone occupies the center of attraction of his ten-movement suite dedicated to the jazz capital New York City. It will more than likely prove to be the most noteworthy larger jazz composition written in Germany.
Wolfgang Dohl
Translated by Reni & Joe Weisel
Hans Koller – Exclusiv01. Natalie (Laurindo Almeida) Weyman Music
02. Blues In The Closet (Oscar Pettiford) Orpheus Music Inc.
03. Egil (Hans Koller) Edition Modern Musikverlag
04. Chordless (Hans Hammerschmid) Manuskript
05. Stalag (Attila Zoller) Badenia Musikverlag/Vineta Musikverlag
06. Plädoyer (Russel Garcia) Terraton Verlag
07. The Gentle Art Of Love (Oscar Pettiford) Orpheus Music Inc.
08. Muttnik (Quincy Jones) EMI Full Keel Music
09. Painter’s Lament (Hans Koller) Edition Modern Musikverlag
10. It’s Over (Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer) Edition Swington
11. Pagode (Russel Garcia) Manuskript
Hans Koller Quartet (02/04/05/07)
Hans Koller – tenor saxophone
Oscar Pettiford – bass
Attila Zoller - guitar
Jimmy Pratt – drums
Hans Koller Nonet (01/03/06/08/09/10/11)
Hans Koller – alto saxophone
Helmut Reinhardt & Ronnie Ross – baritone saxophone
Rudi Flierl & Erhard Wenig – tenor saxophone
Dick Spencer – alto saxophone
Hans Rettenbacher - bass
Ira Kris - guitar
Allen Ganley – drums
Arranged by Hans Koller (02/03/04/05/07/09) & Russell Garcia (01/06/08/10/11)
Produced by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer / Engineered by Rolf Donner
Quartet recorded at DFW-Studio, Baden-Baden, February 19, 1959
Nonet recorded at MPS-Studio, Villingen, November 26, 1963
(P) 1964 MPS Records
Originally released as MPS 15 024
Original artwork and photography by Josef Werkmeister
MPS - MOST PERFECT SOUND EDITION produced by Matthias Künnecke
Artwork adaptation & series design by Stefan Kassel
Digitally remastered by Willem Makkee at Emil Berliner Studios, Langenhagen
Original liner notes transcribed by Rommel Causapin - Texts edited by Jörg Eipasch
Series consultant: Stephan Steigleder - Thanks to Harry Gruber, Christian Krug and Helmut Lackner - Special thanks to Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer
Original linernotes
It amazes today to realize that Hans Koller’s music was available on record in America before it was available in Germany. Fourteen years ago, the Discovery label released a couple of tracks of his on 7-inch. A famous jazz musician, listening to these tracks for one of Down Beat magazine’s famous blindfold tests, assumed he was listening to Stan Getz! The LP era followed, but still it did not cross the mind of German record companies to call Hans Koller into the studio until a French company released an album of eight Koller tracks. Suddenly German record executives pricked up their ears and Hans was suddenly heard on half a dozen different labels.
But it was reserved to MPS Records to exclusively present the “complete Koller”. Here we not only get to know Hans Koller the saxophonist, on alto and tenor by the way, but also the band leader and boss of his own combo, the exponent of German jazz who played with leading Americans, as well as the composer and – probably new to many – abstract painter.
For his nonet, Hans Koller assembled an international line up. The English baritone saxophonist Ronnie Ross was flown in especially for the recording from London, in addition, the American alto saxophonist Dick Spencer from Cleveland, Ohio, is heard, who is a disciple of Charlie Mariano and plays in Max Greger’s Big Band today. Hans Koller is heard on alto saxophone on these recordings. The quartet tracks were recorded with the late Oscar Pettiford on bass, as well as with the Hungarian guitarist Attila Zoller.
Not a year went by in which Hans Koller did not play with famous musicians visiting Germany. In 1953 it was Dizzy Gillespie, in 1954 he was chosen by Lee Konitz, who influenced Koller a lot. He could also be heard with Lars Gullin. When Stan Kenton was looking for a tenor player in 1955, he approached Koller, and when Eddie Sauter put together a Big Band in Baden-Baden in 1957, Koller was aboard too.
We live in times of specification and specialists. But an artist who devotes himself to jazz, who’s music is not supposed to age, can’t afford to specialise. Audience and critics will judge him on his versality. And Hans Koller is versatile. He is at home in fast tempo pieces as well as in ballads, as demonstrated here with “The Gently Art Of Love”, which also features an exceptional guitar solo by Attila Zoller. Solid handicraft is taken for granted, which not only includes technique, tonality and the assured choice of the right, swinging tempo, a musician also needs to have style and aesthetic categories such as taste and originality. Listen to “Plädoyer”, and you will know what is meant by this.
Hans Koller is such an inseparable member of the German jazz scene, it is sometimes forgotten that he came to us from Vienna, where he was born on February 12, 1921. From 1931 he studied classical clarinet and music theory at the Academy of Music, where he received a diploma. In 1938 he already came forward as a professional musician, but was drafted to the military the following year and ended up in an American prison camp. Since he already had played the tenor sax, Koller’s encounters with jazz during this confinement had a lasting impression on him. In the years after, he was heard regularly in American clubs while the word spread what a great musician he was. In Germany the first Koller releases came out in the early Fifties. We owe the acquaintance of artists like Jutta Hipp, Albert Mangelsdorff, Roland Kovac, Willi Sanner Johnny Fischer and others to Koller. Koller never denied that he was influenced by a group of very diverse musical personalities. Lester Young was his first idol, later on he was attracted by the more cool-intellectual movement of Konitz and Tristano, while even later he was influenced by the “four brothers”, especially Zoot Sims and Al Cohn.
Today one has to testify Hans Koller that he, without a doubt, has found his own style, although he was never in America nor was ever sent to faraway places by some cultural office. “Hans Koller Exclusive” is the definite proof that this musician is the “grand old man” of German jazz!
Dietrich Schulz-Köhn
Hans Koller’s musicality has found a new expression in his paintings. He creates pictures of individualistic figuration, compositions of thrilling power and disturbance. Koller’s pictures are proof of what Paul Gaugin once assumed, that the art of painting would “step into musical spheres”. The prominence of the musical elements in Koller’s paintings is demonstrated by one of his most recent works, of which a part is featured on the front cover of this LP.
H. Flaig
Hans Koller & Wolfgang Dauner – Kunstkopfindianer01. Kunstkopfindianer (Wolfgang Dauner) Dauner Music
02. Suomi (Adelhard Roidinger) Edition Swington
03. Nom (Adelhard Roidinger) Edition Swington
04. Ulla M. & 22/8 (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
05. Adea (Zbigniew Seifert) Edition Swington
Hans Koller – soprano & tenor saxophone
Wolfgang Dauner – piano, electric piano, synthesizer, nagoya-harp
Zbigniew Seifert – violin, alto saxophone
Adelhard Roidinger – bass, e-bass
Janusz Stefanski - drums
Produced by Willi Fruth / Engineered by Martin Wieland
Recorded at Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg, January 21 - 23, 1974
(P) 1974 MPS Records
Originally released as MPS 15 422
Original artwork and cover photo by Frieder Grindler
Liner photos by Jörg Becker
MPS - MOST PERFECT SOUND EDITION produced by Matthias Künnecke
Artwork adaptation & series design by Stefan Kassel
Digitally remastered by Willem Makkee at Emil Berliner Studios, Langenhagen
Series consultant: Stephan Steigleder - Thanks to Harry Gruber and Christian Krug
Special thanks to Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer
And the list of as yet available MPS reissues:
Also available in the MPS - Most Perfect Sound Edition:Charly Antolini - Drum Beat - 06024 9808191
Wolfgang Dauner Trio - Music Zounds - 06024 9808190
Art Farmer Quintet - From Vienna With Art - 06024 9811443
Friedrich Gulda - Fata Morgana - Live at the Domicile - 06024 9811447
Horst Jankowski Quartett - Jankowskinetik - 06024 9808189
Hans Koller - Exclusiv – 06024 9813440
Hans Koller - Relax With My Horns – 06024 9813445
Hans Koller Big Band - New York City – 06024 9813437
Hans Koller Free Sound - Phoenix – 06024 9813438
Volker Kriegel - Spectrum - 06024 9808699
Joachim Kühn - Hip Elegy - 06024 9808186
Albert Mangelsdorff - And His Friends - 00440 0673752
Don Menza - Morning Song - 06024 9811446
Fritz Pauer Trio - Blues Inside Out - 06024 9811264
Fritz Pauer - Live At The Berlin Jazz Galerie - 06024 9811263
Annie Ross & Pony Poindexter - With The Berlin All Stars - 06024 9811257
Attila Zoller / Hans Koller / Martial Solal - Zoller Koller Solal – 00422 8431072
Available in the MPS – Super Audio CD Edition:
Oscar Peterson - Exclusively For My Friends Vol. I - Action - 06024 9811293
Oscar Peterson - Exclusively For My Friends Vol. II - Girl Talk – 06024 9811294
Oscar Peterson - Exclusively For My Friends Vol. III - The Way I Really Play – 06024 9811295
Oscar Peterson - Exclusively For My Friends Vol. IV - My Favorite Instrument – 06024 9811296
Oscar Peterson - Exclusively For My Friends Vol. V - Mellow Mood – 06024 9811303
Oscar Peterson - Exclusively For My Friends Vol. VI - Travelin' On – 06024 9811305
Further volumes in preparation.
ubu
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Jug21, 11-12-2003 12:41 PM
Hans Koller Free Sound - Phoenix
01. Nicolas 1/2 (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
02. Isus Mirror (Adelhard Roidinger) Edition Swington
03. CH & HC (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
04. Phoenix (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
05. Victor (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
06. LWS (Adelhard Roidinger) Edition Swington
07. Nicolas 3/4 (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
Hans Koller - soprano & tenor saxophones
Albert Mair - Electra electric piano
Adelhard Roidinger - acoustic & electric basses
Alex Bally - drums
Produced by Willi Fruth / Engineered by Rolf Donner
Recorded at MPS-Studio, Villingen, September 25 - 26, 1972
(P) 1972 MPS Records
Originally released as MPS 15 315
Original artwork by MPS-Atelier / Cover painting by Hans Koller
Back cover photo by Josef Werkmeister, liner photos by Hans Harzheim and German Hasenfratz
MPS - MOST PERFECT SOUND EDITION produced by Matthias Künnecke
Artwork adaptation & series design by Stefan Kassel
Digitally remastered by Willem Makkee at Emil Berliner Studios, Langenhagen
Original liner notes transcribed by Rommel Causapin - Texts edited by Jörg Eipasch
Series consultant: Stephan Steigleder - Thanks to Harry Gruber and Christian Krug
Special thanks to Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer
Original liner notes
Hans Koller, born in 1921, has been around in the world of jazz for quite a while now. During the era of cool jazz, he tended to model himself on others (out of admiration he even named his son after Lee Konitz). And yet, along with Lars Gullin and one or two others, he is one of the few Europeans who really succeeded to establish a style of their own. In 1958, he disbanded his combo because he could no longer find any musicians whose style really corresponded to his own. He may not have completely withdrawn from music: he played with Oscar Pettiford and Kenny Clarke, with Eddie Sauter at Südwestfunk (South West German Radio), and led an ensemble for NDR (Northern German Radio). But these were really only intermezzi. Insstead, he devoted himself more intensively to his painting, which, by the way, brought him considerable success. Not much later, the traditional, bourgeois patterns in music began to crumble, and jazz began taking its path through the fire.
Phoenix. A well-known Afro-american musician of Koller’s own age said recently that if he and Duke Ellington were asked to play as freely as today’s younger jazz musicians, they could do so and they even would blow away all of them. But this can only be a misinterpretation, because that’s not at all what free jazz is about. Today, nobody should dare to blow away anyone, as it used to be the case in the jam sessions of days gone by. Music merely based on competition would no longer be considered to be good music.
This process of evolution has not been a particularly consistent one. While horn players explored free music relatively early, the rhythm section joined them only after they had thrown off the chains of their traditional slavish role model. In the movement towards free music there has to be an ethical development which must run parallel to the musical and technical development, otherwise there is only chaos. Musical intensity may be fascinating, but it can be too overwhelming if there is no social consciousness, no sense of control and responsibility. These are vital to the creative, spontaneous communication which provides the basis for aesthetic enjoyment.
Free Sound. Hans Koller has indulged in none of the excesses which stigmatized free jazz. He was able to find a different kind of self-fulfillment in painting. And time has been on his side. Now he has found again partners with whom he can express himself in terms of music. They are working hard, realizing that perfection can never be an end in itself, only a point in development which never reaches completion. Koller tried out the artistic possibilities of the electronic Octaviator, and his bassist Adelhard Roidinger also likes to experiment with electronics. But they have found that unless one succeeds completely in coming to terms with modern musical technology, it assumes a dominant role which threatens to destroy anything achieved so far. So attention has been concentrated once more on individual instrumental virtuosity. This is why, on this record, only natural intrumental sounds have been used, with the exception of the electric piano, which Albert Mair treats as a complex instrument of its own. Drummer Alex Bally does no longer subordinate himself like the drummers of the old school, but becomes an integral part of the musical dramaturgy.
But further comment is superfluous. Hans Koller’s music speaks for itself!
Werner Panke
Translated by John Wilde
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Jug21, 11-12-2003 12:39 PM
Hans Koller - Relax With My Horns
01. Relax (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
02. The Sweetest Girl I’ve Ever Known (Hans Rettenbacher) Edition Swington
03. Music For Pablo I (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
04. The Twister (Hans Rettenbacher) Edition Swington
05. Half And Half (Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer) Edition Swington
06. Ziag Hin (Trad./Hans Koller) Edition Swington
07. Blues For Marina (Hans Rettenbacher) Edition Swington
08. Music For Pablo II (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
Hans Koller – soprano & tenor saxophone
Hans Rettenbacher – bass, piano
Rafi Luederitz - drums
Produced and engineered by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer
Recorded at MPS-Studio, Villingen, July 4 - 6, 1966
Recording directed by Willi Fruth
(P) 1966 MPS Records
Originally released as MPS 15 088
Original artwork and photography by Josef Werkmeister
MPS - MOST PERFECT SOUND EDITION produced by Matthias Künnecke
Artwork adaptation & series design by Stefan Kassel
Digitally remastered by Willem Makkee at Emil Berliner Studios, Langenhagen
Original liner notes transcribed by Rommel Causapin - Texts edited by Jörg Eipasch
Series consultant: Stephan Steigleder - Thanks to Harry Gruber, Christian Krug and Helmut Lackner - Special thanks to Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer
Original liner notes:
“Relax With My Horns” was recorded by Hans Koller in a “still conventional manner”, as he himself explains. The homogeneous sound of these tracks is achieved by the playback recording of four saxophones, all played by Koller himself. The alternation between one or more alto or tenor saxes produced a very differing sound. Moreover, Hans Rettenbacher played piano on the first takes and bass on the second takes.
Hans Koller comments the songs:
“Relax” was written for two alto and two tenor saxophones. The fifth saxophone is substituted by Hans Rettenbacher (who also wrote the arrangement) playing its part in the lower register of the piano. The frequent change of time between a 3/4 and a 4/4 time creates a kind of swaying sound. Except for a short bass solo, all solo honors go to the alto sax.
“The Sweetest Girl I’ve Ever Known” was composed and, once again, arranged by Hans Rettenbacher. The harmonically beautiful and resonant sound was written for one alto and two tenor saxophones, giving a homogeneous feeling to the whole tune. The solos are played on tenor sax and - in the last middle part - on alto.
“Music For Pablo I” is part of a whole series of compositions I dedicated to the great master, Pablo Picasso. Except for a few chord patterns, the first chorus is played in unison by two tenor saxophones. In the second half of the tune, Rafi and I started playing in 8/8 and 4/4 time (Rafi lived in New York for almost ten years, and you can tell it when you hear him play a solo). For me, Hans and Rafi are a remarkably swinging rhythm group.
“The Twister” is a thoroughly swinging piece. With this composition, Hans shows that he has studied the jazz tradition starting from the bottom. After the theme, solos are divided between alto sax and bass. Then, Rafi responds to a couple of tutti parts with some excellently timed drum breaks. A “call and response” section for two altos and the revisited theme lead “The Twister” to its ending.
“Half And Half”, a composition by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer, was arranged by Hans Rettenbacher. After the first few bars, there’s no more doubt about Hans Georg’s penchant for swinging music (H.G. himself is also an accomplished pianist and organist). The theme and a few bars of an interlude are followed by the first chorus on alto saxophone. It’s followed by a slightly varied ensemble part and solos on bass, alto, and a tenor sax. The last chorus returns to the theme, starting with a unison phrasing and continuing with block chords towards the end.
“Ziag hin” (Viennese dialect for “Go to...”) is a traditional lansquenet marching song Hermann Brunner-Schwer [Hans Georg’s uncle] used to sing and play often during our visits. Due to his suggestion and because I myself liked the song very much, I wrote an arrangement of it. We used a
march rhythm for the first part, but to make sure the lansquenets move along fast enough, I “doctored” it into a swing rhythm for the theme and the following parts in the second part. Unlike in the first part, which was played by four tenors, now there are three altos and only one tenor
sax. The solos are intensified, and after the third repetition of the swinging theme the tune fades out - and the musicians go off... (“Sie ziagn hin...”)
The first twelve bars of “Blues For Marina”, a quietly flowing blues, are played by the alto sax with underlying piano chords. The same melody line is then repeated by three altos, with the piano chords creating, in a way, an echo effect. The alto solos for the next 24 bars, then follow 12 bars by the collective with two altos. Well, the piano solo: Hans wasn’t prepared at all, when, suddenly, I gave him a signal to play a solo on piano. However, he managed to contribute a really tasteful and
fitting improvisation. The last chorus is a repetition of the first one, but is played the other way around: First the part for three alto saxes, then the part for one. The tune closes with a nice piano and bass figure.
“Music For Pablo II” is yet another composition of the series I dedicated to Picasso. The solo parts are exclusively played on alto sax. Instead of being based on a succession of choruses, the whole tune consists of one extended line, stretching from the beginning all over towards the end.
Translated by Hans J. Mauerer
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Some news, taken from AAJ (see link above):
Jug21, 11-12-2003 12:39 PMSome info on the upcoming Hans Koller CDs
(Release Date in GSA: 1st of December)
Attila Zoller / Hans Koller / Martial Solal - Zoller Koller Solal
01. Mr. Heine’s Blues (Attila Zoller) Manuskript
02. The End Of A Love Affair (Edward C. Redding) Universal Music Publ.
03. Stella By Starlight (Victor Young/Ned Washington) Famous Music Corp.
04. After Glow (Attila Zoller) Silvanus Musikverlag
05. My Old Flame (Sam Coslow/Arthur Johnston) Famous Music Corp.
06. Away From The Crowd (Attila Zoller) Manuskript
07. All The Things You Are (Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II) Universal Music Publ.
08. Stompin’ At The Savoy (Benny Goodman/Edgar M. Sampson/Chick Webb) EMI Robbins Catalog Inc.
09. H.G. Meets M.A.H. (Attila Zoller) Manuskript
Attila Zoller - guitar
Hans Koller - tenor saxophone
Martial Solal - piano
Produced by Joachim-Ernst Berendt / Engineered by Rolf Donner
Recorded at MPS-Studio, Villingen, January 1965
Recording directed by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer and Willi Fruth
(P) 1965 MPS Records
Originally released as MPS 15 061
Original artwork by Gigi Berendt
Photography by Josef Werkmeister
MPS - MOST PERFECT SOUND EDITION produced by Matthias Künnecke
Artwork adaptation & series design by Stefan Kassel
Digitally remastered by Willem Makkee at Emil Berliner Studios, Langenhagen
Original liner notes transcribed by Rommel Causapin - Texts edited by Jörg Eipasch
Series consultant: Stephan Steigleder - Thanks to Harry Gruber and Christian Krug
Special thanks to Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer
Original liner notes
This record is different. It’s a conversation between three musicians - three musicians who are friends. That is what unites them, that and their musical starting point: the classic jazz of Lester Young at one end of the scale, Zoot Sims at the other, with Lee Konitz and Lennie Tristano serving as a sort of focus point. The great French jazz critic André Hodéir called this type of classic jazz “modern Count Basie”. One could also name it “middle of the road jazz”. It was once common ground for all three, but later each one developed into a distinct direction which suited him best. Each of the three has become known, and when one of their names is mentioned it immediately brings to mind precise musical connotations. Each calls to life a whole musical “world” - each his own. Now the three musicians meet again, after many years, to communicate with each other - in dialogues, triologues, and monologues - in duos, trios, and solos…
The idea was Hans Koller’s. He lives a very secluded life in Bräutlingen, in the south of the Black Forest, near the Swiss border. There he works obsessively in his studio, painting pictures which often look as if music had turned into something of a vegetative nature, something organic, growing and burgeoning - something organic born out of dreams…
Koller heard that Attila Zoller, the long-standing friend with whom he had played during his time in Vienna, Frankfurt, and Baden-Baden, was coming over from the States on a visit to Europe. Hans knew at once that he would have to make recordings with him. But he also knew that the time was long past for one of those recordings with tenor sax, guitar, and rhythm section, which he and Attila had produced in such vast numbers during the long years of their collaboration. Hans recalled another musician who, like he himself, had become sort of a lone wolf on the jazz scene of his native country: French pianist Martial Solal. Hans and Martial had become acquainted during the recordings of the European All-Stars in Berlin and Baden-Baden in 1961. Their mutual respect and admiration had not diminished at all since then.
Unlike critics and fans, who can comprehend the importance of such a happening only after listening closely to the recordings, Hans Koller knew intuitively that something special would happen if he, Attila, and Martial got together.
Nothing about this meeting in Villingen/Black Forest was pre-arranged. Hans Koller put his paint brushes aside and left Bräunlingen. Attila had just been recording an album in Hamburg. Solal, who was picked up at Basle airport by a SABA company car, was the first to be ready to play. If you know him, you also know that he’s always prepared for playing. In fact, he once told me, that for years there had not been a single day he did not practice piano for at least six hours.
So, Solal started to play three or four versions of “The End Of A Love Affair” - each so completely different from another that it seemed to be an entirely different composition, each played in Solal’s characteristic style: with abundant brilliant ideas which seem to chase one another. Never - or most seldom - is there anything superfluous. Each idea has its own tempo, its own rhythm, which is indispensable to it, yet nevertheless it all adds up to a unified, tightly woven fabric. What a luck that neither a drummer nor a bass player was present!
Solal, who was born in Algiers in 1927, is well-known for being the foremost modern jazz talent in France, the only European musician whom today’s critics mention in the same breath as Django Reinhardt and Åke “Stan” Hasselgård. He has never played as intimately and personal as on this record.
After Solal, it was Attila Zoller’s turn to play. The Hungarian, who was born in Visegrad in 1927, lived for many years in Germany before he went to America to become, in fact, the only important guitarist in modern free jazz. Today, Attila’s playing is uncompromising, hard, and crystal clear, way out beyond orthodox tonality. But this time Hans Koller (born in Vienna in 1921) was also in the studio, and Attila remembered the things which had previously united them. So he played rich, full chords, replete with Balkan feeling and exhibiting the sensibility he, Hans, and Martial had learned from Lee Konitz and Lennie Tristano, which they will never abandon, however far they may develop into other directions. Out of this feeling, “After Glow” was born. And straight afterwards, Attila and Hans led up to duo version of “All The Things You Are” – a dialogue between friends: Do you remember playing with Oscar Pettiford and Kenny Clarke in Vienna, when Oscar had the accident which cost him his life a year later? Yes, “All The Things You Are” was one our favorite songs then. (For comparison, listen to Hans Koller’s quartet with Zoller, Pettiford and Jimmy Pratt on “Hans Koller Exclusiv”, MPS 15 024).
Attila gradually became the linchpin of this session. After recording a duo with Hans Koller, he entered into a dialogue with Solal, in which one may get a slight idea of the free jazz that today threatens to blow up the American jazz scene. But at the same time you can feel the charm and tenderness of “Stella By Starlight”.
And then the trios - the conversations à trois… Attila Zoller introduced himself as a composer. He hummed and played parts of the tunes which he wrote to Heinrich Heine’s famous lyrics for his own “Lyric Poetry And Jazz” album - “Away From The Crowd” and “Mr. Heine’s Blues”: “How often I longed for the sweetness / Of my patriotic pillows / When I laid upon the hard mattresses / In the sleepless nights of my exile…” Attila Zoller, the Hungarian refugee, who spent his whole life in exile, knows more about this feeling than all the jazz fans who discuss music and girls with him could imagine.
Zoller, Koller, and Solal easily agreed on the Heinrich Heine themes - but it was an agreement which did not only leave room for improvisation but also for imagination.
Here are three great European jazz personalities who pursue their own thoughts, who possess the beat and swing that are essential to jazz improvisation, who therefore don’t need a rhythm section, and who because of the intensitiy of their thoughts and the amicable harmony of their ensemble playing achieve cohesion. With “H.G. Meets M.A.H.” - which is dedicated to the producer Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer and his rendezvous with Martial Solal, Attila Zoller, and Hans Koller - Hans Koller contributes to the compositions for this the trio sessions, too.”
The improvisations Zoller, Koller, and Solal play in their solos, duos, and trios are very European in spirit - and one hardly needs to add that, in a year when American jazz magazines have praised European jazz records more highly than ever before, the word “European” can imply a special seal of quality, even in jazz. Attila Zoller, the Hungarian, who, via Germany, has made America his chosen land... - Martial Solal, the Frenchman from Algeria... - and Hans Koller, the Austrian tenor saxophonist who paints abstract art on the German-Swiss border: they build a trio that is completely different from a group of musicians who have all grown up together in Hastings Street in Detroit. Zoller-Koller-Solal: a guitarist, a saxophonist, and a pianist who all have the courage to be in jazz what they were born to in life - Europeans with the whole, rich variety of this continent. And this is especially evident in their ensemble playing.
Joachim-Ernst Berendt
Translated by N. Whittaker
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I got the copy protected one, too. Picked it up for around 10 $ - could not let that deal pass! The usual Conn price here being around 22-23$...
I thought this way I can hear that date now, and pick up a real CD version online later... It's a good one. Jim assessment makes sense to me, also the thought (uttered by Shrdlu, I think), about the absence of Al Lion maybe being part of the "problem". Certainly a disc I will listen to again!
ubu
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Thanks for the Proper recommendation. I picked it up recently, had no time to listen yet, though.
EKE, as I know you do have the Verve/Decca disc, can you tell me whether (and if so, what exactly) it includes stuff not included in the Proper box (see the Proper disco above in this thread)?
thanks,
ubu
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And there's a very good ECM album featuring Rudd, led by Enrico Rava. I think it's just called "Enrico Rava Quartet". Two brass, two rhythm.
ubu
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The Roswell Rudd 1966 Impulse album 'Everywhere' is superb. A rare opportunity to also hear the incredible Giuseppe Logan.
Also like Rudd's 'Flexible Flyer' Arista album where Sheila Jordan made another poweful appearance.
Both albums need to be reissued.
Flexible Flyer was on CD by Black Lion. I found it new recently. Love it, LOVE IT, HELL, LOVE IT!!
"Everywhere" may be still found on that disc by Cecil Taylor, "mixed", which holds the three Taylor tracks from the Gil Evans "Into The Hot" album, and Rudd's "Everywhere". A superb album, indeed!
"Live in San Francisco" and "Mama Too Tight" are my favorite Archie Shepp albums. I do like Shepp, yet Rudd adds very much to them!
ubu
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Yes, very good choice!
btw, I picked up that Lyons disc this week, no chance to listen yet, but it sure makes a nice addition to the new (and yet unheard, too) Lyons box set!
ubu
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ubu confus!
My "Stan Getz presents Jimmie (sic!) Rowles - The Peacocks" CD IS from the "Jazz Original Series". Were there several CD reissues of this one?
ubu
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I like it quite well. Interesting line up, good tunes (another Massey fan here).
ubu
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My collection is not strong on early Prez, but I would heartily recommend that Kansas City disc, as well as the Complete Aladdin set (available from Blue Note, two CDs).
The later Verve recordings are a mixed bag, yet I like many of them very much.
The box is sure NOT the place to start with Young, but it includes some sessions not (yet?) available as single CD reissues (those quartet dates with John Lewis and Gildo Mahones).
ubu
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Thanks, Claude. Here in Switzerland it sells for around 80-90 Euros, too...
You think zweitausendeins will get it?
ubu
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... It's possible there wasn't much fanfare about Jimmy Smith ...
Hell, and humbe ubu thinks this is one of the smoking'est, greaziest dates by Jimmy Smith! Get it, even if you have to let them fly it in from the moon or some other strange place...
ubu
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Can you tell us details about the Sonny Criss #23 Mr Blues pour Flirter...I'm desperately looking for it in Brussels and Paris, but it appears to be sold out everywhere.If really worthwile, I'd go to get it from CD universe, but that makes it a bit pricy...
Thks for your comments
Michel, knowing you're an organ fan, I'd hunt that Criss down! You get Georges Arvanitas playing organ (and piano) there! I don't have the disc at hand, but I like it very much! And yes, get the Saxophones disc, too, if you like Criss. You get some more Arvanitas on organ (and piano, again), and besides a nice session by the Michel de Villers Octet, you get three sublime Hubert Fol tracks.
ubu
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Found a nice review (http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/fridayrevie...1069232,00.html):
Steve Swallow: Damaged in Transit4 stars out of 5 (XtraWATT)
John Fordham
Friday October 24, 2003
The Guardian
Whatever a real contemporary jazz record is, this one would probably meet the criteria of any jury. Damaged In Transit is a no-frills, flat-out, brilliantly executed piece of stylistically-sweeping jazz jamming, with nothing else to listen to but some very long sax solos on very direct and outwardly simple tunes, underpinned by Swallow's elegant bass-playing and Adam Nussbaum's rumbly, Elvin Jones-like drumming.
The saxophonist is the Dave Holland stalwart Chris Potter, spectacularly ransacking every storehouse of sax wisdom. Swallow's band has included guitarist Mick Goodrick in the past but, as a trio, a lot depends on Potter - and he rises to the encouragement here with a tumbling energy to match his depth and sophistication.
In the spirit of the title, the tracks are given numbers (Item 1 etc) rather than names, but several of them sound pretty close to the insouciant swing, walking-pace Rollins-like calypso, spiky Monkish bop and film-noir blues mix that featured on Swallow's last disc and the quartet version's live shows in 2000. But the playing is wonderful all round, and Potter has rarely sounded freer to roam across styles.
The opener sounds like a bebop tune approached from several different directions, before snapping into fast swing and a long Potter tenor solo built from blocks of contrasting motifs, raucous echoes from old 1960s Blue Note sax odysseys and squealing high-register split sounds. Steve Swallow's soft and slinky electric bass sound often links or introduces the pieces with understated musings, and Adam Nussbaum is at his most imperious under the bluesy slither of Item 2.
Potter tears through a knowing piece of classic fast bebop, close to the throatiness of a baritone sax, Sonny Rollins's weighty, smoky-toned swing and Charlie Parker's melodic agility. But he can also be startlingly tender - as in the fragile high sounds and dynamic control of Item 7 - or meticulous about the weighting of notes, as in Item 8's slow calypso, like Rollins trying to play without waking a baby. Damaged in Transit this stuff definitely wasn't.
· Send any comments or feedback about this article to friday.review@guardian.co.uk
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how 'bout this one?
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Mercy, Mercy, Mercy by Cannonball Adderley, on Capitol.
This one SMOKES so many others and BURNS like a welding torch.
This one smokes indeed!
When reading the title of this topic, I immediately thought about Cannonball, but could not make up my mind about one album.
The Lighthouse one is very soulful, too! Or the Jazzworkshop album.
And how about Milt Jackson, "Plenty, plenty soul"?
ubu
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This does indeed wet my appetite, EKE! I hope I will be able to make it!
ubu
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amazon.de seems to be a possible way to go. They still list 65 hits for a "jazz in paris" search.
ubu
Not to discourage you, but my experience is that Amazon.de is very slow in updating their files as far as unvailability of CDs is concerned. They stop backordering after some time and do not notice a title is deleted until someone orders them. This happened to me several times ...
I know this! Hell I know
I'm still waiting for some orders to be deleted...Yet it might be worth a try.
ubu
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Cool link, Bev! Will have to read it when I find time!
ubu
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amazon.de seems to be a possible way to go. They still list 65 hits for a "jazz in paris" search.
ubu
MPS reissues - can anybody
in Re-issues
Posted
I thought so. Did not yet buy any of these.
All those Koller things sound interesting too! The little I have heard of it (the Vienna Blues Pettiford date, those tracks on the saxophone collection vogue disc) are pretty good.
Anyone has comments on the Farmer?
ubu