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
Alan Barnes Quartet
Fred Hersch Trio
Noah Preminger
Harper Trio
Samuel Blaser
Anne Paceo
Robert Mitchell
Gregory Groover Jr.
