Showing posts with label Günter Lenz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Günter Lenz. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

GIGER - LENZ - MARRON – Beyond (Någarå – mix 1011 n / LP-1977)




Label: Någarå – mix 1011 n
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: Germany / Released: 1977
Style: Jazz, Fusion
Recorded At Biton Studios Frankfurt/M, 1976.
Engineer – Paul-Gerhard Landsiedel
Layout – Irene Giger
Producer – Günther Georgy-Engelhardt, Peter Giger
Distributed By – Mix-Musik
Matrix / Runout (Side A, etched): MIX 1011 A SST
Matrix / Runout (Side B, etched): MIX 1011 B SST

side A
A1 - Beyond   (Marron) ....................................................................................... 8:42
A2 - Quinar   (Giger) ........................................................................................... 5:58
A3 - Flying Wheel   (Marron, Giger) .................................................................... 4:39
side B
B1 - Alyrio   (Giger) ............................................................................................. 5:30
B2 - Antep   (Marron, Lenz, Giger) ..................................................................... 7:39
B3 - Blues For Chaturlal   (Marron, Lenz), Giger) ............................................... 7:10

Personnel:
Peter Giger – drums, percussion
Günter Lenz – double bass, electric bass
Eddy Marron – guitar, baglama [zàz]



In 1976, former Dzyan members drummer Peter Giger and guitarist/zaz player Eddy Marron teamed up with jazz bassist Günter Lenz to record two stellar, but very obscure, jazz oriented records "Beyond" (77) and "Where The Hammer Hangs" (78). The sound is not quite as experimental as Dzyan (what is?) but the group qualify as really well done fusion with some interesting twists with time changes, and different moods conveyed with Marron's tasty guitar, Lenz's probing bass, and Giger's flowery percussion.


To Skye............. I want a pleasant listening..... Enjoy !!!



If you find it, buy this album!

Saturday, March 24, 2018

GÜNTER LENZ SPRINGTIME – Roaring Plenties (L+R Rec. – LR 40.005/LP-1980)




Label: L+R Records – LR 40.005
Format: Vinyl, LP / Country: Germany / Released: 1980
Style: Free Jazz, Contemporary Jazz
Recorded live April 24/25, 1979 at Wilhelmsbad, Hanau as part of the Wilhelmsbader Produktionen for the TV-Series "Focus On Jazz".
Artwork – Günther Kieser
Photography By [Cover Photo] – Mara Eggert
Photography By [Liner Photo] – Anno Wilms
Engineer – Charly Morell
Producer – Wolfgang Vogel and Günter Lenz
Distributed by Bellaphon Records Germany
Matrix / Runout (Runout, Side A): LR 40 005 - A SST
Matrix / Runout (Runout, Side B): LR 40 005 - B SST

A1 - Children Of The Night   (Bob Degen) ........................................................... 8:28
A2 - The Bear Is Gone   (Günter Lenz) ................................................................ 6:45
A3 - Roaring Plenties   (Günter Lenz) .................................................................. 4:25
B1 - Do Not Tear The Posters Down   (Günter Lenz) ........................................ 12:15
B2 - Speed Freak   (Frank St. Peter) ................................................................... 8:30

Personnel:
Günter Lenz – bass (leader, producer)
Frank St. Peter – alto saxophone, clarinet, flute
Leszek Zadlo – tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone
Johannes Faber – trumpet
Bob Degen – piano
Joe Nay – drums, percussion



Berlin Jazz Festival in 1979 "Mingus Memorial", the tribute to Charles Mingus, the great black bassist who has just passed away. Drummer Danny Richmond had a stunning performance. 
In addition to well-known names organizer took his chance and  brought fresh wind into this memorial concert: by the Frankfurt bassist Günter Lenz and his group "Springtime"......

"Roaring Plenties"; Günter Lenz and Springtime - Johannes Faber (trumpet), Frank St. Peter and Leszek Zadlo (saxophones), Bob Degen (piano), Joe Nay (drums), Günter Lenz (bass); L + R Records LR 40.005 (distribution: Bellaphon).
"Not a copy, but subconscious respect must be spoken there," says the knowledgeable record producer Horst Lippmann, because the letters "L + R" (records) stand for the organizer team Lippmann + Rau. Lenz and his people pay homage to the spirit and not the letter on this record as they did in Berlin. In addition to the moving death suit "The Bear Is Gon" leads mainly the main part of the record, "Roaring Plenties", in the center of Mingus music; not least by the pun of the title. As Dixieland, Weill-Touch and Blues clichés are mounted here, this really has something of the wild twenties, tastes like plenty of "Roaring Twenties". The twelve minutes of "Do Not Tear The Poster Down" begin with an elongated melody that echoes bebop phrases, and they end with a reef that has evolved from a bass figure and drives the piece to its end, mercilessly, relentlessly and with that power that gives one the belief in a conception and its correctness...



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Friday, October 27, 2017

JOE HAIDER – Reconciliation (EGO Records – 4001 / LP-1974)




Label: EGO Records – 4001
Format: Vinyl, LP / Country: Germany / Released: 1974
Style: Contemporary Jazz
Recorded November 1974 at Connie's Studio in Neunkirchen.
Artwork By [Cover Design] – Kathy Fröhlicher
Photography – Josef Werkmeister
Engineer – Connie Plank
Crossover, published by KLAWEI-MUSIKVERLAG, Putzbrunn b München
Produced by Joe Haider
Matrix / Runout (Side A runout, stamped): ST 4001-A
Matrix / Runout (Side B runout, stamped): ST 4001-B

A1 - Crossover .............................................................................................. 10:07
A2 - Spanish Groove ...................................................................................... 9:55
B1 - Mas De Serles ........................................................................................ 8:35
B2 - Magdalena .............................................................................................. 5:37
B3 - Reconciliation ......................................................................................... 5:35

Musicians:
Joe Haider – piano
Ack Van Rooyen – fluegelhorn
Andy Scherrer – tenor / soprano saxophone
Günter Lenz – bass
Todd Canedy – drums, percussion

The first big break as a professional musician, he received in 1965. At that time he was hired as a pianist and conductor of the house trio at the Munich jazz club "Domicile" and worked there during the following three years. Thus, he had the opportunity to play with many European and American jazz musicians.
During two years (1968-70) Haider conducted the Radio Jazz Ensemble des Bayerischen Rundfunks (7-10 musicians), for which he also composed, arranged and worked as a producer - a job that Haider has brought a lot of prestige. So he got a commission, among others, for the "Dürener Music Days", perform an original composition that was there awarded the third prize. These were to the work "Fate of a Child", written in memory of his daughter who died young.



The period 1970-1989 was marked by several innovations in career Joe Haider: With the Swiss jazz quartet "Four for Jazz" (Heinz Bigler, alto saxophone, Isla Eckinger, bass and Peter Giger, drums) we went both on tour and in the recording studio , Next, the pianist founded together with Eckinger and drummer Pierre Favre his own trio, toured and took plates under his own name. Then he formed together with the US trombonist Slide Hampton a Big Band, the "Slide Hampton / Joe Haider Orchestra", in which, inter alia, the trumpeter Benny Bailey and Idries Sulieman, the tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon and trombonist Bob Burgess participated. The band embarked on a major European tour and played a record one for the label MPS. Besides Haider played by Leszek Zadlo quartet in Poland, the Sal Nistico Quartet, with Benny Bailey Quintet with Nistico, Eckinger and drummer Billy Brooks and the Dusko Goykovich / Joe Haider Quintet, in which Roman Schwaller played tenor saxophone.

In 1984, Haider took over in addition to his teaching activity the post of Director of the "Swiss Jazz School" in Bern. In this oldest private and fully accredited Jazzschule Europe he remained until 1995, where he was awarded in 1994 by the government of the canton of Bern for his achievements in the field of music the "Big Culture Award". But still there was time for some part-time functions such as another grossorchestrales adventure that Joe Haider Orchestra featuring Mel Lewis. Also from this band, there is a disk recording, which received a Best Big Band Recording of the Year 1988 "German Record Prize".



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Tuesday, July 29, 2014

ALBERT MANGELSDORFF QUARTET / QUINTETT – Never Let It End (LP-1970) and – Birds Of Underground (LP-1973)



Label: MPS Records – MPS 15274
Format: Vinyl, LP; Country: Germany - Released: 1970
Style: Free Jazz
Recorded March 23rd, 1970 Walldorf Studio, Frankfurt, Germany.
Engineer – Torsten Wintermeier
Producer – Joachim Ernst Berendt
Fotos by Inge Werth, cover and graphic work by Günter Kieser

A1 - Wide Open . . . 3:45
A2 - Never Let It End . . . 9:48
A3 - Certain Beauty . . . 9:14
B1 - The 13th Color . . . 6:54
B2 - Open Mind . . . 4:17
B3 - Roitz And Spring . . . 7:14
B4 – Nachwort . . . 1:50

Albert Mangelsdorff – trombone
Heinz Sauer – saxophone (tenor, alto)
Günter Lenz – bass
Ralf Hübner – drums, percussion

Jazz in Germany – the 60s/70s

The music critic and producer Joachim-Ernst Berendt took an eminent position at this time, influencing German jazz mainly in the 1960s and 1970s. Without him, neither the European Free Jazz, even as individual musicians like Mangelsdorff, Doldinger and others, would have gained the importance that they have for the German jazz today. Berendt was the first and only global player of the jazz critics and producers of the German jazz scene, who introduced jazz from Germany abroad.

The best-known jazz groups in West Germany were the quintets of Albert Mangelsdorff (with Heinz Sauer and Günter Kronberg), Michael Naura (with Wolfgang Schlüter), and the quartet of Klaus Doldinger (with Ingfried Hoffmann.) Innovators were also the Lauth Wolfgang quartet (with Fritz Hartschuh) and the trio of Wolfgang Dauner (with Eberhard Weber and Fred Braceful). Musically there was a deliberate but careful delineation of the American model. With their growing popularity, Doldinger and Mangelsdorff could also perform abroad and publish records. Naura had to retire from active life as a musician because of illness, and later became an editor of the Jazz part of the NDR (Northern German Broadcast). For the GDR, the Manfred Ludwig sextet has to be mentioned,originally for a long time the only band, which turned to the style of modern jazz.

In 1965, the quintet of Gunter Hampel, a moderate Free Jazz maintainer, with musicians such as Manfred Schoof, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Buschi Niebergall and Pierre Courbois, arrived on the German jazz scene and performed many concerts in the "province". Free jazz, without compromises, could be heard from the Manfred Schoof quintet (Voices) and an octet by Peter Brötzmann (Machine Gun). Especially in the smaller towns of western Germany, jazz music clubs disappeared with the advent of the Beat. From the mid-1960s on, in the GDR, the trio of Joachim Kühn (who migrated to the West in 1966), Friedhelm Schönfeld, and Manfred Schulze found their own ways into free jazz.




Label: MPS Records – 21 21746-9, BASF – 21 21746-9
Format: Vinyl, LP; Country: Germany - Released: 1973
Style: Free Jazz
Recorded September and December 1972 at Walldorf-Studio, Frankfurt/M.
Design [Cover Design] – Günter Kieser
Liner Notes – Claus Schreiner
Photography By – Ralph-B. Quinke
Producer – MPS Records

A1 - Wobbling Notes And Fluted Crackle . . . 14:18
A2 - Grive Musicienne . . . 5:42
B1 - Birds Of Underground . . . 11:37
B2 - Xenobiosis . . . 11:42

Albert Mangelsdorff – trombone
Heinz Sauer – alto saxophone, tenor saxophone
Gerd Dudek – tenor/sopran saxophone, flute
Buschi Niebergall – bass
Peter Giger – drums, percussion

The 1970s were marked by the globalization and commercialization of the German jazz world. Jazz was combined with various other music genres. Successful jazz musicians such as Klaus Doldinger, Volker Kriegel and the United Jazz and Rock Ensemble followed this trend in the direction of rock music in West Germany. At the same time, younger musicians like Herbert Joos, Alfred Harth and Theo Jörgensmann garnered public acknowledgment and aroused the attention of the jazz scene with their music. It is noteworthy that the German musicians achieved an acceptance with the local audience on par with American jazz musicians. For example, the Theo Jörgensmann quartet, an avant-garde jazz group, was even in the Best-of Lists of Popular Music in the Music-Yearbook Rock Session. At the same time the German record labels FMP, ECM and ENJA established in the market. Also acoustic-romantic performances by Joachim Kühn and other pianists like Rainer Brüninghaus came into fashion. In Moers and other West German towns, festivals were held that focused on these new developments in jazz.

In the 1970s, scholastic learning of jazz was also achieved in West Germany. The annual summer course at the Akademie Remscheid (Remscheid Academy) was very popular among young jazz musicians. There is hardly a professional jazz musician, born between 1940 and 1960, who did not attend this course as a student or teacher.

After 1970, the mighty government ministries of East Germany gave up their antagonism towards jazz music, giving the "explanation" that jazz had become an integral part of East German culture and politics. But Klaus Lenz and the Modern Soul band found its own way to the Fusion of rock and jazz music. In East Germany in particular, free jazz musicians developed their own gestures and improvised first on apparently East German-specific material in such a way that the idea of an "Eisler Weill Folk-Free jazz" could take hold abroad. The self-assertion was more strongly pronounced in East than in West Germany. Among the better-known artists of this era were Conny Bauer and Ulrich Gumpert (Zentralquartett), as well as Manfred Hering and Günter "Baby" Sommer. This music resonated with a very broad young audience, and was very successful. The jazz journalist Bert Noglik noted in retrospect: "In the course of the seventies in the GDR in the evolution of jazz the Free Jazz (in a broader sense) has crystallized to be the form of the major direction of practice and its majority passes, and exists both in quantitative and qualitative respects. This statement refers to the musicians, the audience and also the organizational structure of the concert and tour management. All of this is even more astonishing when one considers that in the eastern and western neighboring regions, there always flowed a relatively strong mainstream music."...etc



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Thursday, April 10, 2014

ALBERT MANGELSDORFF QUINTETT – Now Jazz Ramwong (LP-1964)



Label: AMIGA – 8 50 041 (Series: Amiga Jazz)
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono, Reissue
Country: German Democratic Republic (GDR); Released: 1980 
Style: Hard Bop, Free Jazz
Recorded at Walldorf Tonstudio Frankfurt, 6 and 7 Jun 1964
Photography By [Liner Foto] – Mara Eggert
Producer - Horst Lippmann
Liner Notes By – Karlheinz Drechsel
Written-By – Albert Mangelsdorff (tracks: A1 to A4, B2, B4), Heinz Sauer (tracks: B1), Ravi Shankar (tracks: B3)

Albert Mangelsdorff had just completed a long concert tour in Asia prior to this recording session in Frankfurt, where he documented many of the originals that he performed on the road.

A1 - Now Jazz Ramwong . . . 9:02
A2 - Sakura Waltz . . . 3:27
A3 - Blue Fanfare . . . 6:41
B1 - Three Jazz Moods . . . 6:13
B2 - Burungkaka . . . 3:28
B3 - Raknash . . . 4:42
B4 - Theme From Vietnam . . . 0:59
B5 - Es Sungen Drei Engel . . . 7:31

ALBERT MANGELSDORF – Trombone
GÜNTER KRONBERG – Alto Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone
HEINZ SAUER – Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone
GÜNTER LENZ – Bass
ROLF HÜBNER – Drums, Percussion


Brilliant modern jazz from German trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff – recording here in 1964, but sounding years ahead of his time, with an amazing a blend of jazz and Asian styles! The album's one of Mangelsdorff's best ever – a set of rhythmic tunes that seem clearly informed by the work of Ornette and Joe Harriott, but also based along eastern themes picked up by the group on a tour of the Orient – and performed by a sharp-edged quintet that includes Heinz Sauer on tenor and soprano sax, Günter Kronberg on alto, Günter Lenz on bass, and Ralph Hübner on drums. There's some nice traces of MPS/Saba modal and Jazz Meets the World styles – and overall, the rhythmic pulse keeps things from getting as free and out as on Mangelsdorff's 70s sides – really soaring, but never too far out – and always with a cool exotic groove. The whole thing's great – instantly striking, and always a treasure – and titles include "Sakura Waltz", "Now Jazz Ramwong", "Raknash", "Theme From Vietnam", and "Burungkaka".

_ By KEN DRYDEN



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Friday, February 21, 2014

WOLFGANG DAUNER'S ET CETERA – Knirsch (LP-1972)




Label: MPS Records – 21 21432-2
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: Germany / Released: 1972
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Free-Jazz-Rock, Experimental, Prog Rock
Recorded at MPS-Studio, Villingen, March 1972.
Cover [Design], Photography By [Outside Cover] – Frieder Grindler
Engineer – Rolf Donner
Photography By [Inside Cover] – H. Mall, J. Becker
Producer – Willi Fruth

A1 - The Really Great Escape (Composed By – L. Coryell) .......................... 4:20
A2 - Sun (Composed By – W. Dauner) .......................................................... 6:38
A3 - Yan (Voice, Effects [Sounds] – Richard Ketterer) ................................ 12:55
B1 - Tuning Spread (Composed By – W. Dauner) ....................................... 11:05
B2 - Yin (Composed By – W. Dauner) ........................................................... 9:55

Musicians:
WOLFGANG DAUNER – keyboards, electronics [Electronic Devices]
LARRY CORYELL – guitar
GÜNTER LENZ – bass
JON HISEMAN – drums
FRED BRACEFUL – drums, percussion


Completely new standards were set with this recording in 1972. “ Knirsch ” became cult and still is until now, 42 years after its release. A unique example for the successful interweaving of jazz, rock, avant-garde and electronic.

With its follow-up, Knirsch, which is German for “ crunch, ” as alluded to by the trippy “ bite ” cover art of Frieder Grindler, who also designed ECM and Mood Records covers in the 1970s, the starry group was out and Dauner reconnected with MPS to hook up with American guitarist Larry Coryell (Chico Hamilton, Free Spirits, Gary Burton) and British drummer Jon Hiseman (aka John Hiseman, co-founder of the jazz-rock bands Colosseum and Tempest and, later, with Wolfgang Dauner, the all-star band United Jazz + Rock Ensemble).

This is a surpassing masterpiece.

Knirsch ” lost nothing of its initial musical stimulus. And for the primarily young generation, it may be a totally new discovery. Although some may know at least one title, the final track “ Yin ” . As this one (an honour not too many German composers experienced) was covered by Larry Coryell on his recording “ Introducing The Eleventh House ” .

The group on „Knirsch “ was named „Et Cetera “ by Dauner and he explained it as follows: „We want to make spontaneous music. Music, created at the very moment of playing and allowing its development as we go on. We let it continue on and on, but it must sound alive. We despise categories and limits. ”

High time for a new discovery of this path breaking recording.



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Wednesday, August 21, 2013

HANS KOLLER & WOLFGANG DAUNER – Free Sound & Super Brass (LP-1976)




Label: MPS Records – 68.109, MPS Records – MPS 15.461
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album; Country: Germany - Released: 1976
Style: Avant-garde Jazz, Free, Big Band
Recorded live at Audimax Techn. Universitat, Vienna, Oct. 4, 1975.
Design [Cover Design] – Rolf Becker
Photography By – Hans Koller
Producer – Willi Fruth

Personnel:
Hans Koller - sopranino, soprano sax, co-leader
Wolfgang Dauner - keyboards, co-leader
trumpets:
Robert Demmer, Friedrich Hujer, Conny Jackel, Herbert Joos, Ernst Lamprecht, Robert Politzer, Kenny Wheeler
trombone:
Roy Deuvall, Garney Hicks, Erich Kleinschuster, Albert Mangelsdorff
Rudolf Josel - bass trombone
Günter Lenz - e-bass
Janusz Stefanski - drums


Hans Koller was based in Hamburg through the 1960s, working as musical director of the city's Schauspielhaus at the decade's end. In 1970 he returned to his hometown of Vienna and began exploring free jazz with Wolfgang Dauner in his Free Sound Ensemble (Free Sound and Super Brass, 1975, MPS). Koller's subsequent projects included duos, the brass ensemble International Brass Company, mainstream combos, and an all-sax unit. He occasionally worked on interdisciplinary projects as well, like his 1968 ballet, New York City.


An intriguing composer and ambitious pianist, German musician Wolfgang Dauner has combined jazz, rock, electronic music, and elements of opera and theater in creating broad- based, ranging works. While at times these compositions may seem too far-reaching, Dauner's best work shows the links between idioms and genres and offers provocative musical and cultural concepts. He studied trumpet, piano, and composition at the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart, then joined Joki Freund's sextet in the early '60s. Dauner appeared at several German festivals, then made his recording debut heading a trio in 1964. It was one of the first European free jazz recording sessions. Dauner led Radio Jazz Group Stuttgart and wrote compositions for them in 1969. He formed the jazz-rock band Et Cetera in 1970, then, with Hans Koller, co-led the Free Sound & Super Brass Big Band. He helped organize the United Jazz and Rock Ensemble in 1975, and began featuring theater, opera, and dance segments along with his performances in '70s and '80s concerts.



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Thursday, August 8, 2013

ALBERT MANGELSDORFF QUARTET – Diggin' Live At DUG, Tokyo 1971 (CD-1991)




Label: Three Blind Mice – TBM CD 2505
Format: CD, Album, Reissue, Limited Edition, Remastered, Special Edition + bonus track
Country: Germany/Japan - Released: 1991
Style: Free Jazz
Recorded Live At DUG, Tokyo On February 15, 1971
Produced for Three Blind Mice Records, Inc.
Producer: Horst Weber originally produced for three blind mice in Tokyo
Supervisor: Takeshi 'Tee' Fujii
Recording and Digital Transfer Engineer was Yoshihiko Kannari
(Digital transfer was done on February 7, 1991)
Cover Photos: Hozumi Nakadaira; Cover Design: Ben Nishizawa

Track 3 "Boston Highway" does not appear on LP configuration.


Album Notes:

The master of multiphonics (playing more than one note at a time on a horn), Albert Mangelsdorff has been a giant of the European avant-garde for the past 30 years. He originally studied violin and worked as a jazz guitarist before taking up the trombone in 1948.

Here he is taped live at a concert in Tokyo with what was then his regular quartet: Heinz Sauer on sax, Günter Lenz on bass, and Ralf Hübner on drums.

There's a very nice blend between the leader's agile but smooth horn and the somewhat more gnarly tenor sax of Sauer, who tosses in rhythm and blues licks in much the manner of Archie Shepp. The rhythm section provides an open, loose, and flowing feel to the four extended pieces. Most of the second side is given over to "Mahüsale," a piece improvised spontaneously by the members of the group and an excellent example of this kind of musical activity.

_ By EUGENE CHADBOURNE (for AMG)



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