couw

okay

sorry, my bad english, I should have written dogmatically selective, or something like that. Anyhoo, I think a case can be made to display Phil as a Sheep in some Monty Python like animated satire with him having lo-o-o-ong mo-o-n-o-o-logues that sound like sheep's blating. Of course his name would have inspired such a sketch, but the world would be much less funny if such twisty-turny-translational cheap shots would be left out of the arena.

Cool album cover! I think it's silly really. So silly that it's cool again, but still silly.

Being categorical about fun is silly too, in my view. Satire surely has the right to include a person's name in it's game.

are you sure?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chav

if it's new there is media buzz.

up with more answers

thanks much for your comments, good to see that most of it agreed with your ears. I'll try and write up some more answers soon.

post right ahead! and get the Kurylewicz. There are no clunkers and the track Nyamaland is likely even better than the title track I included.

Track 13. Jazz Studio 5 – Blues z refyze [blues auf der Haltestelle / Bus Stop Blues] (L. Hulan) Recorded 1961 at Supraphon Studio, Prague (ČSSR) Released on “Jazz in der Tschechoslowakei 1961” [VA] (Supraphon SUC 15388) Richard Kubernát, tp; Artur Holitzer, vtb; Karel Velebný, ts, vib; Jan Konopásek, bars; Vladimír Tomek, g; Ludĕk Hulan, b; Ivo Dominák, ds. The original constellation of this subgroup of players from Karel Krautgartner’s Radio Big Band consisted of Velebný, Konopásek, Tomek, Hulan and Dominák. Soon Holitzer completed the core group, but increasingly guest players were involved. Moreover, the group, whose main influences include the MJQ, Mulligan and JJ/Kay, often played in small theatres, supporting stage activities. This particular track was part of a pantomime which included several scenes of the city, one of which involved people waiting at a bus stop. Another pretty cool arrangement we have here with some more very cool sounds (eyyyy). The theme is slim, but smart, like many of Hulan’s compositions. The vibes are fabulous in how they drop in there out of the blue all of a sudden. Very laid back style there. Guest trumpeteer Kubernát from the Radio Dance Band plays some urgent tones in a, for him, untypical muted style. Then bass solo and I think it’s pretty cool they left the guitar in the can until here. These guys are much concerned about how their group sounds and make some fine decisions. Pity about the sound quality for sure; I guess these early 60s Supraphons need a special needle or record player to sound good. Track 14. Günter Hörig Trio – Guten Tag, Tele-Warsawa (G. Hörig) Recorded 28 March 1961 at the Amiga Studio, Berlin (GDR) Released on “Jazz mit Günter Hörig” (Amiga 8 50 024) Günter Hörig, p; Lothar Spiller, b; Siegfried Ludwig, ds. It’s Günter again (see track 12), this time featuring the trio setting of the band. If I understand correctly this is a theme Hörig wrote for Polish Television. He displays a lot of ideas and a very nice touch. Probably I should have included “Gruß an Kurylewicz” to honour the late Polish master; it fits just as well in the general flow. “Tele Warsawa” is a bit less edgy with respect to the sound; it’s taken from vinyl, “Gruß an Kurylewicz” is from the rather brittle 5CD box mentioned before – I was too lazy to make and clean up a dub from the “Jazz” LP (see track 11). The two performances show pretty much the same with respect to Hörig’s jumpy, Silver influenced Costa style. The man is very positive, if he goes into some sadder sections, you will know he’ll come out again screaming at the top of his piano strings. Hörig is playing in various settings to this day. Track 15. Hannes Zerbe Blechband – Metamorphosen III (H. Zerbe) Recorded 9 January 1984 at the Amiga Studio, Berlin (GDR) Released on “Hannes Zerbe Blechband” (Amiga 8 56 043) Harry Kuhn, Reiner Auerbach, tp; Jochen Gleichmann, tp, flh; Willem Breuker, ss, as, cl, bcl; Manfred Hering, as; Helmut Forsthoff, ss, ts; Manfred Schulze, ss, bars; Wolfgang Stahl, Reiner Hoffmann, Egon Hellrung, frh, jagdhorn; Martin Mayes, frh; Hermann Anders, Bernd Swoboda, tb; Dietrich Unkrodt, Pinguin Moschner, Georg Schwark, tu; Hannes Zerbe, p; Dieter Keitel, ds; Imagine bare breasted, broad shouldered socialists working at their machines, turning wheels and steam surrounding them; occasionally they cast proud looks into their collective socialist future, raising their chin over the left shoulder. Then one little thing starts running out of order and before you know it the entire plant is in chaos. Zerbe took a lot of “socialist” influences – Mossolow in this instance, Eisler (the guy who wrote the GDR hymn) on others – and under folkloristic influences turned them into something he could use. Out comes something that is bombastic and humorous at the same time. Pretty much what the Dutch were doing at the time, so Breuker fits in well here. Sometimes I wonder how Zerbe got away with making fun of these socialist musical strongholds. Probably he just told everyone it was meant to be an homage. The relationship between the Dutch and GDR Germans has always been very good for some reason. Maybe it’s the Dutch inborn preference for the underdog combined with some antagonism towards their direct neighbour the FGR and a feeling for the exotic in the familiar. Anyhow, there was (and still is) a lot of reverb on a person to person level with similar self irony and when I moved here, nice stories and good sentiments about the Dutch were still abounding (as well as a lot of beer). It is not unlikely that Breuker’s presence served a double goal. One is to have Breuker there, the other to be able to have Pinguin Moschner from West-Germany. In the GDR, so called German-German cooperation was forbidden in the arts. The solution was to organise an international project with other nationalities present and then West-Germans were considered okay too. So Breuker actually made it possible for Moschner to be there – Breuker was the “Quotenausländer” as they used to put it. Cool cover BTW; combines well with the music. It may look alright on a glance, but one more look and everyone will know what went wrong at that plant full of bare breasted broad shouldered socialists. Track 16. Jazz Carriers – Carry On (Z. Jaremka) Recorded February 1973 in Warsaw (Poland) Released on “Carry On!” (Muza SXL 0962) Zbigniew Jaremka, ss, ts, ld; Henryk Miškiewicz, as; Pawel Perliński, p; Marian Komar, b; Zbigniew Kitliński, ds; Józef Gaweych, perc. The Jazz Carriers were hailed as the guys who brought jazz back to its roots of entertainment after Polish jazz had taken an excursion into freer territories. They are known for their use of polyrhythm and odd metres. This track is in 7/4 if I counted correctly and a nice display of the sound this band produced. It’s all pretty light, but very genuine; a bit like a Strata East side, but addressing a different public and working from a different social and cultural basis. This LP is one of the few electrified albums I play regularly. It’s good for doing stuff on the side as well as for driving a car by. The entire album was recently posted on a sharity site, so you might as well go here and get it. Track 17. Rolf & Joachim Kühn Quartet – Chiarescuro (J. Kühn) Recorded 22/23 February 1966 at Studio Berlin-Ost, Berlin (GDR) Released on “Rolf & Joachim Kühn Quartet East Berlin 1966” (ASOJ QSCA 1031) Rolf Kühn, cl; Joachim Kühn, p; Klaus Koch, b; Reinhard Schwartz, ds. Technically I am straying from my thematic path here some. Rolf and Joachim Kühn were both born in Leipzig, Rolf in 1929, Joachim in 1944. Joachim had played clarinet with several jazz groups and bands in Leipzig before he moved to Hamburg in the early 1950s and later to the American sector in Berlin. In 1956 Rolf went to the USA where he played with the Goodman and Dorsey bands, before returning to Hamburg in the early 1960s. Joachim started out with the Werner Pfüller group and played some with the Klaus Lenz band, but soon started his own trio with Klaus Koch and Reinhard Schwartz. The trio played pretty outside and was one of the first proponents of freer jazz in the GDR. Way before GDR (free) jazz became an interesting export commodity that brought in plenty hard cash from abroad. Joachim has talked quite negatively about those later years of GDR free jazz. Back to this early stuff, and as I mentioned before in another thread, the liner notes tell us that the Joachim Kühn Trio + Rolf had been touring and playing larger venues in the GDR (because Rolf was such a famous guy, remember he won the Downbeat award in 1962). When he fled the GDR through Austria, Joachim took a copy of the tapes along and sent it to Nesuhi Ertegun who really liked it and wanted to release it on Atlantic. They then played the Newport Festival in 1967, however, where Thiele offered to record them for Impulse!, which resulted in the "Impressions of New York" album. Ertegun considered two albums to be too much for the market and the Atlantic project was canned. The music was recently issued on CD in Japan. Rolf is a very strong player who has no problems keeping up with the exuberant ideas of his brother and Koch, the bassist. Technically, Schwartz may not be the best drummer, but he is very free and very supportive. Seems he has some big ears and lots of experience playing with this group. Joachim considers this music the best his trio + Rolf have played during that period. Track 18. Hubert Katzenbeier – Quartett (H. Katzenbeier) Recorded October/November 1972 at Amiga Studio, Berlin (GDR) Released on “Friedhelm Schönfeld / Hubert Katzenbeier – Jazz” (Amiga 8 55 307) Hubert Katzenbeier, tb; Konrad Körner, ts, fl; Manfred Schramm, p; Hans Schätzke, b; Wolfgang Winkler, ds. Back to more quiet waters with Hubert Katzenbeier, another biggie in the GDR jazz scene. This track is featured on the only LP the man produced and even this is only half an LP. The guy can play his trombone, but obviously puts technique in service of expression. Körner is fine as well, if a bit more predictable. Actually, the flute solo he plays at the end is an exact copy of his earlier tenor solo! In spite of that, this is a very fine track with a great vibe to it, some cool rhythmic twists and nifty arrangements. I used to play this tune late at night just before turning in for bed. Some kind soul has shared this LP here, get it for the other two tracks, one ballad with beautiful trombone work and one whack upbeat sound fest. And get it for the A side, which features Friedhelm Schönfeld of track 2 fame in a trio with Koch (see tracks 10 & 17) and Sommer (see track 3), playing a 20 minute impressively focussed free jazz piece. Track 19. Andrzej Kurylewicz Trio – Taniec Klasyczny (A. Kurylewicz) Recorded 9/10 November 1958 at Jazz Jamboree Festival in Warsaw (Poland) Released on “Jazz ‘58” (Muza L0246) Andrzej Kurylewicz , p; Roman Dyląg, b; Andrzej Dąbrowski, ds. If the Katzenbeier is a nice closer for a long evening, Kurylewicz deserves to get the honour here. This is taken from a 10” LP not in the best of shapes. The (live) recording isn’t the best either and it all sounds a bit distant and distorted. The music more than makes up for that of course. This man can play his piano! Another one of those classically influenced euro-pianists, he likes to linger around the centre keys, like Costa or Tristano would. I certainly would love to hear more Kurylewicz on piano. If there is any interest I can share some more tracks from my collection. The closing track may serve as an in memoriam to the great Andrzej Kurylewicz and this collection as a reminder that obscure doesn't mean bad and that there is lots of obscure but good stuff from around the globe. Kurylewicz was one of the greats, yet his music is still unknown to many. We all have only so much time to listen of course. At least some if only few of you have heard this music now.

Track 7. Volkmar Schmidt Combo – Für Achim (V. Schmidt) Recorded 13 May 1965 at the Amiga Studio, Berlin (GDR) Released on “Modern Jazz Studio No. 3” [VA] (Amiga 8 55 177) Hans-Joachim Graswurm, tp; Volkmar Schmidt, ts; Max Dolsdorf, g; Hans Schätzke, b; Wolfgang Schneider, ds. The more I listen to this one, the more I am convinced that this is as good as it gets. Admittedly there are some weaknesses here and there, but damn! what immense joy and will there is in this performance and what a superb cool atmosphere in the Fonz sense of the word. The start is kapow! it always strikes how this bass vamp running down doors and trees communicates such an urgency: this track is here to hit you! The theme is fine, the tenor solo is great with some lush smeared notes that one might mistake for fumbling, but it works too good for that and Schmidt was far from wet behind the ears when he recorded this with years of experience in bands and small groups. Where the tenor leaves an intense sense of an utter cool smeared laissez faire with that slobbering long final line, trumpeteer Graswurm picks up with a crisper version of same. Check out how the bass sets the stage for Graswurm. This is an effing fantastic trumpet solo; the guy takes us up, then down, shows us around his living room a little, has us sit down and sip on a drink, then adds some more climactic spice to leave us wanting more on the doorstep. At the time Graswurm was looking at Art Farmer’s long lines for guidance and I’m glad he did. Guitar solo is a bit short and hohum, but eyy, you get a bass solo that has a number of some real ideas for once and not just one. Trading fours with eights, with horns and morello isn’t a bad idea exactly either and in the end you can calm down from dancing with more than satisfaction. At least I do. This tune was included on the 5CD box set “Jazz in Deutschland – aus dem Amiga Archiv”, but it featured a fade at the end that the LP version lacked. So here you are with the latter then. Sound quality is a bit suboptimal with some distortions, but I had no time to redo the recording and click cleaning. The title probably refers to Joachim (Achim) Graswurm, Schmidt must have written it as a feature for his trumpet. Mission accomplished! Track 8. Quintett 61 – Valse Fantastique (P. Baptist) Recorded 3 April 1963 at the Amiga Studio, Berlin (GDR) Released on “Modern Jazz Studio No. 2” [VA] (Amiga 8 50 023) Klaus Lenz, tp, ld; Peter Baptist, tb; Heinz Schröter, ts; gert Lübke, b; Udo Reichel, ds. Very solid performance of a simple blues and everyone is really playing. At times you may think this is trite, like during the tenor solo, but then he pulls a very nice rabbit out of his horn half way through that excuses all that. The arrangement is very nice, I like how they depart from the theme-solo-theme format with the differently coloured trumpet and trombone statements framing the tenor. Lenz is another biggie of GDR jazz. He led the Modern Jazz Big Band 65, later the Klaus Lenz Big Bands and Modern Soul Big Band. The big bands established electric big band soul jazz with plenty of rock elements as a blend with the GDR version of “beat” music and were immensely popular. Even if there is nothing extraordinary on this track, it serves its purpose well in offering a bit of relief after the preceding excitement and the storm to come. Track 9. Iancsy Körössy – Arde, Arde! [Fire, Fire!] (I. Körössy) Recorded February 1967 at Radiodifuziunea Română, Bucharest (Romania) Released on “Seria Jazz Restitutio 1” (Electrecord ST-EDE 04213) Iancsi Körössy, p; Johnny Răducanu, b; Coca Moraru, ds. It’s the man with many names, Iancsi, Ianci, Janci, Jansi, Janos, ... (and his friends called him “the mole”). Still the guy only has two hands, even if at times that may seem too low an estimate. This track has plenty of what makes Körössy great: impeccable touch, Costaoid lingering on the mid keys, amazing creativity and splendid melodic lines. The guy throws out melodic ideas like candy at a parade. So if this strikes you as a mere technical show-off, listen again. It may be me and my ears, but I rarely have heard a pianist who lavishes his ideas like Körössy does. Like JohnB mentioned: this is very, very good. There is a thread on the guy already, so I might as well leave you there and move on to the next track. Track 10. Michael Fritzen Quartett – Rien (M. Fritzen) Recorded 17 February 1967 at the Amiga Studio, Berlin (GDR) Released on “Modern Jazz Studio No. 3” [VA] (Amiga 8 55 177) Michael Fritzen, as; Ernest Oláh, p; Klaus Koch, b; Wolfgang Winkler, ds. Whatever happened to Michael Fritzen? He didn’t record much jazz, but went on and made his mark in GDR music with his Dampferband and guest appearances with prominent musicians like Manfred Krug and Nina Hagen. In 1984 he emigrated to the west and became a school teacher in mathematics, German, sports and music. This track appeared on the LP Modern Jazz Studio Nr. 3, which Fritzen shared with Volkmar Schmidt of track 7 fame. The Fritzen Quartett has 4 tunes of which this is the only original (the other tracks are Yesterday [Lennon-McC], Blowin’ in the Wind [Dylan] and The Boy [sic!] from Ipanema [Jobim]). Listening to the incredibly laid back, Fonz-style coolness of his alto as well as the tune itself, I really wish he had done some more. There aren’t even any liner notes on the LP to provide some background. At least Koch and Winkler went on to become world famous in the entire GDR. Track 11. Gustav Brom Orchestra – Bärenspuren [bear Tracks] (F. Malát-J. Kulišek) Recorded 7 March 1957 at the Amiga Studio, Berlin (GDR) Released on “Jazz” [VA] (Amiga 8 50 009) Gustav Brom, ld; Jan Kulišek, frh; Emil Janeček, tu; Miroslav Rücker, ts; Josef Hrŭška, bars; Ludĕk Hulan, b; Ivan Dominák, ds. Imagine a boy bear (tenor), his big sister bear (french horn), a papa bear (baritone) and a big mama bear (tuba), all of them dancing around the forest, each taking a turn in the limelight. Playing the tune with that image in mind, makes it even more fun to listen to. You can see them go around throwing arm into arm during the theme, watch them all jump and land on two legs, arms out wide to present themselves, and watch papa go about making clear who’s the boss here. The girl follows with a proud air surrounding her and her new handbag, while she displays her niceties. Uhoh, there’s momma bear in her apron and she has to show who the real boss is and get cross with her man and her girl some, waving her finger at them. Up comes the little snotter who lacks respect for that and struts about in his wise ass black and white pimp shoes showing off his silver watch on a chain. Wrap it all up in some more family dance display, et voilà. These are all members from the Brom big band, which was famous not only in Czechoslovakia, but certainly also in the GDR. Like many other big bands some tunes were written for a subset of the band and besides the septet there was a “traditional jazz” group of band members as well. Brom had a long big band career and veered off into instrumental pop directions later. The early stuff is much more worthwhile. The band is killer and good soloists always seemed to be available. Karel Krautgartner played with Brom before he started his own big band. I have a later version of this track on a Supraphon LP and it’s not up to par with the splendidness presented here. Probably the absence of Janeček would already suffice to arrive at a lesser attempt; I mean, that is one agile tuba solo! Track 12. Dresdner Tanzsinfoniker – Cuban Blues (G. Hörig) Recorded 31 May 1963 at the Amiga Studio, Berlin (GDR) Released on “Jazz mit Günter Hörig” (Amiga 8 50 024) Günter Karpa, Walter Göpfert, Gerd Wolf, Helmut Kästner, tp; Willy Baumgärtel, vtb; Dieter Walter, frh; Friwi Sternberg, Heinz Holek, as, cl; Walter Hartmann, ts; Helmut Vietze, bars; Günter Hörig, p, d, arr; Hans Hempel, g; Lothar Spiller, b; Siegfried Ludwig, perc; On to one of the GDR pendants to Brom’s band. Besides the Radio Tanzorchester Berlin (RTB) and the Tanzorchester Leipzig, Hörig’s Dresdner Tanzsinfoniker was one of the more important dance bands of the GDR. Just to remind you of the situation back then, Germany was a global cultural focal point well into the war and there were about a dozen big bands in Dresden alone until the late 1940s. The band was originally led by Heinz Kretschmar, but after a state-organised riot, he got a ban and left for another sector in December 1950, taking with him a large number of bandmembers. Soon after, Hörig, who had been playing piano with the band since 1948, took over as leader and main arranger. Like so many bands of the time, also the Dresdner Tanzsinfoniker played in a variety of settings, from trio through “modern sextett” and “Dixieland Gruppe” to full blown big band. We have the latter here with drummer Siegfried Ludwig taking on percussion, leaving the drums to Hörig. This tune is pretty whack with all its twists and turns, while at the same time keeping the main focus on baritone and percussion. The original 7” is 9 seconds longer than what you are hearing here. This is the LP version, which is 26 seconds longer than the CD version from the “Jazz in Deutschland – Aus dem Amiga Archiv” 5CD box. I have been too lazy to check which 26 seconds they cut out of this version. Rather than cut something out, I’d like to have the single for those 9 additional seconds!

With Ubu’s BFT on the run, I though I’d start and lay my cards on the table. Below is a little on the first 6 tunes, the rest will follow as I write up some comments. Track 1. The Ptaszyn Wróblewski Quintet – Nana Imboro (J. Prates) Recorded 11 December 1960 at the Jazz Jamboree Festival in Warsaw (Poland). Released on “Jazz Jamboree 1960 No. 3” (Muza N0155) Jan “Ptaszyn” Wróblewski, ts; Jerzy Milian, vib; Wojciech Lechowski, g; Stanisław Zwierzchowski, b; Jerzy Grossman, ds. This is from an EP I got at my local vinyl shoppe, specialised in keeping such stuff behind the counter until I show my ugly head. The thing looks fabulous, but plays like the cat toyed with it. A lot of time went into cleaning up the sound to make this presentable to you. With respect to the title I have been searching the internets and found answers in various African languages. There is no definitive translation, but Nana Imboro means something like “Bickus Dickus”. There is an aberrant African language that would have it as “Little Willie”, but judging from the powerful music, I think we can discard that option. Then again, Imboro also seems to be a family name – ey, there’s guys named Cock, Dick and Willie everywhere – and Nana is of course a nice first name for a girl. So who knows? I don’t. Interestingly the title is attributed to “J. Prates” on the EP label; would that be José Prates? The Wroblewski performance was added to a CD issue of the Stan Getz Polish 1960 Jazz Jamboree performance and on both of the CD incarnations the track was presented as a Polish traditional song. African language in traditional Poland? Maybe the name of a girl after all then? The internets tell me Volker Kriegel performed a song of this title on his debut album, but I couldn’t find composer credits for that particular tune. So if anyone has that LP, it would be nice to know if it’s the same tune and if so whom it is attributed to and what else is written about it. Whatever, this is a killer tune. Wroblewski displays his typical acid tone to full effect. Strangely his nickname “Ptaszyn” means “Bird”, indeed referring to that particular alto player. The reference is a bit strange, but the playing is real fine, even if it only seems to set the stage for the King of the vibes: Jerzy Milian. This vibes solo is INSANE. An incredibly rounded affair, there is no lingering, no beating about the bush, but there are plenty melodic ideas and loooong melodic lines. Very long melodic lines that stretch across bars and even across climactic points. And the climax is wrapped up to take home in a nice package too. This should go into history as the best vibes solo ever recorded. Period. Both Wroblewski and Milian are important figures in the Polish jazz scene. Both led the Warsaw Radio Orchestra, recorded plenty and are still active today AFAIK. Track 2. Friedhelm Schönfeld – Solmas (F. Schönfeld) Recorded 28-31 August 1978 at the AMIGA-Studio, Berlin (GDR). Released on “Friedhelm Schönfeld” (Amiga 8 55 628) Friedhelm Schönfeld, fl; Aladar Pege, b; Dieter Keitel, ds, perc. Beauty walking on a bassline; a bassline provided by Aladár Pege, one of the more important bassplayers from Europe, both with respect to classic as well as jazz music; the Paganini of the Contrabass. He fled to West-Berlin in 1973 and played with Dex, Art Farmer, Mangelsdorff and whomhaveyou. Well, before that he played with Schönfeld for one. Schönfeld had somewhat of an all-round music career. He started out by studying classical clarinet and playing sax in the RTB (Rundfunk-Tanzorchester [radio dance band] Berlin), went into free jazz (trio with Koch and Sommer) and composed chansons on the side. After fleeing the GDR in 1983 and spending some time in Canada, he returned to Berlin (West) where he taught and led the big band of the police force. In 2001 he became professor at Dresden University. Solmas is an Azerbaijani girl name. The piece was written already in 1969 and regularly performed. After 9 years Schönfeld really knew how to put it in there. Keitel – who went on to lead the Keitel Big Band – is magnificently restrained here, supporting the flute with some huge ears and timid exotic percussions. On the one-track-only B-side of the LP the trio is augmented with some interesting cello playing by classically trained Wolfgang Weber. Ubu arranged a copy of the LP for me and I still owe him a dub; I took this track from a compilation CD that came with the book “Jazz – DDR – Fakten”, available through FMP. Track 3. Synopsis – Holzland (Petrowsky-Bauer-Gumpert-Sommer) Recorded 22/23 April 1974 at the AMIGA-Studio, Berlin (GDR) Released on “Synopsis” (Amiga 8 55 395) Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, fl; Conrad Bauer, tb; Ulrich Gumpert, p; Günter Sommer, ds, perc. After all that serenity it’s time for some madness so we address the madmen Petrowsky and Sommer and ask them to bring along their friends Connie and Uli. Ernst-Ludwig (“Luten”) Petrowsky played in several local and smaller combos before he set up the Manfred-Ludwig Sextett together with Manfred Schulze. This group was one of the main drivers behind small group jazz in the GDR in the early 60s. Later Petrowsky played with the Ensemble Studio IV, instrumental in establishing the GDR free jazz scene. He and Conrad Bauer go back to the times of the Manfred-Ludwig Sextett, where Bauer played guitar and sung; Sommer and Gumpert were old pals from the Klaus Lenz Band and Petrowsky and Sommer had been playing in Gumpert’s Workshop band as well. With Synopsis GDR free jazz was carried across the national border and gained an international audience, certainly also indebted to the FMP label. Holzland means “Wood Land” or “Timber Land” - not referring to forest, but to the material, a bit like “Beer Land”, but without the beer. Sommer is wild on this one. The sound from the flute (no detailed info on that, but mikeweil and JohnB thought it was a double-flute) and the dry bucket-hitting thumps from the drums are out of this world. Maybe this is how people abroad imagined GDR jazz would sound like: poor folks with hardly a dime for a decent flute and some plastic bucket instead of real drums. This Amiga LP has thus far eluded me and I only know it through a download from a sharity site (click). Pretty cool album. This track I took from the same CD as the previous track; actually they were in this exact sequence which I have already used for a GDR Free Jazz compilation disc I made earlier this year. The contrast between the tracks is wonderful. The irony of the bucket-thumping toy-flute crowd really puts the girl from Armenia back at her stove where she can bake some cookies for her grandma. Track 4. Manfred-Ludwig Sextett – Gral (E.L. Petrowsky) Recorded 1 December 1964 at the AMIGA-Studio, Berlin (GDR) Released on “Jazz mit Dorothy Ellison und dem Manfred-Ludwig-Sextett” (Amiga 8 50 047) Heinz Becker, tp; Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, as, ld; Wolf Hudalla, bars; Sigfried Labrot, p; Ulli Türkowsky, b; Wolfgang Winkler, ds; Eberhard Weise, arr. So a little trip back into time and Petrowsky's history with this track by the Manfred-Ludwig Sextett. By the time this was recorded, co-leader Manfred Schulze had left the group and had his baritone chair filled by the man with the coolest name in jazz: Wolf Hudalla. It’s a pity his playing is not up to par with Schulze – Hudalla remains in the background throughout the recorded output of this group; of course the added layer of the baritone gives us a great group sound. It’s an even larger pity there are no recordings (AFAIK) with Schulze. Anyhow, this is one of the instrumental tracks that separated those with Dorothy Ellison singing on the only LP by the Sextett. The instrumentals show a very distinct development between the three recording sessions. Whereas things started off rather uneven, it got much better some months later to end up with the stuff you hear on this track, recorded about one year after. This “Take 5” style was pretty popular all over Europe at the time; the Sextett even recorded the actual tune (click). The acid alto sound makes for a nice contrast to the smooth ensemble, Becker’s trumpet follows suit and there’s the obligatory drum solo in Morello style which is, however, handled a bit more organically than the original here. Short tune, nice statement. This track was included on the CD "Formation 60" on the JCR label, a compilation of Amiga rarities by the Jazzanova crowd. Track 5. Andrzej Kurylewicz Quintet – Go Right (W. Karolak) Recorded 2 July 1963 at Polski Nagrania Studio 12, Warsaw (Poland) Released on “Go Right” (Muza XL 0186) Andrzej Kurylewicz, tp; Jan “Ptaszyn” Wroblewski, ts, fl; Wojciech Karolak, p; Tadeusz Wójcik, b; Andrzej Dąbrowski, ds. While the Manfred-Ludwig Sextett was playing Take 5, the Kurylewicz Quintet was looking at freer and more modal ways of expression. Kurylewicz was a huge talent. He led big bands and combos, composed film and classical music, including masses, and besides trumpet played trombone and piano. For all his talent being spread so wide, it doesn’t show on his trumpet solo here, a marvel of constraint and omissions. And there’s Ptaszyn again, this time on flute and that’s lovely too and so is Karolak. All in all they make this tune a very round affair with everyone pulling at the same string. The recording is another matter. There was a huge audible edit just before the piano solo; I mended as best as I could, but there is still a moment of mono there. The fade at the end also got on my nerves as it was way too long and moreover, I wanted those spiffy final tenor notes to lead into the next track. There’s only so much that can be done in that department, though. Suboptimal results, but spiffy tune nonetheless! Track 6. Jerzy Milian Trio – Bazar w Aszchabadzie [Ashkabad Bazaar] (J. Milian) Recorded 9-11 June 1969 in Warsaw (Poland) Released on “Baazaar” (Muza XL 0555) Jerzy Milian, marimba, vib; Jacek Bednarek, b, gidjak; Grzegorz Gierlowski, ds. And BANG! onto the bazaar with Jerzy, our pal at the doorbells from track one. This time on marimba first and with a crazy ass theme that rocks your socks off. Little rhythmic variation as mikeweil complained, but to my ears that’s exactly what they were aiming for. The marimba helps set the heavy atmosphere and then the vibes solo flutters like a feather over that heavy handed, staccato vamp. The transition from marimba to vibes is effing smooth BTW. Pretty sublime all this if you ask me and the ensuing madness is utterly brilliant in the context of the album where similar and crazier mood changes occur between consecutive tunes. For that matter this album is comparable to Iancsi Körössy’s MPS album. Just get the album is my advice. You’re listening to a gidjak or ghijak during the second part of the tune, a traditional Uzbek spike fiddle type of ditty.

thanks much for listening John ah, success! like I pointed out before, this is a BFT of good but obscure musicians. admit it, it's the best vibes solo ever. a very good observation and close to the truth you are definitely right with your assessment, just that this skilled wackness was found outside of the Netherlands as well. yup another one who hears Dolphy here. Great tune from an even better album. Has anyone identified this yet? bizarre is the right word, all I can say is you should get the album for more.

looks like someone viewing with the wrong aspect ratio

that and http://monsterpig.com/

or like a boy kneeling several feet behind a pretty large hog

http://geocities.yahoo.co.jp/dr/view?member=epworld1 http://geocities.yahoo.co.jp/dr/view?member=epworld2 http://geocities.yahoo.co.jp/dr/view?member=epworld3 http://geocities.yahoo.co.jp/dr/view?member=epworld4

I was bovine VIP before I lost several thousand posts.

whereas everyone would expect Yusuf, Muhammad or Osama, in this case it's Sammich. I'm rather dissappointed the GGASW did not notice.

are you and the family dancing yet? The tuba is Ursa major of course, the alpha bear. cigars=cigars+1... this one I hereby officially dedicate to you just because. not Iancsi! It's the guy who wrote and arranged and plays drums on track 12. Right on with respect to the guy's pacing. that description saves you from cigar deduct: cigars=cigars-1+1... Go look at your pizza boxes and play it again man. cigars=cigars+1... is that Caravan? I thought it was Batman. shutting down while still good is the best way to go! Anyhow, A/B the flute and sax solos and you'll know the real end. damn man, you should have yelled out the consonantially impaired name now! cigars=cigars-1... Ubu is collecting cigars for his BFT round, maybe he can offer you a trade for the 5 you earned here.

If someone should know any of these tunes it's Bint with der Golden Arm, so I will deduct cigar credits for unrecognised tracks... you may be right on this. The original EP credits the tune to "J Prates", would that be José? AFAIK it is credited as "trad." on its two CD incarnations from Polishland. If Brazillian, it messes up the theme if only in a minor way. Three cigars for recognising the bestest vibes solo ever. no 'teef and cigars=cigars-1... remember that kid that played drums on the bucket in the NY subway and Lurie got him out of there and took him on a world tour. This is not that kid, and although I should deduct 1 cigar credit, I'll let it be just for the bucket remark. yesyes, not Sonar, but the JCR with the cool pic on the front. cigars=cigars+1. Name the baritone for extra cigar. this is an echo of your initial response to this music over a year ago or so. cigars=cigars-1... heheh. cigars=cigars+1... wherever you put this one, it will inevitably be a good segue I have learned. cigars=cigars-1... grab a cigar for recognising my intentions of slowing things down a bit here, folkses need some breathing before the four handed wonder. cigars=cigars+1... name the track and win a humedor again not Sonar but the JCR with the cool cover; I know little of this quartet besides this tune and the accompanying tracks on the original LP. Good stuff. cigars=cigars+1...

instead of a cigar I will have a nice cover picture for you then.