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Jazz Modernism outside the Americas - Recommendations and recollections


Rabshakeh

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28 minutes ago, Rabshakeh said:

Are there particular soundtracks for which they are known?

Not an expert about soundtracks, Teasing The Korean has much more knownledge then me. As usually happened the most successfully scores depends on the success of the movies. I think the most "jazzy" scores of Piccioni and Umiliani should be searched in the now forgotten italian b-movies, originals records are expensive and hard to find, but I think some were reissued in late years. All of their works as composers is excellent, I think they were an italian version of Lalo Schifrin, if the comparison might help.

something like this: https://youtu.be/_rIgxZ4pEME

Edited by porcy62
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The European freejazz scene of the ‘60’s never really appealed to me. Don’t know why exactly but it just doesn’t. This whole topic makes me very much aware I know so little jazz from my own continent!

have to say that I do like the Polish Jazz Series. Komeda and Stanko of course but also Andrzej Trzaskowski and Zbiegniew Namyslowski. Great music by underestimated musicians. Also like The Ganelin Trio from the Soviet Union and Szabados from Hungary. But I believe that was just a decade later than what you are looking for.

 

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Two excellent albums from the mid-50's on Swing/Vogue:

R-13111703-1548256511-8738.jpeg.jpg

R-15818321-1598367518-7594.jpeg.jpg

Both were reissued in the short-lived "Jazz Connoisseur" series from Sony France. (The Hodeir isn't listed in that link, but it was indeed part of the series.) Think "Birth of the Cool," but with a more progressive bent. Hodeir was not afraid to diverge from tonal centers. The Jaspar title includes both "New Jazz, Vol. 1" and "New Jazz Vol. 2" — with arrangements by Hodeir. Some of the music on these albums reminds me of Bob Zieff's writing (from approximately the same time period) coming out of Boston.

And if you explore that series (Jazz Connoisseur), make sure to pick up this early Solal effort:

R-11982446-1525968308-6469.jpeg.jpg

Also, if you don't have them already, you'll want the two Joe Harriott albums from the early 60's: Free Form and Abstract. Both albums are being reissued (at some point) by Hat Hut:

11302217-ezz_thetics_2_1121-1_joeHarriot

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4 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:

Are there particular soundtracks for which they [Piccioni, Umiliani] are known?

I would venture to say that the soundtracks they are known for may not be the ones that meet your definition of "jazz modernism."

The Umiliani album that I posted above is the one that I file in the Euro jazz section.  The others are more of the groovy "now sound" variety.  Umiliani is known for writing "Mah-Nah-Mah-Nah" from Sweden:  Heaven and Hell.  

Piccioni arguably had a greater range, and many of his scores have both "serious" and jazz elements.  However, again, the ones he is most remembered for are more on the groovy/now sound side of the spectrum.  The aforementioned The Tenth Victim has jazz elements, including in the main title which I posted, and also a recurring Ellington-esque piano theme.  Things like Camille 2000 and Puppet on the Chain have elements of funk, Bossa, and EZ/Breezy.  

So I would classify Piccioni and Umiliani as important figures, based on where they came from and what they did, but their jazzier work may not always be from their more memorable or well-known films.

Incidentally, if you've never seen The Tenth Victim, it is a fantastic movie, a futuristic sci-fi Italian sex farce, in which Marcello Mastroianni and Ursula Andress are trying to kill each other as part of the hunting contest that they have entered.  They fall in love during the hunt.  The design, the music, the visuals, and everything else come together perfectly.  It kind of encapsulates everything that I love about the 1960s Euro aesthetic.

I guess it is worth mentioning in this context some of the free jazz stuff that Morricone did with Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza.  They scored a giallo called The Cold Eyes of Fear and recorded non-soundtrack stuff also.

I believe that Porcy is in Italy, and I would love to get his take on Piccioni and Umiliani.  

3 hours ago, Late said:

Two excellent albums from the mid-50's on Swing/Vogue:

R-13111703-1548256511-8738.jpeg.jpg

R-15818321-1598367518-7594.jpeg.jpg

Both were reissued in the short-lived "Jazz Connoisseur" series from Sony France. (The Hodeir isn't listed in that link, but it was indeed part of the series.) Think "Birth of the Cool," but with a more progressive bent. Hodeir was not afraid to diverge from tonal centers. The Jaspar title includes both "New Jazz, Vol. 1" and "New Jazz Vol. 2" — with arrangements by Hodeir. Some of the music on these albums reminds me of Bob Zieff's writing (from approximately the same time period) coming out of Boston.

And if you explore that series (Jazz Connoisseur), make sure to pick up this early Solal effort:

R-11982446-1525968308-6469.jpeg.jpg

All of these were included in the excellent Vogue box set that was released about ten years ago.  

As part of this discussion, it is worth mentioning Michel Legrand's early film scores from French New Wave films.

Edited by Teasing the Korean
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4 hours ago, HutchFan said:

Perhaps more than anyone else at the time, John Lewis was an American -- and specifically African-American -- who was wide open to European influences in his jazz.  I guess that's why some folks loved him, and others were turned off by him.  Lewis was a forerunner of a artists like Anthony Braxton (and many others), who were playing "against type" of what an African-American jazz musician was "supposed" to be. He was creating new hybrids, new playing fields -- setting the table for the explosion of style-mixing fusions that would come in the 1970s on both sides of the pond.

And the Swingles with MJQ album is on the Philips label, which gives it that European stamp of excellence.

I have these white modular bookshelves from Ikea.  On a late Sunday morning, I love retrieving a Baudrillard book, kicking back in my Wassily chair, and spinning this album.  It makes me feel like a leftist intellectual character in an early 70s Euro film!  

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One interesting figure from Japanese modern/progressive Jazz scene after the WWII is Masayuki Takayanagi (1932-1991).  He was an extremely versatile guitarist, studied the music of Tristano/Konitz deeply, and even played bossa nova/tango a la Piazzolla.  His conventional works remind me of Rene Thomas.

However, he became more interested in free improvisation in the late 60's.  April is the Cruellest Month is a free form masterpiece, originally planned to be released on ESP, but ESP went out of business...Also, his solo guitar works remind me of Mary Halvorson.

I guess you might know Takayanagi through works with Kaoru Abe.  My personal favorite is La Grima from 1971.  It was played live before angry left-wing (and snobby) college students, and the group was not really welcomed.  They delivered stunning performance anyway, but somehow greeted with chants "Ka-e-re! (go home! go home!)"  You can hear that at the last moment.  I think this is a minor miracle.

 

 

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An interesting thread indeed, Rabshakeh, and I think one that fills a void.

And the time period you suggest (i.e. WAY before the late 60s) is one that merits exploration (it appears that the only ones who REALLY have been keenly aware of this were the Japanese where Euro-jazz original vinyl from the 50s and early to mid-60s has commanded MINDBOGGLING prices for a LONG time). But it seems like a fair bit of the recommendations so far mentioned here (at least those that came from US forumists) again focus on the tail end of the 1945-69 period you suggested (either stylistically or chronologically) - which IMO makes them not so much representative of the entire 1945-69 period in ALL its facets but rather forerunners of the post-ca. 1969 things to come. (And no, there is a lot of 50s and early 60s European jazz that I would NOT consider "derivative" or "copycat" vs their U.S. inspirations at all - they had their own say in the idiom they favored)

So ... trying to fill out a few modernist blind spots - a lot of it broadly in the Bebop and Cool styles, very subjectively and unfortunately colored not only by my personal preferences but to a certain extent by availability and OTOH non-availability of what on paper I know there was (e.g. I realize there was plenty more of interest in Italy in the 50s but reissues are rare).

GERMANY:

The heavyweight box set covering the production of "mod" records should give a good sampling of 50s "German Cool", including works by Hans Koller, Jutta Hipp, and others:
https://besharpblog.wordpress.com/2014/03/25/jazz-west-germany/

Hans Koller:
His 50s/early 60s discogrpahy is scattered a bit all over the place, but one reissue collection I found very interesting as a typical sample of 50s German/Austrian Cool is the "Some Winds" 2-CD set on RST  91562-2.

Albert Mangelsdorff (pre-Jazz Ramwong which looks way ahead and also sideways, stylistically):
There WAS Mangelsdorff BEFORE his Asian and free-ish periods. The earlier EPs on Brunswick and Philips are worth listening, e.g "A Ball with Al" and "Die Opa Hirchleitner Story". The tongue-in-cheek character of the latter one will probably be lost on those who cannot read the ongoing saga related to pops Hirchleitner in the (period) "Schlagzeug" magazine but the reissue on Bear Family Records (BCD 16331 which has both these EPs and more) may explain it all.

Michael Naura:
See if you can find a copy of his 1963 "European Jazz Sounds" LP on Brunswick (reissued in more recent times by Universal Music on CD and in Japan on LP and CD).

Horst Jankowski (waaaay pre-"Black Forest sleighride" and all that):
His 50s "Swingende Hölzer" EP on Telefunken is intriguing as somewhat classically inspired miniatures (with harpsichord and woodwinds in the line-up). No "Third Stream" in the usual sense and the overall sound may not be to everyone's liking but IMO a very German-ish way of using classical devices and YET keeping things swinging. 

And then there was the "modern mainstream"-styled "Gäste bei Horst Jankowski" LP (1961) on Metronome, relissued on Sonorama in 2014. A sort of cult record in some German circles, ath least in Southern Germany where Jankowski had his home base.

Wolfgang Lauth:
A wee bit in the early Jankowski vein, covered well by reissues on Bear Family Records (BCD 15716 and BCD 15942).
Another session from that era ("New Jazz from the Old World") never released in Germany that somehow ended up as a TOOOOTALLY obscure item on the U.S. Pulse label was thankfully reissued some years ago as a facsimile CD on the Jazzhus Disk label.

And as a spinoff to show the diversity of what was going on outside the recording studios of the German "majors" and with the musicians being able to stretch out:
See if you can find a copy of the below CD that featured various regional acts from Southern Germany (including reincarnations of the Wolfgang Lauth group) in radio and private recordings from 1956/57 and 1962): https://www.discogs.com/de/Various-German-Authentics-Mannheim-Area-1956-1957-1962/release/6368987

Two more items I found rewarding:

Karl Drewo (known from his work with the Clarke-Boland big band):
"Clap Hands Here Comes Charlie" rec. in 1961, originally on Metronome, reissued on rearward records in Italy.

Helmut Brandt:
"Berlin Calling" - previously unreleased Cool recordings fomr the late 50s released on Sonorama in 2013.

Of course there would be more but let's not get carried TOO much away ... ;)

 

NETHERLANDS:

No doubt Dutch forumists will be able to contribute more (there must be interesting reissues by the Dutch Jazz Archive but they are hard to come by) but one essential look at 50s Modern Jazz in the Netherlands is found in the "Jazz Behind The Dikes" releases that after their original releases have variously been reissued as a 2-LP set and on (at least) 2 CDs on Philips (featuring the combos of Wessel Ilcken, Frans Elsen, Herman Schoonderwalt, Rob Madna a.o.).

 

GREAT BRITAIN:

No doubt lots of listening recomendations will keep coming from UK forumists who are far better qualified to judge what there was, but looking at things chronologically and beyond the usual supsects (would it be heresy to say that there was LOTS more to 50s and early 60s jazz in the UK than Tubby Hayes and Ronnie Scott? ;)), I think it would pay to look at reissues of the original Esquire label, for example (pending widespread re-availability of other labels' output), and I feel those interested in seeing how bebop struck Britain could do worse than start with the "Bebop in Britain" 4-CD box set on Charly (ESQ 100-4) featuring recordings from 1948-52.
Among the vinyl reissue of Bebop-era U.K. jazz on Esquire, those that have struck a special chord with me are the "Waxing with Whittle" LPs by Tommy Whittle, and also Kenny Graham's Afro-Cubists and the various Poll Winners/All Stars  LPs.


O.K., enough for now ... will have to catch my breath before looking at Sweden, Italy and France.

 

A word to put things into perspective, though: I do not go into European "Third Stream" because I still find it an evolutionary dead end and not always compatible with the core vitality of jazz (even in its Cool incarnation), and for maybe similar reasons I wasn't really able to get into André Hodeir's "Groups" efforts of the 50s either. I tried, at first considering them mandatory listening to explore French 50s jazz, but they just did not do that much for me. Anyway, Jazz CAN stand on its own and certainly can and does absorb influences from other styles of music, but IMO classical music hasn't that much to offer to the VITALITY of jazz and in many ways I find it alien to the improvised soloing and personal reworking character of jazz, and I also feel that a lot of that European "Third Stream" explorations came from the fact that many European musicians (German, in particular) keen on getting into jazz were classically trained and were unable or unwilling to shed this background but rather found it comforting to try to combine what they KNEW (classical music) and what they wanted to get at but felt they were not sufficiently comfortable with or capable of (freewheeling, outright swinging and improvisation in jazz), as if to fill those gaps with input from classical music to compensate. And Hodeir's often pompous way of writing that I have been exposed to in French  jazz publications did not help either as his mindset and approach to me just is off what I find of interest in the essence (pun intended) of jazz (from that period) the way it gets ME. Yes, YMMV a lot, I know ... ^_^

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8 minutes ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Thanks, but remember my listening suggestions are of course colored by my personal stylistic preferences (which are largely pre-free and off-Third Stream). Others may put the emphasis elsewhere so it is up to you to pick ...
Till later, then ... ;)

Nonetheless, I echo the thanks for your post. Very interesting, thanks for taking the time to post it

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Thanks again ... but please note that I am certainly not pretending to be THE expert on 1945-60 Eurojazz. I am just an "explorer" but my knowledge and collection are nowhere near comprehensive ...

Anyway ... here's a second helping ...

FRANCE:

Reissues of French post-war jazz is sometimes plentiful, sometimes spotty, often severely overlapping and/or repackaged, sometimes lacking altogether so I guess the best start is to do a Discogs name search to find out what is accessible.  Original releases most often were on Vogue (Swing), Blue Star and Barclay. The "Jazz in Paris" CD series on Gitanes/Universal has a lot of reissues (many of them first-time reissues), as did the earlier "black" BMG-Vogue CDs (and Fresh Sound did facsimile vinyl reissues of quite a handful of French items longer ago).

Apart from Martial Solal already mentioned, there are plenty of other French pianists who make for interesting listening. These include René Urtreger (on Blue Star),   Henri Renaud ("New Sounds at the Boeuf Sur le Toit" on Blue Star and reissues on the black BMG-Vogue CD series, including one featuring Bobby Jaspar), Bernard Peiffer (his FRENCH recordings - his US sessions are an acquired taste IMO), Georges Arvanitas (2 LPs on Pretoria) ...
BTW, the Martial Solal LP recommended yesterday by Late (Vogue LD.200) is included in the "Jazz on Vogue" 20-CD box set so will probably be fairly easily accessible, even without hunting donw the Jazz Connoisseur series.


And then ...

Has Barney Wilen (from his DECIDEDLY pre-free and pre-drug-plagued days) been mentioned yet? His "Tilt" LP is on the 20-CD Jazz on Vogue box set mentioned earlier, and his "Barney" LP (RCA; 1959) has been reissued too.

Christian Chevallier "6+6" (Barclay, 1957) - modern French big band scores

Sacha Distel: Before he made it as a pop singer he was a jazz guitarist of some renown. Offhand I can only speak of his "Jazz Guitarist" 2-LP set in the "Jazz in Paris" CD series but there are several more reissue packagings of his jazz recordings.

Re- the Jazz in Paris CD reissue series, do check out this series not only for the U.S. "name" artists recording in France but ABOVE ALL for the French jazzmen too: René Thomas (from 1954 and 1963), René Crolla (Django-influenced but with a special twist which makes him his own man - see #60, #80 #89 in that series whereas Hors-serie #04 (2 CD) is a bit too syrupy for my taste), and  Michel de Villiers, Jean-Claude Fohrenbach, Hubert Fol, Buddy Banks (feat. Bobby Japar, BTW) would be names to check out.

Related to the above names, "The Bobby Jaspar Quartet at Ronnie Scott's 1962" feat. René Thomas should be interesting, given the credentials of the leading names (Mole Jazz 11, LP and CD).

And finally, not to be overlooked: "The Swinging Fats Sadi Combo" originally a Vogue 10-incher but one of the batch of Vogue LPs leased by Blue Note (5061) - so maybe known anyway.

ITALY:

There must have been a fair bit of jazz going on in Italy in the 50s and early 60s (Romano Mussolini, Basso-Valdambrini Quintet/Sextet, Enrico Intra, Gianfrano Intra, Franco Cerri, Armando Trovajoli a.o.) but AFAIK reissues are thin on the ground. Some Japanese facsimile LP reissues existed but obviously would be hard to get at affordable prices.
One CD series I have found very interesting (and ear-opening) not only from a historical angle in documenting the post-war route of Italy into bebop and modern jazz is on the Riviera Jazz label (that usually does not seem to overlap with whatever other reissues there are). Their CDs featuring (mostly) modern jazz (they also have a lot of Italian swing) that I have definitely not regretted buying are:

Gilberto Cuppini Groups (RJRCD015, 1947-54)
Beginning of Modern Jazz in Milan (RJRCD021, 1949-54, feat. a.o. Gianni Basso and Oscar Valdambrini, Flavio Ambrosetti, Gianfranco Intra in various settings)
Jazz in Italy in the 50s - Umberto Cesari, Nunzio Rotondo, Armando Trovajoli (RJRCD012, 1950-51)
Rare and Unissued Jazz Concerts feat. many from the above circles (RJRCD018, 1952-62)

 

O.K., getting to my Swedish favorites and listening suggestions later on, then ...

^_^

Edited by Big Beat Steve
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Addenda ...
Lest I forget (before carrying on ;)):

 

FRANCE:

Re- the Swingle Singers mentioned earlier:
If you check out the Swingle Singers, do not overlook Ward Swingle's earlier group either:

Les Double Six of the early 60s, starting with the 1960 Columbia LP "Les Double Six Meet Quincy Jones".
Far less third-streamish than the Swingle Singers but showing they could hold their own against Lambert, Hendricks & Ross ...

 

GERMANY:
Just a note to remind those wondering ;) that there indeed was a "pre-Passport"  Klaus Doldinger.
- Rolf Kühn feat. Klaus Doldinger (Brunswick, 1962)
- Jazz Made in Germany / Dig Doldinger (Philips, 1963)
- Doldinger Live at Blue Note Berlin (Philips, 1963)
- Doldinger Goes On (Philips, 1967)

 

 

Edited by Big Beat Steve
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I remember Ward Swingle and the Swingle Singers being on BBC TV a lot about 45-50 years ago. Almost as common a sighting as Marcel Marceau !

16 minutes ago, Big Beat Steve said:

 

GERMANY:
Just a note to remind those wondering ;) that there indeed was a "pre-Passport"  Klaus Doldinger.
- Rolf Kühn feat. Klaus Doldinger (Brunswick, 1962)
- Jazz Made in Germany / Dig Doldinger (Philips, 1963)
- Doldinger Live at Bue note Belrin (Philips, 1963)
- Doldinger Goes On (Philips, 1967)

 

 

Never did get a copy of that nice Philips 4CD box.

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17 minutes ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Re- the Swingle Singers mentioned earlier:
If you check out the Swingle Singers, do not overlook Ward Swingle's earlier group either:

Les Double Six of the early 60s, starting with the 1960 Columbia LP "Les Double Six Meet Quincy Jones".
Far less third-streamish than the Swingle Singers but showing they could hold their own against Lambert, Hendricks & Ross ...

Mentioned in TTK's first post in the thread!

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37 minutes ago, Big Beat Steve said:

 

 

GERMANY:
Just a note to remind those wondering ;) that there indeed was a "pre-Passport"  Klaus Doldinger.
- Rolf Kühn feat. Klaus Doldinger (Brunswick, 1962)
- Jazz Made in Germany / Dig Doldinger (Philips, 1963)
- Doldinger Live at Blue Note Berlin (Philips, 1963)
- Doldinger Goes On (Philips, 1967)

 

 

Thumbs up for Doldinger. Rolf Kuhn is someone I've often thought I should investigate further

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1 hour ago, Big Beat Steve said:

FRANCE: ...^_^

You don't share my enthusiasm for Andre Hodeir?  I have four of his albums, three from the Jazz in Paris series, and one on Vogue.  They are fantastic.

1 hour ago, Big Beat Steve said:

ITALY:

There must have been a fair bit of jazz going on in Italy in the 50s and early 60s (Romano Mussolini...

Mussolini is co-composer of one of my favorite 60s Euro exploitation flicks, Satanik. 

 

Edited by Teasing the Korean
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1 hour ago, Big Beat Steve said:

ITALY:

 

There must have been a fair bit of jazz going on in Italy in the 50s and early 60s (Romano Mussolini, Basso-Valdambrini Quintet/Sextet, Enrico Intra, Gianfrano Intra, Franco Cerri, Armando Trovajoli a.o.) but AFAIK reissues are thin on the ground. Some Japanese facsimile LP reissues existed but obviously would be hard to get at affordable prices.
One CD series I have found very interesting (and ear-opening) not only from a historical angle in documenting the post-war route of Italy into bebop and modern jazz is on the Riviera Jazz label (that usually does not seem to overlap with whatever other reissues there are). Their CDs featuring (mostly) modern jazz (they also have a lot of Italian swing) that I have definitely not regretted buying are:

Gilberto Cuppini Groups (RJRCD015, 1947-54)
Beginning of Modern Jazz in Milan (RJRCD021, 1949-54, feat. a.o. Gianni Basso and Oscar Valdambrini, Flavio Ambrosetti, Gianfranco Intra in various settings)
Jazz in Italy in the 50s - Umberto Cesari, Nunzio Rotondo, Armando Trovajoli (RJRCD012, 1950-51)
Rare and Unissued Jazz Concerts feat. many from the above circles (RJRCD018, 1952-62)

Yes, reccomended.

Italian National Broadcasting, RAI, should have lots of recorded staff, both visual and aural, but unfortunately the archives looks like the one in the last sequence of Riders Of The Lost Ark.

17 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:

I would venture to say that the soundtracks they are known for may not be the ones that meet your definition of "jazz modernism."

The Umiliani album that I posted above is the one that I file in the Euro jazz section.  The others are more of the groovy "now sound" variety.  Umiliani is known for writing "Mah-Nah-Mah-Nah" from Sweden:  Heaven and Hell.  

Piccioni arguably had a greater range, and many of his scores have both "serious" and jazz elements.  However, again, the ones he is most remembered for are more on the groovy/now sound side of the spectrum.  The aforementioned The Tenth Victim has jazz elements, including in the main title which I posted, and also a recurring Ellington-esque piano theme.  Things like Camille 2000 and Puppet on the Chain have elements of funk, Bossa, and EZ/Breezy.  

So I would classify Piccioni and Umiliani as important figures, based on where they came from and what they did, but their jazzier work may not always be from their more memorable or well-known films.

Incidentally, if you've never seen The Tenth Victim, it is a fantastic movie, a futuristic sci-fi Italian sex farce, in which Marcello Mastroianni and Ursula Andress are trying to kill each other as part of the hunting contest that they have entered.  They fall in love during the hunt.  The design, the music, the visuals, and everything else come together perfectly.  It kind of encapsulates everything that I love about the 1960s Euro aesthetic.

I guess it is worth mentioning in this context some of the free jazz stuff that Morricone did with Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza.  They scored a giallo called The Cold Eyes of Fear and recorded non-soundtrack stuff also.

I believe that Porcy is in Italy, and I would love to get his take on Piccioni and Umiliani. 

I agree. Piccioni and Umiliani with Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota and Riz Ortolani are THE music of italian cinema. I am not fond of soundtracks but they are immediately recognizabe after ten minutes of movies.

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Some personal listening suggestions for
SWEDEN:

IMHO Sweden had the most active and fertile jazz scene in Continental Europe in the period the thread starter is interested in (at least until c.1960). Stating it in a simplified way, early post-war modern Swedish jazz began as a mix of distinctly modernized Benny Goodman Sextet and George Shearing styles but basically Sweden was Cool Jazz territory (with a special brand of "Swedish Cool" - as played by Lars Gullin).
A lot of recordings from the heyday of Swedish jazz have never been reissued, but the best introduction, overview and documentation of the wide variety of Swedish jazz IMO is provided by the "Svensk Jazzhistoria" CD set series on the Caprice label:
https://musikverket.se/capricerecords/skivor/serier/svensk-jazzhistoria/
They are way more than "introductions", however, because they go into depth and include a lof interesting jazz off the beaten tracks of the known that is not found elsewhere. 
Vol. 6 to 10 of these CD box sets cover the period that Rabshakeh asked about.

Reissues focusing on individual artists are well covered on the Dragon label.

https://www.discogs.com/de/label/42727-Dragon-Records

Lars Gullin has about 10 CD reissues on Dragon (covering the period up to about 1960). Some overlap with CD reissues on Metronome, some feature him as a sideman in other groups - which is interesting as it shows who "else" there was.
More names and records to check out (many have reissues on Dragon):

Bengt Hallberg (several of the recordings preceding his 1962 Gyllene Cirkeln album have been reissued on Dragon)
Arne Domnérus ("Favorite Groups 1949/50"; Orchestra of 1950/51 feat. Rolf Ericson, as well as his modern big band of the late 50s)
Harry Arnold (big band - the one widely touted in the U.S. as the Jazztone Mystery Band before it became known to the baffled US reviewers that this was NO U.S. big band - his cooperation with Quincy Jones was great)
Gunnar Johnson Quintet - "1957-59" on Dragon. (Swedish Cool feat. early Jan Johansson)
Rolf Ericson - "Miles Away" (1950-52) on Dragon
Nils Lindberg/Swedish Modern Jazz Group - "Sax Appeal" (1959) feat. Lars Gullin
Lars Werner-Bernt Rosengren Swedish Jazz Quartet - "Bombastica" (1959-60) on Dragon
Staffan Abeléen & Lars Färnlöf - "Quintets 1962-66" on Dragon
Gugge Hedrenius - "Choose now" (1964) on Columbia ("Swedish hard/soul")
Bengt Arne-Wallin - "Old Foklore in Swedish Modern" (1962) - combining Swedish folklore influences with modern jazz
Jan Johansson - "Jazz pa Svenska" (1962-64) - in the 60s Johansson made several recordings that made use of Swedish folk and traditional songs - an interesting experiment (as in the case of the Wallin record) that may be a bit hard to approach for non-Swedes unfamiliar with the folk tunes but somehow it does make sense

 

Swedish post-war jazz is a really wide field and others may recommend other recordings from that period ...

BTW, thanks, Rabshakeh, for bringing up this thread which has prompted me to revisit several of these records I had not listened to in a long time. :tup

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3 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

Thanks again ... but please note that I am certainly not pretending to be THE expert on 1945-60 Eurojazz. I am just an "explorer" but my knowledge and collection are nowhere near comprehensive ...

BBS, I'll echo others who say "Thanks for your contributions!"  :tup 

 

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For France, all the favorites have been named (for me especially Urtreger, Solal and Wilen). For Belgium, we had Rene Thomas already and Bobby Jaspar, big fan of both... There have been some nice reissues of Belgian jazz that fits the bill recently... This 3CD set from Fremeaux has half a CD each of some the key players (Jaspar, Thomas, Jacques Pelzer, Jack Sels, Toots Thielemans, Fats Sadi)

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Then there are several nice compilations from SDBAN covering different parts of 1950-1980 or so.... Let's get Swinging has a focus on 1950-1970, it's also on spotify, highly recommended. One of my favorite archive releases of recent years is their 2CD set dedicated to Jack Sels, Minor Works, here is a write-up that duplicates quite a bit of the contents of the booklet...

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