Recorded live at the ’71 Berlin Festival, this amazing album highlights four iconic jazz violinists. Jean Luc Ponty ‘plays violin like Coltrane plays saxophone.’ The Frenchman transported violin playing into the world of modern jazz. Called ‘the Jimmy Hendrix of the violin’, Don ‘Sugarcane’ Harris’s work with Frank Zappa, John Lee Hooker, and Little Richard affirmed that he was the violin master of jazz-inflected rock ‘n roll. Michal Urbaniak played a major role in the development of jazz fusion in the 70’s and 80’s, blending Polish folk music with the funk and fusion of the Big Apple, and Nipso Brantner was renowned for his swing style in the tradition of Reinhardt and Grappelli. The four are accompanied by a top international rhythm section. Urbaniak’s fusion piece Valium is much more a stimulant than a downer as all four show off their considerable chops. Sugarcane and Nipso walk on the soulful side of the street on the classic blues Got My Mojo Working (check out guitarist Terje Rypdal’s solo), and the up-tempo Nuggis has Ponty and Urbaniak in virtuoso form. On the Avant-guard Horizon, Harris, Urbaniak and Brantner test the limits of their instruments, while Flipping is Ponty’s solo tour de force. Astorama belongs to Harris and Ponty, while the 17-minute Violin Summit II is a fusion feast for the four. A violin extravaganza!