king ubu Posted January 12, 2013 Report Posted January 12, 2013 One of the finest and most influential of Swiss jazz' musicians has died. German articles: http://www.nzz.ch/aktuell/feuilleton/uebersicht/george-gruntz-gestorben-1.17935729 http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/kultur/pop-und-jazz/JazzPianist-George-Gruntz-ist-tot-/story/23334081 He played with Barney on "Mental Cruelty", founded The Band with the Ambrosettis (the late Flavio and Franco who's not exactly a youngster and was a frequent collaborator of Gruntz' until most recent times, though I've never seen them play together) and Daniel Humair, the great drummer ... led for a long time his on-and-off band of cracks which he later re-named the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, recording lots of albums, some of them including cameos by the likes of Joe Henderson, Elvin Jones, John Scofield etc. etc. He also wrote several programmes for the NDR and WDR radio big bands, dedicated to amongst others the music of Mingus and Monk. I was lucky to catch him live in December 2011 with his concert jazz band - including, amongst others, Larry Schneider, Chris Hunter, Luciano Biondini, Dave Bargeron, Gary Smulyin and an absolutely stunning Howard Johnson. Thank you for all the music, Mr. Gruntz! Quote
brownie Posted January 12, 2013 Report Posted January 12, 2013 Very sad news! What a bad week for Swiss jazz... Quote
sidewinder Posted January 12, 2013 Report Posted January 12, 2013 What a bad week for Swiss jazz... Couldn't be worse. Sorry to hear this. RIP Mr Gruntz. Quote
CJ Shearn Posted January 12, 2013 Report Posted January 12, 2013 I have neever heard his music but have known how influential he's been for a long time. RIP Quote
Teasing the Korean Posted January 12, 2013 Report Posted January 12, 2013 I have some whacked out baroque jazz album he did for Philips. The 60s were such a great decade for these sorts of albums. RIP. Quote
kh1958 Posted January 12, 2013 Report Posted January 12, 2013 In 1987, the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band came to Fort Worth and played the Caravan of Dreams. I recall the band included Lee Konitz and Enrico Rava. Quote
romualdo Posted January 12, 2013 Report Posted January 12, 2013 RIP George will have another listen to "Mental Cruelty" for you Quote
clifford_thornton Posted January 12, 2013 Report Posted January 12, 2013 Shit, sorry to hear this. RIP. Quote
king ubu Posted January 12, 2013 Author Report Posted January 12, 2013 I have some whacked out baroque jazz album he did for Philips. The 60s were such a great decade for these sorts of albums. RIP. I got the LP of the first one last year ... and just last week got the CD twofer with them: http://www.amazon.de/Jazz-Goes-Baroque-Club/dp/B007BWUHTY/ whacky stuff!btw, they died the same day, Nobs and Gruntz - really bad times. Quote
sgcim Posted January 13, 2013 Report Posted January 13, 2013 He also played on some of those LPs with Phil Woods as part of his European Rhythm Machine, when Gordon Beck wasn't doing it. RIP GG Quote
GA Russell Posted January 13, 2013 Report Posted January 13, 2013 RIP. I'll have to dig out my Phil Woods and his European Rhythm Machine discs and play them. Quote
Big Beat Steve Posted January 13, 2013 Report Posted January 13, 2013 (edited) I have some whacked out baroque jazz album he did for Philips. The 60s were such a great decade for these sorts of albums. RIP. I got the LP of the first one last year ... and just last week got the CD twofer with them: whacky stuff! I have first (German) pressings of the two LPs shown above (took them over from my mother who was into that classical-music-cum-jazz "third stream" stuff in the 60s - MJQ, Loussier et al. if you know what I mean ...). Will have to give them a closer listen again to see what it actually is all about. What I remember from listening to the first one of the two is that it isn't all that "wacky" if your ears are somewhat tuned to the very early Horst Jankowski piano/harpsichord-cum-woodwinds recordings (done LONG before that Black Forest nonsense), for example. As for the overall feel, it's not all that difficult to see what TTK finds in them ... Edited January 13, 2013 by Big Beat Steve Quote
king ubu Posted January 13, 2013 Author Report Posted January 13, 2013 I've only listened to the first one - not sure what LP edition I got exactly, Philips for sure, but I'd have to check if I can identify its origin, I'm no expert. And neither am I an expert in this kind of classical/jazz crossover. My mom used to listen to some Play Bach stuff, but I think that was mainly because she had one CD of Louissier's at a time when my parents had around seven or eight CDs ... anyway, I guess yes, it's all rather civil and easy-going, and there is of course lots of musicality around with those involved. But still, I'm not sure I really need to hear it all that often. But one huge album I'd love to see properly reissued is "Noon in Tunisia": Quote
Teasing the Korean Posted January 13, 2013 Report Posted January 13, 2013 Well, when I say "wacky," I mean the overall delirious spirit of irreverence that characterized so much jazz, classical, and "easy listening" in the 60s and into the early 70s. But, yes, I will have to spin it again to remember how "wacky" this particular album is (or is not). Quote
Big Beat Steve Posted January 13, 2013 Report Posted January 13, 2013 Well, when I say "wacky," I mean the overall delirious spirit of irreverence that characterized so much jazz, classical, and "easy listening" in the 60s and into the early 70s. So I figured ... I listened to those two Jazz Goes Baroque LPs for the first time in my very early record buying and collecting days in the 70s when I was about 16 or so and my mother more or less "made" me listen to it "now that you have become interested in jazz" because "this is what jazz is" (from her point of view, having come from classical music, of course, and never having truly been a jazz fan, but rather branching out into "third stream" to add some coloring to one's listening habits ... ). Needless to say I found it very odd ("wacky in your language? ) and un-jazzy, having at that time been all into swing, oldtime jazz and only just beginning to explore Bird and Diz. When I picked up those records a while back I gave them a casual listen (and pulled out the first one today again). For the reasons mentioned earlier it doesn't strike mas that odd anymore (though these discs will never be anywhere near my "desert island" jazz), and the overall sound, instrumentation, harmonies and interplay somehow makes for a very 60s-ish sound mix of chamber jazz, "advanced classics", movie score, and IMO somehow some of the tracks would not even have sounded all that out of place as a "progressive" lounge music background to a cocktail-sipping get-together in the 60s (at least the way we imagine this today). Quote
Daniel A Posted January 13, 2013 Report Posted January 13, 2013 The 'Noon in Tunisia' album was reissued on CD in Japan some six or seven years ago with a wonderful reproduction of the LP gatefold cover and booklet (although with customary microscopic typeface). A fascinating recording. Quote
clifford_thornton Posted January 13, 2013 Report Posted January 13, 2013 Also not to be missed is the related "Mahgreb Suite" on Ossiach Live, with the Surman trio, Limpe Fuchs, Jean-Luc Ponty and North African musicians. Quote
Hardbopjazz Posted January 13, 2013 Report Posted January 13, 2013 Wow. Sad news. RIP George. Thanks for all the music. Quote
clifford_thornton Posted January 15, 2013 Report Posted January 15, 2013 Although no royalties are presently being passed along to the creators, there is also a very nice recording of the Gruntz band w/ Sahib Shihab, Don Cherry and Tunisian musicians floating around the internet. Fine fidelity and wonderful music. Hopefully it gets a proper packaging someday. Quote
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