Dubbed “the Keyboard Philharmonic”, and directed by the Swiss master pianist/composer George Gruntz, this 1975 album features six of the greatest European jazz keyboardists of the period. French master Martial Solal, Englishman Gordon Beck, Germans Wolfgang Dauner and Joachim Kuhn, and Netherlander Jasper van’t Hof join Gruntz in a pianistic extravaganza of a particular sort, accompanied by the crack American bass and drum team of John Lee and Alphonse Mouzon. British critic Mike Hennessey termed the album “an anthology, in highly contemporary musical dress, of all those celebrated nostalgic dances of the thirties.” With all of the pieces composed by the various pianists, the high-octane play has more to do with 70’s fusion and the avant-garde than the musical mores of the Jazz Age. Rumba Orgiastica solo order: Gruntz/Kühn/Mouzon. English Moxplott coda duo: Dauner/Solal. Hymny Shimmy solo: Beck. Hal-Lucy-‘n-o’-One Step collective: Dauner/van’t Hof/Gruntz. Zookie Cookie solos: Dauner/Kühn/van’t Hof. Lookie Pookie solos: Gruntz/Kühn/Lee. Tango Teclado solos: Dauner/van’t Hof. Tittie-Chickie-Fitterbug Dauner/Solo/Beck. Shoo-fly-Shuffle solos: Kühn/Mouzon. Charles’ Stone and Quickflip intro solo: van’t Hof, bridge duo: Dauner/Gruntz. A unique chance to hear some of Europe’s greatest keyboard stylists in a pianistic meeting of the minds.
