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!
