Monday, November 11, 2013

OM: DORAN / LEIMGRUBER / BURRI / STUDER – Rautionaha (JapoLP-1977) and Montreaux Live & More (LP-1975)



Label: Japo Records – JAPO 60016
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album; Country: Germany - Released: 1977
Style: Free Jazz, Jazz-Rock, Contemporary Jazz
Recorded December 1976 at Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg.
Engineer – Martin Wieland
Photography By – Andreas Raggenbass
Photography By [Cover] – Lajos Keresztes
Producer – Thomas Stöwsand

Urs Leimgruber – soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, percussion
Christy Doran – guitar
Bobby Burri – bass
Fredy Studer – drums, percussion

A1 - For Ursi ... 9:49
A2 - Stephanie ... 11:56
B1 - Song For My Lady ... 11:11
B2 - Rautionaha ... 13:41

The Swiss quartet of OM, which found just the freedom it needed in ECM ’ s studios for a good decade, flung open the doors with colorful aplomb on Rautionaha, a rare JAPO release. To this early date the group brings a kaleidoscope of shared experience. The sound is appropriately splintered. Guitarist Christy Doran pens the kick-in-the-gut opener, “ For Ursi. ” Unable to resist the attraction from the get-go, saxophonist Urs Leimgruber colors the twilight with his heady tenor, chaining ladders of virtuosity with attentive form. His gurgling expositions of momentary abandon give Doran just the break he needs to cast a reverberant magic with tails flying. The superb rhythm work from percussionist Fredy Studer and bassist Bobby Burri completes this wall of light. The latter gives us “ Stephanie, ” his first of two cuts. This meditation of gongs and electronics coalesces into some fine soliloquies from the composer, while the full drumming and six-string picking shimmer like morning sun on the horizon ’ s lip. The prickly tenor is a bonus. Speaking of which, Leimgruber puts his writing to the test in “ Song For My Lady. ” Something of a ballad, in it he becomes a crying wayfarer who walks the same circle of self-reflection until there is only music left of the one that produced it. Lifting this ponderous weight off our shoulders is Burri ’ s title offering, which grows like weed in a groovy embrace. His bass work glows here. Leimgruber opts for soprano, reaching heights of multi-phonic brilliance that no footstool can reach. The effect is nothing short of extraordinary. The quartet ends on a whimsical punctuation mark, for all like a flag without a country, a star without a sky. In the absence of definite shape, we are free to induce our own.




Label: Indian Records – ST 1001
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album; Country: Germany - Released: 1975
Style: Free Jazz, Jazz-Rock
Side 1: recorded July 3, at the Montreux Jazz Festival 
Side 2: recorded September 16&17, 1974 at Sinus-Studio Berne, Switzerland 
All tracks mixed September 26&30, 1974 at Sinus-Studio Berne, Switzerland
Cover – Kurt Eckert
Engineer – Peter Mc Taggart (tracks: B1-B3), Steff Sulke (tracks: A1)
Mixed By – Peter Mc Taggart (tracks: A1-B3)
Photography By – William Feess; Producer – OM

A1 - (Füddler) On The Roof  ... 23:45
B1 - Testament Of A Dog ... 4:31
B2 - For Moritz ... 8:19
B3 - When Eyes Are Smiling ... 9:06



The iconoclastic group known as OM (after John Coltrane ’ s album of the same name) took root in the musical wilds of Lucerne, Switzerland in 1972, and for the next decade filled its cup with an idiosyncratic blend of Free Jazz, Rock and Free improvisation. 

Not only was the electric guitar with many electronic devices , such as ring modulator , delay, coupled . OM was one of the first European jazz groups who always had a sound engineer there because they " worked with sound ... so even with an electrically amplified contrabass with ground effects ( ..) , a plant with Hall effects for saxophone, some also the drums and the percussion was reinforced. OM played the Montreux Jazz Festival and at hundreds of concerts in Europe, they became very well known not only in Switzerland, but also in Germany .



Links in Comments!
 

20 comments:

  1. OM – Rautionaha (Japo, LP-1977)
    Vinyl Rip - MP3@320+Cover

    MediaFire:
    http://www.mediafire.com/download/1gulo14d83pqrtz



    OM – Montreaux Live & More (LP-1975)
    Vinyl Rip – MP3@320+Cover

    MediaFire:
    http://www.mediafire.com/download/vxy1cz99b38fdm0

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks interesting, thanks for the upload.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Vitko. This isn't related to the above. I wanted to get a message to you. Larry Stabbins just posted this on his facebook page (maybe you've seen it?)

    'Brilliant final gig on Saturday at the Wiltshire Music Centre
    Great venue, great, appreciative crowd and a standing ovation.
    So that's it---- I've finished.
    I did my first paid gig 52 years ago when I was 12 at Dundry Town Hall fittingly near the final one.I've done everything I wanted to do---- There's nothing else I particularly want to do musically which is actually a realistic option but there are lots of other things in life which I still want to do while I 'm able. So I'm off to do them.
    I'm very lucky really to have been mostly working during a time before music was devalued by internet access and I had many good years playing my own music all over the world to some great audiences and having fun. The band with Zoe has been an absolute joy. They're amazing musicians and lovely people who enjoy playing together, as the after gig photo shows. I'm proud of the music and feel I'm playing as well as I ever have done so that's seems a good point to finish.
    To everyone who came to my gigs or bought my records- Thank You and Goodnight!'

    Bit of a surprise eh?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Andy thanks for the notice, Stabbins message I have not seen.
      This is a big surprise for me and I'm a little sad. But, if so Larry decided, I wish him all the best in his future activities.

      Andy thank you once again, you're real mate. V
      (now I need a little time)

      Delete
  4. Thanks for the OM LPs, and let me throw in a recent concert recording of OM (radio broadcast)
    OM - In A Silent Mood (60 min.)
    Live at Festival Alpentoene 2013 in Altdorf, Switzerland, on August 16, 2013

    http://www74.zippyshare.com/v/81640941/file.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi mew23,

      This is a beautiful surprise. I had not the opportunity to hear this until now.
      Excellent!. This is simply wonderful. "In A Silent Way" as an inspiration. Thanks for your contribution.

      Regards. V

      Delete
    2. Wow mew23 . . . this is a treat!!!! Many thanks! Inspired by Miles and well documented. Awesome. Were you there?

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    3. Hi Can someone re-up the live at the festival alpantoene, the actual link have expired.

      Delete
    4. mew23 my friend could upload the file again. the link has expired

      Delete
  5. Many thanks for the Altdorf set gentlemen! Appreciated.

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  6. Thanks for the OM on JAPO Vitko. I am a real ECM/JAPO/WATT Eicher Nut as you may remember. I have this vinyl and a CD rip from somewhere but I am now upgrading to your excellent Digital transfer. VERY NICE. You go to great pains to share high fidelity. That is not lost on those of us who follow you. Many Thanks as always from Texas.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you. I never saw the live one or knew it existed. For Steve and others who care, I know that most of the JAPO catalog was posted over at Inconstant Sol, in case anyone is looking. I assume most readers here read that too, but just in case.

    The recent releases on Intakt are good and people should support the label by buying them if they can. Oddly, I knew their recent work and ended up going backwards to this much harder to find early work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I. Sol is a favorite of mine as well. Try the live 2013 album above. Very nice.

      Delete
  8. INTAKT Records has a very interesting offer. I recently peeked at their catalog and refresh my collection with some brilliant albums. Their rates are very reasonable.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow, Mediafire links seem to last forever... Thank you! Might be nice to see the liveshow again...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Great band; great recordings; great monday. Thanx a million.

    ReplyDelete