WIENER ART ORCHESTER – Tango From Obango (Art Rec. – 1002 / LP-1980)

Label: Art Records – 1002

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: Austria / Released: 1980

Style: Contemporary Jazz, Free Improvisation, Free Jazz

Recorded on the 22/23 Nov. 1979 at the Schmettersound Studio Bisamberg/Vienna.

Design [Cover] – Herbert Pirchner, Roland Wernbacher

Photography By – Elisabeth Fleischmann, Herbert Pirchner

Recorded By – Herbert Kopecky

Mixed By – Josef Braitenthaller

Producer – Hans Heinrich C. Stoller, Mathias Rüegg

Distributed By – Extraplatte

Printed By – HofmannDruck

Matrix / Runout (Side A): X 273 - AR 1002-A

Matrix / Runout (Side B): X 274 - AR 1002-B

Rights Society: Austro Mechana

side 1:

A1 - Tango From Obango ........................................................................................ 13:27

A2 - Polish Contrasts ................................................................................................. 9:31

A3 - Voila Di Here ...................................................................................................... 1:25

side 2:

B1 - The World Of BeBand & BigBop ...................................................................... 12:40

B2 - Panta Rhei ......................................................................................................... 5:55

B3 - Charly's Trauma ................................................................................................. 0:37

Personnel:

Mathias Rüegg - arranger, conductor

Lauren Newton - voice

Karl Fian - trumpet

Herbert Joos − flugelhorn, baritone horn

Christian Radovan − trombone

Wolfgang Puschnig − alto saxophone, flute

Harry Sokal - tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute

Roman Schwaller − tenor saxophone

Uli Scherer − piano

Harry Pepl – guitar

Werner Pirchner − marimba, vibraphone

Jürgen Wuchner − bass

Fritz Ozmec − drums

Wolfgang Reisinger – percussion

The Vienna Art Orchestra is a 14-member jazz orchestra that features the avant-garde arrangements and compositions of its leader, pianist Mathias Rüegg. This LP is a 1980 debut, an important document in the post-modern jazz movement...

The opening, title track is a joyous, folkish tango that's been cartoonishly toyed with, featuring three solo sections. The marimba section is also ornamented with vocalese from Lauren Newton, followed by an extremely playful horn lead that sounds like a toy instrument. The solo offering from violinist Rudi Berger has an electronically effected fusion sound. A tight, alto sax solo by Wolfgang Puschnig ties everything together neatly with a lengthy, unaccompanied performance. This leads right into a mellow, tenor sax and marimba introduction to "Polish Contrasts." The lead here is eventually taken by a bright, cosmic soprano sax (Harry Solkal)... For a short piano piece, background singing and clapping recorded on the tour bus serve as a backdrop. Newton brings back her playful scatting, in clear imitation of a squawking free-jazz sax solo for an a cappella intro to "The World of Be-Band & Big Bop." After about three minutes, the instrumentalists slowly materialize behind her until the mad marimba possesses her. After a full six minutes of amazing scatting, the song itself is introduced and six more minutes of cross-genre pollination follow.

... Musical puns and variations on serious themes abound from the orchestra pit, but unlike Rüegg's Euro counterparts like Franz Koglmann and Stan Tracey, this man has a sense of where colorization and parody end and a new musical language is created. In this sense he resembles both Frank Zappa and Willem Breuker, but uses tradition differently -- not as a guidepost but as a landmark on the way to someplace else (and Rüegg knows exactly where he's going, judging by his charts). The man's imagination is the limit because his band can do virtually anything he dares to dream up...

Truly, Tango From Obango is an amazing debut from a band that offers more than it could possibly receive.

(Reviews by Tom Schulte and Thom Jurek)

If you find it, buy this album!