Wednesday, November 15, 2017

JASPER VAN'T HOF's PORK PIE feat. CHARLY MARIANO – Transitory (MPS Records – 0068.125 / LP-1974)




Label: MPS Records – 0068.125
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Repress / Country: W. Germany / Released: 1974
Style: Jazz-Fusion, Jazz-Funk
Recorded at Conny's Studio Neukirchen, Germany, May 17 & 18, 1974.
Cover, Photography By, Design – Frieder Grindler
Photography By – Hans Harzheim, Kira Tolkmitt
Liner Notes – Achim Hebgen
Recorded By – Conny Plank
Producer – Achim Hebgen
Matrix / Runout (Side A, etched): 0701610 S1
Matrix / Runout (Side B, etched): 0701610 S2

A1 - Epoch  (van't Hof ) ......................................................................................... 7:40
A2 - Transitory (Part 1)  (van't Hof ) ...................................................................... 4:42
A3 - Transitory (Part 2)  (van't Hof ) ...................................................................... 4:02
A4 - Angel Wings  (Catherine) .............................................................................. 5:23
B1 - Pudu Kkottai  (Trad.-Mariano) ....................................................................... 8:05
B2 - Something Wrong  (van't Hof ) ...................................................................... 2:44
B3 - Bassamba (Part 1)  (Jenny-Clarke) ............................................................... 2:51
B4 - Bassamba (Part 2)  (Romano)....................................................................... 4:39
B5 - March Of The Oil-Sheikhs  (van't Hof ) ......................................................... 3:10

Personnel:
Jasper Van't Hof – electric piano, organ [prepared], grand piano, celesta
Charlie Mariano – soprano / alto saxophone, flute, bamboo, nagaswaram
Philip Catherine – electric / acoustic guitar
J.F. Jenny-Clarke – bass
Aldo Romano – drums / percussion
Ivanir "Mandrake" Do Nascimento – congas, pandeiro, tambourine, agogô, bells

LP MPS-BASF/ 21 22099-0, MPS Records – 0068.125 (Original German Pressing), cult label
Gatefold sleeve. Black label MPS dist. by Metronome.
(track A3 dedicated to Peter Trunk)

Dutch keyboardist / composer Jasper van`t Hof was one of the most prominent young Jazz musicians on the European scene in the late 1960s / 1970s and a pioneer of the new European Jazz, which emerged like a Phoenix on the ashes of the stagnant Jazz tradition. A founding member of the legendary Association P.C., van`t Hof left the group in 1972 (to be replaced by Joachim Kühn) and a year later formed his own ensemble Pork Pie (the name being a tribute to a famous Lester Young tune) with four other excellent musicians: the veteran American (but resident in Germany) saxophonist Charlie Mariano, Belgian guitarist Philip Catherine, French bassist Jean-Francois Jenny-Clark and Italian (but resident in France) drummer Aldo Romano. The group recorded a couple of albums on the legendary German MPS label, of which this was the first. The group played a completely innovative music, which moved freely between genres and included Free Jazz, Jazz-Rock Fusion, Psychedelic and World Music elements. All five members of the group were splendid musicians, blessed with virtuosity and inspiration, and the rapport between them was phenomenal.




Mariano's arrangement of "Pudu Kkottai"—a traditional North Indian song expanded into free territory while retaining ethnicity through use of bamboo flute and nasal double-reed South Indian nagaswarama—seamlessly fuses serpentine linearity with more turbulent undercurrent, harmonic density and a surprising blend of acoustic and electric instruments. Jenny-Clark's "Bassamba (Part 1)" is a freewheeling bass-drums duet that leads into Romano's "Bassamba (Part 2)," which refers more clearly to its namesake, a potent samba beat turned into something else by van't Hof's electric piano and Mariano's effervescent alto. Catherine's one solo spot is his own "Angel Wings," a dark Mahavishnu-like energy creating a modal backdrop for the guitarist's overdriven tone, juxtaposed with a paradoxically beautiful layered flute theme by Mariano that unexpectedly fades out.
The rest of the writing belongs to van't Hof, including the rock-inflected "Epoch," which sets the stage for Pork Pie's greatest differential. Few, if any, fusion bands of the time were using electric bass as their foundation, but Jenny-Clark didn't need 1,000 watts to create an energetic pulse; nor did Romano need a dozen rack toms to push forward with a perfect combination of groove, elasticity and unfettered freedom. At a time when keyboards and guitars ruled the day, Mariano's saxophone was a welcome contrast, while van't Hof's solo acumen and avoidance of synthesizers was refreshing, while never diminishing the group's potency.
But Transitory's high point is the two-part title track. Orchestral in scope despite limited instrumentation, van't Hof's strength as a textural player, comfortably blending impressionistic writing with freer concerns, is in full force. "Transitory (Part 2)" is a marvel of color and timbre—how Weather Report might have sounded in its early days had Wayne Shorter been a more assertive foil for Joe Zawinul's expansive arrangements. A minor classic finally receiving its due, Transitory proves that as American fusion was leading towards its inevitable implosion, a distinct lack of ego was keeping it alive and well elsewhere in the world.

This album sounds today as advanced and oracular as it did at the time of the recording, losing nothing of its freshness, a true timeless masterpiece. The Brazilian percussionist Ivanir “Mandrake” Do Nascimento appears as a guest on some of the tracks and adds his magic to the mix. In retrospect this is a superb example of what was happening on the European Jazz scene at the time, underlining the perpetual quest for new forms of expression and ceaseless search for new musical vocabulary.  (Review By John Kelman)



If you find it, buy this album!

THE KLAUS DOLDINGER QUARTET – Blues Happening (World Pacific Jazz – ST-20167 / LP-1968)




Label: World Pacific Jazz – ST-20167
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Gatefold / Country: US / Released: 1968 / 69 ?
Style: Modern Jazz Fusion
Record Company – World Pacific Jazz / Printed in USA.
Design [Cover] – Günther Kieser
Engineer – Willi Schmidt
Liner Notes – Siegfried Schmidt-Joos
Producer – Siegfried E. Loch
Also the German edition on the label:
Liberty ‎– LBS 83 167 I / Series: World Pacific Jazz Series –
Matrix / Runout (A runout etched): ST-20167-1
Matrix / Runout (B runout etched): ST-20167-2

Tracklist:
A1 - Saragossa .................................................................................................. 6:39
A2 - Tempus Fugit .............................................................................................. 6:32
A3 - Face In The Night ....................................................................................... 6:51
B1 - Blues Happening ....................................................................................... 18:07

Personnel:
Klaus Doldinger – soprano (tracks: A1, A2, B1) / tenor saxophone (tracks: A3, B1)
Ingfried Hoffmann – piano (tracks: A1-A3) / organ (track B1)
Joe Quick – guitar (track B1)
Lothar Maid – bass guitar (track B1)
Helmut Kandlberger – bass (tracks: A1-B1)
Kurt Bong – horn section (track B1) / drums (track B1)
Cees See – drums / percussion (tracks: A1, B1)
Wolfgang Paap – drums /percussion (track B1)

THE KLAUS DOLDINGER QUARTET – Blues Happening, LP 1968, World Pacific Jazz stereo ST-20167 vinyl     __________     OUT OF STOCK


A pioneering and multi-talented musician with a career that has run from MOR pop onto the leading edge of experimental jazz fusion. Doldinger's history is confused. If you want to know all about his background via trad. jazz, as a James Last popular jazz and soul copyist (aka Paul Nero), onto psychedelic pop and Passport, all this is documented on the triple anthology album DOLDINGER JUBILEE (Atlantic 60073), though even that doesn't really make sense of it all.




His first rock group was Motherhood, which kind of transmuted into Passport (the other Motherhood members split off forming Hallelujah), though also during this period Klaus Doldinger also kept working in jazz under his own name, as witnessed by the three albums listed below:

BLUES HAPPENING  [LP Liberty LBS 83167] (1968)
Credited to: Klaus Doldinger Quartet

THE AMBASSADOR  [2LP Liberty LBS 83317/18] (1969)
Credited to: Klaus Doldinger Quartet

DOLDINGER  [2LP United Artists UAS 29542/43] (1973)
(CompilationCredited to: Klaus Doldinger)

all which explore different aspects of modern jazz fusion. Numerous top Munich musicians have also been involved in Klaus' various bands (many of whom can be found on numerous MPS releases, or went onto more progressive musics with Embryo, Amon Düül II, etc.) or have become well-known afterwards, like Udo Lindenberg or Kristian Schultze for instance.

More recently, as a synthesist, Klaus has also become sought after as a film soundtrack composer, after his success with the soundtracks to "Das Boot" and "The Neverending Story". There are no doubt numerous others we don't know of. Yet above all, Doldinger is an excellent and uniquely styled saxophonist, best remembered for several excellent albums in the early-70's with his groundbreaking jazz-rock band Passport, who paralleled the likes of Isotope or Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Blues Happening is the murderous album of early Dondlinger with the musicians you just want. Very, very intriguing. Enjoy!



If you find it, buy this album!