Release Date: 04 June 2021
Label: Origin Records
Packaging Type: Digipak
No of Units: 2
Barcode: 805558281020
Genres: Jazz Contemporary
Description
Captured during a pivotal, trailblazing period of his five decade career, pianist Hal Galper had come off the road with the Cannonball Adderley Quintet looking to establish his new working band. Pulling in Michael & Randy Brecker, whom he had recorded & worked with in the early '70s, along with bassist Wayne Dockery and drummer Bob Moses, Galper set up Sunday matinees at NY's Sweet Basil jazz club for a year to woodshed the group concept and new compositions. In the studio, 1977's "Reach Out" displayed an astonishingly original collective, all matching Galper's chance-taking, high-spirited, free-wheeling approach to music making. 1979's "Speak with a Single Voice" captured the energy of the quintet live, but on this 1977 Berlin Jazz Festival performance, the band shifts into an other-wordly overdrive. From the opening salvos of Galper's "Now Hear This," the mission is defined - jazz giants, in the prime of their youth, set free to blow, pushed to the limits by Galper's facility, full-bodied sound, and fertile imagination.
"(Mike & Randy Brecker) comprised a blistering front line. Galper was in aggressive form, playing with an energy reminiscent of McCoy Tyner, a spirit of embellishment reminiscent of Art Tatum and a harmonic knowledge reminiscent of Bill Evans. Dockery and Moses formed a heart-pounding tandem." - Owen Cordle, JAZZTIMES
Artists:
Hal Galper - Piano
Randy Brecker - Trumpet
Michael Brecker - Tenor Saxophone
Wayne Dockery - Bass
Bob Moses - Drums
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
"This intense moment in time captures US pianist Hal Galper leading a volatile quintet with the fabled Brecker brothers...At a time when straight ahead jazz was competing with fusion, this high-flying acoustic quintet generated a sizzling electricity of its own." Jim Gilchrist, The Scotsman, 4 STARS
Tracklisting
Xose Miguelez
Joachim Mencel, Steve Cardenas, Scott Colley & Rudy Royston
Thomas Marriott, Orrin Evans, Luques Curtis & Mark Whitfield Jr
Ted Moore Trio
Jared Hall
Meridian Odyssey
Ben Patterson, Shawn Purcell, Chris Ziemba, Paul Henry, Todd Harrison
Brent Jensen
Hal Galper Quintet
