This live festival double album highlights 11 European groups representing a potpourri of musical styles and directions. Kurt Edelhagen led one of Europe’s major big bands. This edition included American stars Benny Bailey (trp), Jiggs Wigham (trb), European stalwarts Ferdinand Povel (sax), Dieter Reith (p) and Günter Lenz (b). Their Kindly Leave the Stage flashes by in a blistering bop-inflected escapade. The fusion quartet Association P. C. gained international fame in the early 70’s. With star Dutch keyboardist Jasper van’t Hof in the forefront, Frau Theunissen is an electric tour de force. On Faun, the Brassy Brew quintet offers up a hodgepodge of musical colors. One of the most influential swing bands in post-war Germany, the Erwin Lehn Big Band, performs Roto Rooter, a funky blues with an infectious rock rhythm and driving solos by trumpet masters, Ack van Rooyen and Rolf Erikson. On the arousing From Now On, world music vibraphonist Karl Berger teams up with renowned avant-gardists Peter Kowald (b) and Alan Blairman (drs). Saxophonist Hans Koller lifted Austrian jazz onto the international scene. Isus Mirror is an intensely passionate reflection of his group’s name: Free Sound. Oscar Klein’s Tremble Kids was famous for its hard-driving ‘Chicago’ traditional jazz sound. With At the Jazz Band Ball, the band revisits the music of the 20’s Chicago speakeasies. Next, American trumpet great Art Farmer dances his group through the upbeat bossa Cascavelo. The iconic German big band Rhythm Combination & Brass let loose with Let’s Boom Chitty Boom, an up-tempo blues riding on a solid rock beat and outstanding solos. Pianist Michael Naura’s quartet play his moving, fusion-inflected piece Miriam, with Michael on fender piano joined by vibraphonist Wolfgang Schlüter. Iconoclastic pianist Fredrich Gulda was known as much for his experiments in jazz as for his defining interpretations of Mozart. On Anima Gulda and co. venture into the fantastic realm of the Dadaistic avant-garde. Recordings that adhere to the adage ‘variety is the spice of life’
