MPS Reissues List

[peter rh]

Don't recall to many details,but a list was posted on BNBB about
plans for reissues by MPS.
Anybody retain that information or know where it might be
available ?

[Daniel A]

Jug21
Member
Member # 3033
posted February 15, 2003 01:49 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After some conversations with Universal Austria the following attributes of the MPS reissue program can be considered as pretty certain:
- 2 batches of 6 or 10 titles this very
year 2003 (one in autumn, one in winter -
before X-mas)
- Midprice (at least in Europe)
- Original Cover Art Work
- 5” Paper Sleeve (the quality of cover
reproduction and cardboard should be
better than it is in the LPR-series)
- 24 bit mastering (no clue so far by whom)
- Mister HGBS will be on board (with a
special “Personal Choice”-Program which
should include previously unissued
material!)
- every batch should focus on one special
feature (MPS Piano, MPS Big Band
MPS Avantgarde, MPS Rare Groove,
MPS produced by J.E.Berendt, MPS Artists
from Austria)

Already in May/June there will be a Fritz Pauer-Feature of 3 or 5 CDs with the mentioned characteristics. Mister Pauer will be asked which sessions he wants to see rereleased – the favourite titles of Universal Austria would be

- Art Farmer/From Vienna With Art
- Friedrich Gulda & Fritz Pauer/Fata Morgana
- Fritz Pauer/Power By Pauer.

In November there should be a Gulda-Feature with possibly all his sessions rereleased!

As the final decision will be made by Universal Germany, Universal Austria has asked them to reissue (apart from the Pauer- and Gulda-Catalogue) the following titles:

15422 Hans Koller-Wolfgang Dauner/
Kunstkopfindianer
15082 Annie Ross-Pony Poindexter/
With Berlin All-Stars
15214 Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big
Band/All Smiles
15231 Lucky Thompson/A Lucky Songbook In
Europe
15236 Art VanDamme/Art And Four Brothers
15249 John Tchicai/Afrodisaca
15259 Down Beat Poll Winners In Europe/
Open Space
15288 Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big
Band/More Smiles
15291 Anita O’Day/ In Berlin
15292 Eddie Louiss/ Our Kind Of Sabi
Don “Sugarcane” Harris/Keep On Driving
(and all the others by him!)
15323 George Duke/The Inner Source
15330 Ray Nance/Huffin’ ‘N’ Puffin’
15375 Tomasz Stanko & Michal Urbaniak/
We’ll Remember Komeda
15376 Earl Hines & Jaki Byard/Duet!
15501 MUMPS/A Matter Of Taste
both Cecil TAYLORs
Zoller-Koller-Solal
Zoller-Konitz-Mangelsdorff
Don Menza/Morning Song
15191 Barney Wilen/Dear Prof. Leary
15261 Mike Nock Underground/Between
Or Beyond
15280 Dave Pike Set/Infra-Red
15339 Smoke/Everything
15345 Association P.C./Sun Rotation
15356 Wolfgang Dauner/Knirsch
15481 Pork Pie/The Door Is Open
15499 Michal Urbaniak’s Fusion/Smiles Ahead
Charlie Mariano - Helen 12 Trees
Volker Kriegel - Lift!

Both, Universal Austria & Germany, are aware of this thread and they will thank you for your input! There are no titles confirmed so far! And it seems that Germany will first focus on piano & big bands. So titles not mentioned in the Austrian proposal have still a good chance to be reissued (those Herbolzheimer’s for instance or Maynard Ferguson or Don Ellis or Martial Solal or Jan Hammer or maybe titles by artists not mentioned so far anyway – like Gustav Brom!)!!! Thank you & please stay tuned.

Christian

[Jug21]

Peter, thank you for asking!

Daniel, thank you for answering!

I'll have a meeting with the Product Manager (Jazz) of Universal Austria on Thursday and hope to come back with more news.

Christian

[Dennis]

Jug21,

Could you please put in a good word for Willem Breuker's "The European Scene"?
;)

Thanks,
Dennis

[GA Russell]

I didn't know Mike Nock ever recorded for MPS. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for that.

I had forgotten about the Dave Pike Set! Does anyone remember who were in the group? I have an Atlantic/Vortex album from that era called The Doors of Perception which I still enjoy listening to.

To my knowledge Mark Murphy's MPS record has never been released on CD (but don't bet the ranch on that!). I would think that he would be on the top of the list.

[Mnytime]

Which are these? "both Cecil TAYLORs"

[soulpope]

mark murphy`s "midnight mood" was released on cd-level in japan and is still available via www.dustygroove.com

best emil

[king ubu]

thanks for posting this list again (saw the first version in the old days...). wow! lots of things I reckon must be great! too young to know much of this though, as it has not been out on cd or was not available in the last few years.

ubu

[soulpope]

hi christian,

good to meet again on this board. could you please enlight us (me) also on the progress of the early summer fritz pauer bithday releases, did he already made up his mind ??

grüße emil

[peter rh]

Many thanks to both Daniel A and Jug 21.
Look forward to more info when available - a lot of interesting
music involved

[D.D.]

Originally posted by Jug21
Peter, thank you for asking!

Daniel, thank you for answering!

I'll have a meeting with the Product Manager (Jazz) of Universal Austria on Thursday and hope to come back with more news.

Christian

Looking forward.

[soulpope]

hallo christian,

any news from yesterdays meeting with universal austria ?


liebe grüße vom ungeduldigen emil

[Jug21]

Again no further details!

In fact there was no specific feedback from Universal GERMANY to the Austrian proposal!

Universal Austria will now come out with 5 Fritz Pauer titles (led by him or co-led by him) by themselves in June, which should serve as a role model for the upcoming "rest" (whatsoever this "rest" will be!). Graphic work is already on its way, though the titles are still not fixed so far. As mentioned above

- Art Farmer/From Vienna With Art
- Friedrich Gulda & Fritz Pauer/Fata Morgana
- Fritz Pauer/Power By Pauer

should have a very good chance to be part of this 5-pak.
Nevertheless the graphic work will be done by a fellow ex-BNBB member and remastering will follow as soon as the decision is made - I still don't know by whom.

and Emil - believe me - you can't be much more impatient than me!

Christian

[soulpope]

hallo christian,

i think the uncertainty about the pauer titles is one of the better reasons in life to have sleepless nights !! looking forward for an update whenever available

hab ein schönes wochenende,

emil

[Fran]

I for one look forward to the two Clark Boland BB's. Smiles And More Smiles great stuff. I'll buy.
I also would want to know more about the Lucky Thompson and believe it or not the Great Art VanDamm's release.

Next comes the question- " What else do they have in their vault?
Was the Czechoslovakian Big Band Lp of the 60's on MPS? Any of the Max Greiger Jazz?
Lots of great stuff from the 60's European Jazz Scene

[Late]

Does anyone have details (personnel, year, etc.) on the John Tchicai title? Looking forward to this one.

[Jug21]

Late,
as David has mentioned it was recorded 1969 (Juli 16 - side one/Juli 17 - side two) with Cadentia Nova Danica (incl. Willem Breuker and J.C.Moses) in Kopenhagen

“Afrodisiac” (Steinmetz) 21:45

“Heavenly Love On A Planet” (Tchicai) 4:30
“Fodringsmontage” (Tchicai) 2:12
“This Is Heaven” (T. O’Farrell) 6:38
“Lakshmi” (Tchicai) 6:26


Fran,
the Max Greger sessions has been recorded for Polydor, not for MPS (though both are in the Universal-Roster). They has already been reissued in the mid-90's and were far from selling well.

The Czech Big Band LP you have mentioned is possibly
Gustav Brom, Swinging The Jazz
and is indeed a SABA/MPS-date (15.122)

Mnytime (sorry for answering so late),
"both Cecil Taylors" means:

"Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly!" (1980, MPS-15.575 - Solo Piano)
"Live In The Black Forrest" (1978, MPS-15.505 - Sextet incl.
Jimmy Lyons and Sirone)

Dennis,
Breuker's "European Scene" has been reissued in the mid-90's! It's OOP now and therefor I have asked the guys at Universal Austria if they have one copy hidden in their offices or elsewhere, but sorry to say... they couldn't find one. As one main point of this reissue-series has initially been to release only albums which has not been on CD so far I doubt that the Breuker will see the light in this series... But as there is no one single title fixed so far ...
Who knows? - I don't!

Christian

[soulpope]

hi christian,

any news on the mps and fritz pauer reissues ??

schöne grüße

emil

[Jug21]

Well, somehow the last few weeks has been very disappointing. Some friendly fire from Universal Germany - if you will. Anyway, STILL THERE IS NOTHING FIXED... Germany has redefined some approaches of their program:

- main focus will be the REMASTERING, no longer the initial
thought, to release only albums, which hasn't been out on CD
so far...

- DIGI-PAKs instead of Paper Sleeves...

- it seems, that NO UNRELEASED MATERIAL will or could
be used, as UNIVERSAL hasn't acquired the rights when
they made the deal with HGBS in the 80's - at least they
say so! (In fact, they say that Mr. Brunner-Schwer always
denied, when asked, that there IS unreleased material....)

- there will be some box-sets accompanying the batches.
4 of these boxes seem to be very certain:
1. Complete Oscar Peterson Studio
2. Complete Oscar Peterson "Hauskonzerte"
3. Eugen Cicero Plays Classics
[no comment so far!] and
4. [at least some good news for me] Friedrich Gulda -
Musician Of Our Time (that has been a 9 LP-Set limited to
2000 units in the mid-70's, which included material from 65
to 72)

- they will start with 3 batches (6 titles each) this year.
- first batch is scheduled for June and should focus on
German Mainstream sessions by six of the following
artists:

Eugen Cicero, Charlie Antolini, Dieter Reith, Albert
Mangelsdorff, Joachim Kühn, Wolfgang Dauner, Horst
Jankowski, Michael Naura or Volker Kriegel

At least it seems that Universal AUSTRIA will get the okay from
Germany to release the "Austrian" Sessions. So there might be 3 additional Six-Paks from Vienna (with the same attributes)!

July/August: a broad range from Dixie to Rare Groove/from
Big Band to Chamber Jazz

15097 Friedrich Gulda/Music for 4 Soloists & Band No.1
15367 Fritz Pauer/Power By Pauer
15165 Roland Kovac/Trip To The Mars
15521 Fatty George/Fatty '78
15422 Hans Koller/Kunstkopfindianer
15061 Zoller-Koller-Solal

September/Octrober: to celebrate the 60's birthday of Fritz Pauer:

15282 Art Farmer/From Vienna With Art
15313 Gulda & Pauer/Fata Morgana
15066 Don Menza/Morning Song
15082 Annie Ross/With Berlin All Stars
15268 Pauer/Berlin Jazz Galerie
15522 Pauer/Blues Inside Out

December: Hans Koller-Special (as this is the month, when the Austrian Jazz Price is to be presented, which is named after Koller):

15478 Koller/For Marcel Duchamp
15515 Koller/New York City
15088+15100 Koller/Relax With My Horns + Vision (2 on 1)
15315 Koller/Phoenix
15024 Koller/Exclusiv (should include "My Little Cello" from
the Oscar Pettiford-Hans Koller Session, which was
not on the LP-Version)
15057 Various/Jazz Workshop '65
(this session has not been released so far! If it is true, that the tapes didn't exist any more or Universal hasn't got the rights - then the sixth title will be:
15461 Koller & Dauner/Free Sound & Super Brass)

Vienna will also try to get some austrian-relevant live-material which has been released on Albums like "Heidelberger Jazztage" et al. to include them to appropriate albums.

IF THERE WILL BE SOMETHING FIXED in the near future - and I would say it's time to do so - I'LL REPORT,

Christian

[D.D.]

Thanks for the info, Christian!

[soulpope]

hi christian,

thanks for the update. sorry to hear even in projects like these "friendly fire" is on schedule.nevertheless, hope things will happen at least on the austrian side.

concerning unissued stuff, there is some, rest assured. as a taster there is a complete unissued bill evans trio session using brunner schwer`s famous piano. i think brunner schwer is a "easy going "guy.

happy easter, schönegrüße

emil

[Jug21]

As for today UNIVERSAL GERMANY will start in June with the
following titles. But please note that there are no catalogue numbers so far, which means changes are still possible!


Charlie Antolini - Drum Beat – MPS 15 085

Albert Mangelsdorff - Trilogue - Live! – MPS 15 424

Wolfgang Dauners Et Cetera – Knirsch – MPS 15 356

Joachim Kühn - Hip Elegy – MPS 15 466

Horst Jankowski – Jankowskinetik – MPS 15 273

Volker Kriegel - Inside: Missing Link - MPS 52 012



Christian

[henning55]

Looking forward to the Dauner CD and hope that more will follow...

greetings, Henning

[Daniel A]

Originally posted by soulpope

concerning unissued stuff, there is some, rest assured. as a taster there is a complete unissued bill evans trio session using brunner schwer`s famous piano.

I wasn't aware of this, and it indeed sounds intriguing! When was it supposedly recorded, and who were the sidemen?

[Jug21]

At last the first batch will be:


--- Charly Antolini - Drum Beat - 15 086
Charly Antolini - drums / Dieter Reith - piano / Conny Jackel - trumpet / Gerhard Lachmann - trombone / Bernd Fischer - alto sax / Joki Freund - tenor sax / Johnny Feigl - baritone sax / Peter Witte - bass

--- Wolfgang Dauner - Music Zounds - 15 270
Wolfgang Dauner - piano / Eberhard Weber - bass / Roland Wittich - drums

--- Horst Jankowski - Jankowskinetik - 15 273
Horst Jankowski - piano / Hans Wenzel - guitar / Götz Wendlandt - bass / Branislav Kovacev - drums

--- Volker Kriegel - Inside: Missing Link - 15 362
Volker Kriegel - guitar, electric guitar / John Taylor - electric piano / Eberhard Weber - bass, bass guitar / Peter Baumeister - drums / Cees See - percussion, voice, flute, effects

--- Albert Mangelsdorff - Albert Mangelsdorff And His Friends -
15 210
Albert Mangelsdorff - trombone / Wolfgang Dauner - piano / Don Cherry - trumpet / Lee Konitz - sax / Karl Berger - vibraphone / Atilla Zoller - guitar / Elvin Jones - drums

--- Joachim Kühn - Hip Elegy - 15 466
Joachim Kühn - piano / Terumasa Hino - trumpet / Philip Caterine - guitar / John Lee - bass guitar / Nana Vasconcelos - percussion / Alphonse Mouzon - drums


UNFORTUNATELY Universal Germany has to cancel Dauner's "Knirsch" due to contractual problems! :mad:

Christian

[D.D.]

WHen is the first batch out? Thanks.

[soulpope]

hi christian,

any news/changes/crossed hurdles etc. on the austrian MPS rerelease scene ?

cheers, emil

[Mnytime]

Christian

How is it looking for the 2 Cecil Taylor recordings?

[RogerFarbey]

The MPS CD reissue of two earlier Clarke Boland albums (Fellini/All Blues etc) was absolutely superb as was a Volker Kriegel one. Can't wait for the 'All Smiles/More Smiles' reissue - maybe a candidate for another double CD? Good news anyway. Thanks.

[peter rh]

any chance this thread can be salvaged and updated ?

[Claude]

Amazon Germany lists the new MPS reissues. Some are available since September 1, others have a release date of October 27 or November 24.

Go to the advanced search page (http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/tg/stores/static/-/music/search/302-4858506-6823241#form-2) and enter "Mps-Record" in the label field

[Paul Christie]

Claude, I just had a look at Amazon.de - I noted that there are a number of Oscar Peterson discs from the "Exclusively For My Friends" series that are due for release on 20 October - and they appear to have the SACD logo on the covers! No mention of SACD anywhere else though.

Could this be true? Does anyone know if these are to be released as SACDs?

Also, does anyone have the catalog numbers for the MPS albums released recently eg. Joachim Kuhn, Volker Kriegel, Horst Jankowski? I would like to order them through local import distribution.

Thanks...

[Claude]

Yes, I've read somewhere (maybe in a lost part of this thread) about the Oscar Peterson discs being SACDs. The higher price at Amazon.de (15.99 Euro, the other MPS reissues being 9.99 Euro) is also a sign that these are not CDs.

Of course Amazon gets the info and the cover pictures of future releases from the labels, which may change their plans on the reissue format at the last moment.

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0000C435P.03.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0000C435H.03.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

[Rob Damen]

Mary Lou Williams: "Black Christ of the Andes"

That's on the MPS/Saba label.

Any chance of this making the CD cut?

Cheers,

Rob

[Jug21]

Dear Paul,

September 1

9808699 Volker Kriegel - Spectrum
9808189 Horst Jankowski - Jankowskinetik
9808186 Joachim Kühn - Hip Elegy
9808190 Wolfgang Dauner - Music Zounds
0673752 Albert Mangelsdorff - & his Friends
9808191 Charly Antolini - Drum Beat

October 27 (maybe one week later)

9811447 Friedrich Gulda - Fata Morgana
9811264 Fritz Pauer - Blues Inside Out
9811263 Fritz Pauer - Live At Berlin Jazzgalerie
9811257 Annie Ross & Pony Poindexter - With Berlin All Stars
9811443 Art Farmer - From Vienna With Art
9811446 Don Menza - Morning Song

End of November (cat# TBA)

Hans Koller - Exclusive
Hans Koller - Relax With My Horns
Hans Koller - New York City
Hans Koller - Phoenix
Hans Koller - Kunstkopfindianer
Zoller - Koller - Solal

October 20

single releases of Oscar Peterson's Exclusively For My Friends Series on SACD Hybrid.
cat#´s will follow the next days!

stay tuned,
Christian

[Jug21]

9813439 Koller - Kunstkopfindianer
9813445 Koller - Relax With My Horns
9813437 Koller - New York City
9813438 Koller - Phoenix
9813440 Koller - Exclusive
8431072 Zoller - Koller - Solal

Oscar Peterson SACDs Hybrid will be released on
October 27

[clifton]

The John Tchicai "Afrodisiaca" is impressive. If you don't know this one, pounce on the CD.

[Paul Christie]

Thanks Christian,

I appreciate your help re the catalog numbers, and look forward to the Oscar Peterson ones.

Do you know if there is still any plan to reissus some of the Eugen Cicero MPS catalog?

Regards,

Paul

[Claude]

Does anyone have the book Jazzin’ the Black Forest - The Complete Guide to SABA/MPS-Jazz Records and can recommend it? I guess it is OOP now. A review of the book and more info on MPS is available here (http://www.marqs.net/music/rev/RZ_MPS_990704.htm) (in german).

http://www.dustygroove.com/images/products/mpssaba~~~~_jazzinthe_101b.jpg

[Edit:] The book can still be ordered on Amazon Germany (51€) and from the editor www.crippled.de

For those who don't know the Jazz Label Listings Project already, a listing of all MPS/Saba albums can be found here (http://www.fmi.uni-passau.de/~schneide/discogr/saba/)

[Paul Christie]

I have this book, and it is excellent. Very detailed information, in German and English. The discography is set out chronologically by session - and the session details are not always directly related to the albums concerned - but there is a thorough album and artist index, which helps one navigate the exhaustive detail. There are some overview essays in the first part of the book which look at the different styles of music the label recorded. There is also a colour section with the complete albums covers, mostly small images, some larger.

I obtained my copy from Norbert Ruecker in Germany. His service is excellent and I think he still has the book in stock.(http://www.jazzrecords.com/jazzbooks/)

[Claude]

I just ordered the book from Amazon.de , which offers free shipping to my country. It says 3 days delivery time, which means they don't have it in stock. I will return to the other shops in case they can't get it. Thanks for the tip, Paul.

MPS has now become my favourite european jazz label. Not for the mainstream albums (Oscar Peterson, Clarke Boland Big Band etc) but for the more out and crossover stuff. I managed to find these CDs after they went OOP and highly recommend them:

- Albert Mangelsdorff - 3 Originals 2CD set, contains the albums "Never Let It End" (1970), "A Jazz Tune I Hope" (1978) and "Triple Entente" (1982)

- George Russell - At Beethoven Hall (1965)

- John Handy - 2 Originals (2CD), with "Karuna Supreme" (1975) and "Rainbow" (1980) - with indian musicians, great stuff

According to Christian's posts, these and all the other MPS CDs except the Oscar Peterson and Clarke Boland albums will not be reissued again, so grab them if you can find them. Amazon.de still has some other titles.

I also dug out a few old cassette copies of samplers of Hans Koller, Volker Kriegel, George Gruntz, "Jazz meets Africa" and "Jazz meets Asia". I'm looking forward to all those Koller reissues, especially the 60's material.

Other outstanding MPS/SABA albums I have heard on LP and would like to see reissued are:

- Archie Shepp - Live At The Donaueschingen Music Festival (1967)
- Baden-Baden Free Jazz Orchestra - Gittin' To Know Y'All (1969, info here (http://www.user.fast.net/~dkmjf/surman.htm))
- The Down Beat Poll Winners in Europe: Open Space (1969, with John Surman, Mangelsdorff, Karin Krog, NHOP, Francy Boland, Daniel Humair)

[Paul Christie]

Claude, the MPS label is an absolute treasure - and I have only scratched the surface of their catalog. I personally do like the Oscar Peterson recordings, although my favourite OP is from the earlier Verve years. nonetheless, some of his MPS recordings are astonishing in their virtuosity, especially the solo albums (eg. Tracks). The Clarke-Boland stuff I have not delved into greatly, but what I have heard I like a great deal. I also like some of the Eugen Cicero trio jazz recordings - I think his inventiveness on the piano was extraordinary, and the rhythm section he used was great.

In stark contrast to the above, there is the extensive MPS fusion catalog, which is up there with the best. I have had great delight discovering the albums of Dave Pike and Volker Kriegel - although precious few have been released on CD, and they are not easy to come by. I would like to see more MPS on CD by the likes of George Duke, Charlie Mariano, Joachim Kuhn, Jan Hammer, etc.

I have not had the chance to explore the more avant garde/free jazz side of the label.

It's great to see continued interest and a commitment to reissue this stuff.

[henning55]

Originally posted by Claude


Other outstanding MPS/SABA albums I have heard on LP and would like to see reissued are:

- Archie Shepp - Live At The Donaueschingen Music Festival (1967)
- Baden-Baden Free Jazz Orchestra - Gittin' To Know Y'All (1969, info here (http://www.user.fast.net/~dkmjf/surman.htm))
- The Down Beat Poll Winners in Europe: Open Space (1969, with John Surman, Mangelsdorff, Karin Krog, NHOP, Francy Boland, Daniel Humair)
IIRC at least the first two titles have been reissued as CDs in Japan, I am not sure about the 'Down Beat Poll Winners'. Unfortunately this makes them rather expensive. I have only two Japanese MPS reiusses, namely 'Yancy Körrösy - Identification' and 'The Dave Pike Set - Album', the latter being one of my absolute MPS favorites.

A few MPS titles from French musicians (Didier Lockwood, Martial Solal) have been reissued on CD in France, and are still available at reasonable prices at amazon.fr.

[Jug21]

Cat# for Oscar Peterson SACDs Hybrid:

“Action”
Super Audio CD / Hybrid
9811293

“Girl Talk”
Super Audio CD / Hybrid
9811294

“Mellow Mood”
Super Audio CD / Hybrid
9811303

“Travelin' On”
Super Audio CD / Hybrid
9811305

“My Favorite Instrument”
Super Audio CD / Hybrid
9811296

as seen on:

http://www.jazzecho.de/page_5674.jsp

[Paul Christie]

Thanks a million for that information!

[Claude]

Zweitausendeins.de (http://www.zweitausendeins.de/) is selling the new MPS reissues for 7.5 Euro.

[peter rh]

anybody yet got the Peterson SACDs or know how they sound?

[Claude]

The price for the Oscar Peterson discs is rather steep.

These albums were available on a 4CD set (http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000046LU/qid=1068542333/sr=1-9/ref=sr_1_0_9/028-1356185-4394926) before (52 Euro). Now the original album order has been restored, which makes it six 40minute-SACDs, sold at full price (20 Euro at Amazon.de, 16 Euro at Amazon.fr).

[peter rh]

thanks Claude - I can't say I'm surprised by the way these have
been reissued.They could have gone further and made them
limited edtions because I doubt that Oscar's fans all own SACD
players ;)

[Claude]

These are single inventory items, only available as hybrid SACDs. Even those wo don't care about high resolution audio must buy them if they want the music. That why I think they should have priced them more attractively, considering the short playing time. The Amazon.fr price is still acceptable. It's strange that Amazon.de has raised the price from 16 to 20 Euro since the disccs were first announced.

I will order the "Mellow mood" volume, which has an incredibly fast version of "Nica's dream".

[Jug21]

Some info on the upcoming Hans Koller CDs
(Release Date in GSA: 1st of December)

Attila Zoller / Hans Koller / Martial Solal - Zoller Koller Solal

01. Mr. Heine’s Blues (Attila Zoller) Manuskript
02. The End Of A Love Affair (Edward C. Redding) Universal Music Publ.
03. Stella By Starlight (Victor Young/Ned Washington) Famous Music Corp.
04. After Glow (Attila Zoller) Silvanus Musikverlag
05. My Old Flame (Sam Coslow/Arthur Johnston) Famous Music Corp.
06. Away From The Crowd (Attila Zoller) Manuskript
07. All The Things You Are (Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II) Universal Music Publ.
08. Stompin’ At The Savoy (Benny Goodman/Edgar M. Sampson/Chick Webb) EMI Robbins Catalog Inc.
09. H.G. Meets M.A.H. (Attila Zoller) Manuskript

Attila Zoller - guitar
Hans Koller - tenor saxophone
Martial Solal - piano

Produced by Joachim-Ernst Berendt / Engineered by Rolf Donner
Recorded at MPS-Studio, Villingen, January 1965
Recording directed by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer and Willi Fruth
(P) 1965 MPS Records

Originally released as MPS 15 061
Original artwork by Gigi Berendt
Photography by Josef Werkmeister

MPS - MOST PERFECT SOUND EDITION produced by Matthias Künnecke
Artwork adaptation & series design by Stefan Kassel
Digitally remastered by Willem Makkee at Emil Berliner Studios, Langenhagen
Original liner notes transcribed by Rommel Causapin - Texts edited by Jörg Eipasch
Series consultant: Stephan Steigleder - Thanks to Harry Gruber and Christian Krug
Special thanks to Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer

Original liner notes

This record is different. It’s a conversation between three musicians - three musicians who are friends. That is what unites them, that and their musical starting point: the classic jazz of Lester Young at one end of the scale, Zoot Sims at the other, with Lee Konitz and Lennie Tristano serving as a sort of focus point. The great French jazz critic André Hodéir called this type of classic jazz “modern Count Basie”. One could also name it “middle of the road jazz”. It was once common ground for all three, but later each one developed into a distinct direction which suited him best. Each of the three has become known, and when one of their names is mentioned it immediately brings to mind precise musical connotations. Each calls to life a whole musical “world” - each his own. Now the three musicians meet again, after many years, to communicate with each other - in dialogues, triologues, and monologues - in duos, trios, and solos…

The idea was Hans Koller’s. He lives a very secluded life in Bräutlingen, in the south of the Black Forest, near the Swiss border. There he works obsessively in his studio, painting pictures which often look as if music had turned into something of a vegetative nature, something organic, growing and burgeoning - something organic born out of dreams…

Koller heard that Attila Zoller, the long-standing friend with whom he had played during his time in Vienna, Frankfurt, and Baden-Baden, was coming over from the States on a visit to Europe. Hans knew at once that he would have to make recordings with him. But he also knew that the time was long past for one of those recordings with tenor sax, guitar, and rhythm section, which he and Attila had produced in such vast numbers during the long years of their collaboration. Hans recalled another musician who, like he himself, had become sort of a lone wolf on the jazz scene of his native country: French pianist Martial Solal. Hans and Martial had become acquainted during the recordings of the European All-Stars in Berlin and Baden-Baden in 1961. Their mutual respect and admiration had not diminished at all since then.

Unlike critics and fans, who can comprehend the importance of such a happening only after listening closely to the recordings, Hans Koller knew intuitively that something special would happen if he, Attila, and Martial got together.

Nothing about this meeting in Villingen/Black Forest was pre-arranged. Hans Koller put his paint brushes aside and left Bräunlingen. Attila had just been recording an album in Hamburg. Solal, who was picked up at Basle airport by a SABA company car, was the first to be ready to play. If you know him, you also know that he’s always prepared for playing. In fact, he once told me, that for years there had not been a single day he did not practice piano for at least six hours.

So, Solal started to play three or four versions of “The End Of A Love Affair” - each so completely different from another that it seemed to be an entirely different composition, each played in Solal’s characteristic style: with abundant brilliant ideas which seem to chase one another. Never - or most seldom - is there anything superfluous. Each idea has its own tempo, its own rhythm, which is indispensable to it, yet nevertheless it all adds up to a unified, tightly woven fabric. What a luck that neither a drummer nor a bass player was present!

Solal, who was born in Algiers in 1927, is well-known for being the foremost modern jazz talent in France, the only European musician whom today’s critics mention in the same breath as Django Reinhardt and Åke “Stan” Hasselgård. He has never played as intimately and personal as on this record.

After Solal, it was Attila Zoller’s turn to play. The Hungarian, who was born in Visegrad in 1927, lived for many years in Germany before he went to America to become, in fact, the only important guitarist in modern free jazz. Today, Attila’s playing is uncompromising, hard, and crystal clear, way out beyond orthodox tonality. But this time Hans Koller (born in Vienna in 1921) was also in the studio, and Attila remembered the things which had previously united them. So he played rich, full chords, replete with Balkan feeling and exhibiting the sensibility he, Hans, and Martial had learned from Lee Konitz and Lennie Tristano, which they will never abandon, however far they may develop into other directions. Out of this feeling, “After Glow” was born. And straight afterwards, Attila and Hans led up to duo version of “All The Things You Are” – a dialogue between friends: Do you remember playing with Oscar Pettiford and Kenny Clarke in Vienna, when Oscar had the accident which cost him his life a year later? Yes, “All The Things You Are” was one our favorite songs then. (For comparison, listen to Hans Koller’s quartet with Zoller, Pettiford and Jimmy Pratt on “Hans Koller Exclusiv”, MPS 15 024).

Attila gradually became the linchpin of this session. After recording a duo with Hans Koller, he entered into a dialogue with Solal, in which one may get a slight idea of the free jazz that today threatens to blow up the American jazz scene. But at the same time you can feel the charm and tenderness of “Stella By Starlight”.

And then the trios - the conversations à trois… Attila Zoller introduced himself as a composer. He hummed and played parts of the tunes which he wrote to Heinrich Heine’s famous lyrics for his own “Lyric Poetry And Jazz” album - “Away From The Crowd” and “Mr. Heine’s Blues”: “How often I longed for the sweetness / Of my patriotic pillows / When I laid upon the hard mattresses / In the sleepless nights of my exile…” Attila Zoller, the Hungarian refugee, who spent his whole life in exile, knows more about this feeling than all the jazz fans who discuss music and girls with him could imagine.

Zoller, Koller, and Solal easily agreed on the Heinrich Heine themes - but it was an agreement which did not only leave room for improvisation but also for imagination.

Here are three great European jazz personalities who pursue their own thoughts, who possess the beat and swing that are essential to jazz improvisation, who therefore don’t need a rhythm section, and who because of the intensitiy of their thoughts and the amicable harmony of their ensemble playing achieve cohesion. With “H.G. Meets M.A.H.” - which is dedicated to the producer Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer and his rendezvous with Martial Solal, Attila Zoller, and Hans Koller - Hans Koller contributes to the compositions for this the trio sessions, too.”

The improvisations Zoller, Koller, and Solal play in their solos, duos, and trios are very European in spirit - and one hardly needs to add that, in a year when American jazz magazines have praised European jazz records more highly than ever before, the word “European” can imply a special seal of quality, even in jazz. Attila Zoller, the Hungarian, who, via Germany, has made America his chosen land... - Martial Solal, the Frenchman from Algeria... - and Hans Koller, the Austrian tenor saxophonist who paints abstract art on the German-Swiss border: they build a trio that is completely different from a group of musicians who have all grown up together in Hastings Street in Detroit. Zoller-Koller-Solal: a guitarist, a saxophonist, and a pianist who all have the courage to be in jazz what they were born to in life - Europeans with the whole, rich variety of this continent. And this is especially evident in their ensemble playing.

Joachim-Ernst Berendt
Translated by N. Whittaker


Hans Koller - Relax With My Horns

01. Relax (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
02. The Sweetest Girl I’ve Ever Known (Hans Rettenbacher) Edition Swington
03. Music For Pablo I (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
04. The Twister (Hans Rettenbacher) Edition Swington
05. Half And Half (Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer) Edition Swington
06. Ziag Hin (Trad./Hans Koller) Edition Swington
07. Blues For Marina (Hans Rettenbacher) Edition Swington
08. Music For Pablo II (Hans Koller) Edition Swington

Hans Koller – soprano & tenor saxophone
Hans Rettenbacher – bass, piano
Rafi Luederitz - drums

Produced and engineered by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer
Recorded at MPS-Studio, Villingen, July 4 - 6, 1966
Recording directed by Willi Fruth
(P) 1966 MPS Records

Originally released as MPS 15 088
Original artwork and photography by Josef Werkmeister

MPS - MOST PERFECT SOUND EDITION produced by Matthias Künnecke
Artwork adaptation & series design by Stefan Kassel
Digitally remastered by Willem Makkee at Emil Berliner Studios, Langenhagen
Original liner notes transcribed by Rommel Causapin - Texts edited by Jörg Eipasch
Series consultant: Stephan Steigleder - Thanks to Harry Gruber, Christian Krug and Helmut Lackner - Special thanks to Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer

Original liner notes:

“Relax With My Horns” was recorded by Hans Koller in a “still conventional manner”, as he himself explains. The homogeneous sound of these tracks is achieved by the playback recording of four saxophones, all played by Koller himself. The alternation between one or more alto or tenor saxes produced a very differing sound. Moreover, Hans Rettenbacher played piano on the first takes and bass on the second takes.

Hans Koller comments the songs:

“Relax” was written for two alto and two tenor saxophones. The fifth saxophone is substituted by Hans Rettenbacher (who also wrote the arrangement) playing its part in the lower register of the piano. The frequent change of time between a 3/4 and a 4/4 time creates a kind of swaying sound. Except for a short bass solo, all solo honors go to the alto sax.

“The Sweetest Girl I’ve Ever Known” was composed and, once again, arranged by Hans Rettenbacher. The harmonically beautiful and resonant sound was written for one alto and two tenor saxophones, giving a homogeneous feeling to the whole tune. The solos are played on tenor sax and - in the last middle part - on alto.

“Music For Pablo I” is part of a whole series of compositions I dedicated to the great master, Pablo Picasso. Except for a few chord patterns, the first chorus is played in unison by two tenor saxophones. In the second half of the tune, Rafi and I started playing in 8/8 and 4/4 time (Rafi lived in New York for almost ten years, and you can tell it when you hear him play a solo). For me, Hans and Rafi are a remarkably swinging rhythm group.

“The Twister” is a thoroughly swinging piece. With this composition, Hans shows that he has studied the jazz tradition starting from the bottom. After the theme, solos are divided between alto sax and bass. Then, Rafi responds to a couple of tutti parts with some excellently timed drum breaks. A “call and response” section for two altos and the revisited theme lead “The Twister” to its ending.

“Half And Half”, a composition by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer, was arranged by Hans Rettenbacher. After the first few bars, there’s no more doubt about Hans Georg’s penchant for swinging music (H.G. himself is also an accomplished pianist and organist). The theme and a few bars of an interlude are followed by the first chorus on alto saxophone. It’s followed by a slightly varied ensemble part and solos on bass, alto, and a tenor sax. The last chorus returns to the theme, starting with a unison phrasing and continuing with block chords towards the end.

“Ziag hin” (Viennese dialect for “Go to...”) is a traditional lansquenet marching song Hermann Brunner-Schwer [Hans Georg’s uncle] used to sing and play often during our visits. Due to his suggestion and because I myself liked the song very much, I wrote an arrangement of it. We used a
march rhythm for the first part, but to make sure the lansquenets move along fast enough, I “doctored” it into a swing rhythm for the theme and the following parts in the second part. Unlike in the first part, which was played by four tenors, now there are three altos and only one tenor
sax. The solos are intensified, and after the third repetition of the swinging theme the tune fades out - and the musicians go off... (“Sie ziagn hin...”)

The first twelve bars of “Blues For Marina”, a quietly flowing blues, are played by the alto sax with underlying piano chords. The same melody line is then repeated by three altos, with the piano chords creating, in a way, an echo effect. The alto solos for the next 24 bars, then follow 12 bars by the collective with two altos. Well, the piano solo: Hans wasn’t prepared at all, when, suddenly, I gave him a signal to play a solo on piano. However, he managed to contribute a really tasteful and
fitting improvisation. The last chorus is a repetition of the first one, but is played the other way around: First the part for three alto saxes, then the part for one. The tune closes with a nice piano and bass figure.

“Music For Pablo II” is yet another composition of the series I dedicated to Picasso. The solo parts are exclusively played on alto sax. Instead of being based on a succession of choruses, the whole tune consists of one extended line, stretching from the beginning all over towards the end.

Translated by Hans J. Mauerer

[Jug21]

Hans Koller Free Sound - Phoenix

01. Nicolas 1/2 (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
02. Isus Mirror (Adelhard Roidinger) Edition Swington
03. CH & HC (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
04. Phoenix (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
05. Victor (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
06. LWS (Adelhard Roidinger) Edition Swington
07. Nicolas 3/4 (Hans Koller) Edition Swington

Hans Koller - soprano & tenor saxophones
Albert Mair - Electra electric piano
Adelhard Roidinger - acoustic & electric basses
Alex Bally - drums

Produced by Willi Fruth / Engineered by Rolf Donner
Recorded at MPS-Studio, Villingen, September 25 - 26, 1972
(P) 1972 MPS Records

Originally released as MPS 15 315
Original artwork by MPS-Atelier / Cover painting by Hans Koller
Back cover photo by Josef Werkmeister, liner photos by Hans Harzheim and German Hasenfratz

MPS - MOST PERFECT SOUND EDITION produced by Matthias Künnecke
Artwork adaptation & series design by Stefan Kassel
Digitally remastered by Willem Makkee at Emil Berliner Studios, Langenhagen
Original liner notes transcribed by Rommel Causapin - Texts edited by Jörg Eipasch
Series consultant: Stephan Steigleder - Thanks to Harry Gruber and Christian Krug
Special thanks to Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer

Original liner notes

Hans Koller, born in 1921, has been around in the world of jazz for quite a while now. During the era of cool jazz, he tended to model himself on others (out of admiration he even named his son after Lee Konitz). And yet, along with Lars Gullin and one or two others, he is one of the few Europeans who really succeeded to establish a style of their own. In 1958, he disbanded his combo because he could no longer find any musicians whose style really corresponded to his own. He may not have completely withdrawn from music: he played with Oscar Pettiford and Kenny Clarke, with Eddie Sauter at Südwestfunk (South West German Radio), and led an ensemble for NDR (Northern German Radio). But these were really only intermezzi. Insstead, he devoted himself more intensively to his painting, which, by the way, brought him considerable success. Not much later, the traditional, bourgeois patterns in music began to crumble, and jazz began taking its path through the fire.

Phoenix. A well-known Afro-american musician of Koller’s own age said recently that if he and Duke Ellington were asked to play as freely as today’s younger jazz musicians, they could do so and they even would blow away all of them. But this can only be a misinterpretation, because that’s not at all what free jazz is about. Today, nobody should dare to blow away anyone, as it used to be the case in the jam sessions of days gone by. Music merely based on competition would no longer be considered to be good music.

This process of evolution has not been a particularly consistent one. While horn players explored free music relatively early, the rhythm section joined them only after they had thrown off the chains of their traditional slavish role model. In the movement towards free music there has to be an ethical development which must run parallel to the musical and technical development, otherwise there is only chaos. Musical intensity may be fascinating, but it can be too overwhelming if there is no social consciousness, no sense of control and responsibility. These are vital to the creative, spontaneous communication which provides the basis for aesthetic enjoyment.

Free Sound. Hans Koller has indulged in none of the excesses which stigmatized free jazz. He was able to find a different kind of self-fulfillment in painting. And time has been on his side. Now he has found again partners with whom he can express himself in terms of music. They are working hard, realizing that perfection can never be an end in itself, only a point in development which never reaches completion. Koller tried out the artistic possibilities of the electronic Octaviator, and his bassist Adelhard Roidinger also likes to experiment with electronics. But they have found that unless one succeeds completely in coming to terms with modern musical technology, it assumes a dominant role which threatens to destroy anything achieved so far. So attention has been concentrated once more on individual instrumental virtuosity. This is why, on this record, only natural intrumental sounds have been used, with the exception of the electric piano, which Albert Mair treats as a complex instrument of its own. Drummer Alex Bally does no longer subordinate himself like the drummers of the old school, but becomes an integral part of the musical dramaturgy.

But further comment is superfluous. Hans Koller’s music speaks for itself!

Werner Panke
Translated by John Wilde


Hans Koller Big Band - New York City

01. Opening (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
02. 52nd Street (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
03. Central Park (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
04. Manhattan (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
05. Brooklyn (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
06. Skyline (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
07. Harlem (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
08. Freedom (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
09. Black And White (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
10. Ending (Hans Koller) Edition Swington

Hans Koller – tenor saxophone

Ferenc Aszodi, Benny Bailey, Arthur Pavlicek, Jaromir Hnilicka, Alfa Schmid – trumpet / Peter Herbolzheimer, Gustav Brom jr. , Mojmir Bartek, Franz Simons, Josef Pelc – trombone / Emil Mangelsdorff – saxophone & flute / Frantisek Navratil, Bronislav Horak, Zdenek Novak, Joki Freund, Josef Auders, Jan Konopasek – saxophone / Josef Blaha – piano & oboe / Jiri Mraz – bass / Billi Moody - drums

Produced by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer / Engineered by Rolf Donner
Recorded at MPS-Studio, Villingen, January 18, 1968
Recording directed by Willi Fruth
(P) 1979 MPS Records

Originally released as MPS 15 515
Original artwork by Müller & von Frankenberg
Cover photo by Josef Werkmeister

MPS - MOST PERFECT SOUND EDITION produced by Matthias Künnecke
Artwork adaptation & series design by Stefan Kassel
Digitally remastered by Willem Makkee at Emil Berliner Studios, Langenhagen
Original liner notes transcribed by Rommel Causapin - Texts edited by Jörg Eipasch
Series consultant: Stephan Steigleder - Thanks to Harry Gruber and Christian Krug
Special thanks to Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer

Original linernotes

Hans Koller is without a doubt the great master of the German jazz scene. As soon as he had arrived in Germany from Vienna with his tenor saxophone, he was immediately at the focus of interest. The stations of his career are milestones of German jazz history.

In 1951 he founded his first, much celebrated, quartet in Munich. “We played in a black American club at the Freimann barracks. Those who remember those times will know what I’m talking about. German jazz musicians came from all over the place, just to have been there once. We had to sneak them in secretly, often this trick could only be accomplished after I played the guard his favorite piece, “Stompin’ At The Savoy”, arranged by Jutta Hipp. That was the piece for which we received five stars in Down Beat magazine. One of the black soldiers told us so, we could hardly believe it, we were so proud.”

Two years later Hans Koller moved on to Frankfurt, which was then something like Germany’s jazz capital. Here he expanded his group to a quintet. It was the best combo existing in Germany up to then, and one of the most important of the entire Cool Jazz period. During a mutual tour, Hans Koller, Albert Mangelsdorff, Jutta Hipp, Shorty Roeder and Karl Sanner received more acclaim than the “king of Be-bop” himself, Dizzy Gillespie.

Then, Lee Konitz was the great idol of German jazz musicians. It took Hans Koller years to detach himself from Konitz’s influence, when he, Roland Kovac and Attila Zoller shaped the musical character of their group called “New Jazz Stars”. The classicism of Al Cohn was now most attractive to this circle of musicians. In 1957 Eddie Sauter recruited Koller for his new Big Band at SWF Radio Baden-Baden. There Koller began to arrange, compose and – to paint! One of his pictures he titled “Coltrane”, a network of countless interwoven lines, an attempt to translate music into graphics.

Hans then played for a year with the unforgettable Oscar Pettiford. “Because of him I understood what the great black musicians meant when they said that you tell a story on your instrument when you play. What is more, Lester Young always said that you must know the lyrics of a piece, otherwise you can’t play it. I experienced the truth of this saying through Oscar.”

Actually, Hans always had a secret love for Big Bands. At quite a few festival concerts in Frankfurt, Hamburg or Essen he brought large orchestras to the stage. Consequently, the score of his “New York City” suite, originally intended as ballet music, was already in his briefcase when the Gustav Brom Big Band announced that they intended to visit the “Jazz-Schmiede”, a jazz club in Villingen, Black Forest, the town that is also home of MPS Records.

Gustav Brom has long been acknowledged leading Eastern Europe’s best jazz orchestra. With Jaromir Hnilicka, Jan Konopasek and the outstanding bassist Jiri Mraz, it has at its disposal a rank of soloists of international profile. Befitting the great occasion of recording Koller’s score, additional Big Band specialists of experience were invited, including Ferencz Aszodi and Benny Bailey (trumpets), Peter Herbolzheimer (trombone), Joki Freund (tenor saxophone) and Emil Mangelsdorff (flute and alto saxophone). Hans Koller took over the leadership and with his tenor saxophone occupies the center of attraction of his ten-movement suite dedicated to the jazz capital New York City. It will more than likely prove to be the most noteworthy larger jazz composition written in Germany.

Wolfgang Dohl
Translated by Reni & Joe Weisel



Hans Koller – Exclusiv

01. Natalie (Laurindo Almeida) Weyman Music
02. Blues In The Closet (Oscar Pettiford) Orpheus Music Inc.
03. Egil (Hans Koller) Edition Modern Musikverlag
04. Chordless (Hans Hammerschmid) Manuskript
05. Stalag (Attila Zoller) Badenia Musikverlag/Vineta Musikverlag
06. Plädoyer (Russel Garcia) Terraton Verlag
07. The Gentle Art Of Love (Oscar Pettiford) Orpheus Music Inc.
08. Muttnik (Quincy Jones) EMI Full Keel Music
09. Painter’s Lament (Hans Koller) Edition Modern Musikverlag
10. It’s Over (Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer) Edition Swington
11. Pagode (Russel Garcia) Manuskript

Hans Koller Quartet (02/04/05/07)
Hans Koller – tenor saxophone
Oscar Pettiford – bass
Attila Zoller - guitar
Jimmy Pratt – drums

Hans Koller Nonet (01/03/06/08/09/10/11)
Hans Koller – alto saxophone
Helmut Reinhardt & Ronnie Ross – baritone saxophone
Rudi Flierl & Erhard Wenig – tenor saxophone
Dick Spencer – alto saxophone
Hans Rettenbacher - bass
Ira Kris - guitar
Allen Ganley – drums

Arranged by Hans Koller (02/03/04/05/07/09) & Russell Garcia (01/06/08/10/11)

Produced by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer / Engineered by Rolf Donner
Quartet recorded at DFW-Studio, Baden-Baden, February 19, 1959
Nonet recorded at MPS-Studio, Villingen, November 26, 1963
(P) 1964 MPS Records

Originally released as MPS 15 024
Original artwork and photography by Josef Werkmeister

MPS - MOST PERFECT SOUND EDITION produced by Matthias Künnecke
Artwork adaptation & series design by Stefan Kassel
Digitally remastered by Willem Makkee at Emil Berliner Studios, Langenhagen
Original liner notes transcribed by Rommel Causapin - Texts edited by Jörg Eipasch
Series consultant: Stephan Steigleder - Thanks to Harry Gruber, Christian Krug and Helmut Lackner - Special thanks to Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer

Original linernotes

It amazes today to realize that Hans Koller’s music was available on record in America before it was available in Germany. Fourteen years ago, the Discovery label released a couple of tracks of his on 7-inch. A famous jazz musician, listening to these tracks for one of Down Beat magazine’s famous blindfold tests, assumed he was listening to Stan Getz! The LP era followed, but still it did not cross the mind of German record companies to call Hans Koller into the studio until a French company released an album of eight Koller tracks. Suddenly German record executives pricked up their ears and Hans was suddenly heard on half a dozen different labels.

But it was reserved to MPS Records to exclusively present the “complete Koller”. Here we not only get to know Hans Koller the saxophonist, on alto and tenor by the way, but also the band leader and boss of his own combo, the exponent of German jazz who played with leading Americans, as well as the composer and – probably new to many – abstract painter.

For his nonet, Hans Koller assembled an international line up. The English baritone saxophonist Ronnie Ross was flown in especially for the recording from London, in addition, the American alto saxophonist Dick Spencer from Cleveland, Ohio, is heard, who is a disciple of Charlie Mariano and plays in Max Greger’s Big Band today. Hans Koller is heard on alto saxophone on these recordings. The quartet tracks were recorded with the late Oscar Pettiford on bass, as well as with the Hungarian guitarist Attila Zoller.

Not a year went by in which Hans Koller did not play with famous musicians visiting Germany. In 1953 it was Dizzy Gillespie, in 1954 he was chosen by Lee Konitz, who influenced Koller a lot. He could also be heard with Lars Gullin. When Stan Kenton was looking for a tenor player in 1955, he approached Koller, and when Eddie Sauter put together a Big Band in Baden-Baden in 1957, Koller was aboard too.

We live in times of specification and specialists. But an artist who devotes himself to jazz, who’s music is not supposed to age, can’t afford to specialise. Audience and critics will judge him on his versality. And Hans Koller is versatile. He is at home in fast tempo pieces as well as in ballads, as demonstrated here with “The Gently Art Of Love”, which also features an exceptional guitar solo by Attila Zoller. Solid handicraft is taken for granted, which not only includes technique, tonality and the assured choice of the right, swinging tempo, a musician also needs to have style and aesthetic categories such as taste and originality. Listen to “Plädoyer”, and you will know what is meant by this.

Hans Koller is such an inseparable member of the German jazz scene, it is sometimes forgotten that he came to us from Vienna, where he was born on February 12, 1921. From 1931 he studied classical clarinet and music theory at the Academy of Music, where he received a diploma. In 1938 he already came forward as a professional musician, but was drafted to the military the following year and ended up in an American prison camp. Since he already had played the tenor sax, Koller’s encounters with jazz during this confinement had a lasting impression on him. In the years after, he was heard regularly in American clubs while the word spread what a great musician he was. In Germany the first Koller releases came out in the early Fifties. We owe the acquaintance of artists like Jutta Hipp, Albert Mangelsdorff, Roland Kovac, Willi Sanner Johnny Fischer and others to Koller. Koller never denied that he was influenced by a group of very diverse musical personalities. Lester Young was his first idol, later on he was attracted by the more cool-intellectual movement of Konitz and Tristano, while even later he was influenced by the “four brothers”, especially Zoot Sims and Al Cohn.

Today one has to testify Hans Koller that he, without a doubt, has found his own style, although he was never in America nor was ever sent to faraway places by some cultural office. “Hans Koller Exclusive” is the definite proof that this musician is the “grand old man” of German jazz!

Dietrich Schulz-Köhn

Hans Koller’s musicality has found a new expression in his paintings. He creates pictures of individualistic figuration, compositions of thrilling power and disturbance. Koller’s pictures are proof of what Paul Gaugin once assumed, that the art of painting would “step into musical spheres”. The prominence of the musical elements in Koller’s paintings is demonstrated by one of his most recent works, of which a part is featured on the front cover of this LP.

H. Flaig




Hans Koller & Wolfgang Dauner – Kunstkopfindianer

01. Kunstkopfindianer (Wolfgang Dauner) Dauner Music
02. Suomi (Adelhard Roidinger) Edition Swington
03. Nom (Adelhard Roidinger) Edition Swington
04. Ulla M. & 22/8 (Hans Koller) Edition Swington
05. Adea (Zbigniew Seifert) Edition Swington

Hans Koller – soprano & tenor saxophone
Wolfgang Dauner – piano, electric piano, synthesizer, nagoya-harp
Zbigniew Seifert – violin, alto saxophone
Adelhard Roidinger – bass, e-bass
Janusz Stefanski - drums

Produced by Willi Fruth / Engineered by Martin Wieland
Recorded at Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg, January 21 - 23, 1974
(P) 1974 MPS Records

Originally released as MPS 15 422
Original artwork and cover photo by Frieder Grindler
Liner photos by Jörg Becker

MPS - MOST PERFECT SOUND EDITION produced by Matthias Künnecke
Artwork adaptation & series design by Stefan Kassel
Digitally remastered by Willem Makkee at Emil Berliner Studios, Langenhagen
Series consultant: Stephan Steigleder - Thanks to Harry Gruber and Christian Krug
Special thanks to Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer

Also available in the MPS - Most Perfect Sound Edition:

Charly Antolini - Drum Beat - 06024 9808191
Wolfgang Dauner Trio - Music Zounds - 06024 9808190
Art Farmer Quintet - From Vienna With Art - 06024 9811443
Friedrich Gulda - Fata Morgana - Live at the Domicile - 06024 9811447
Horst Jankowski Quartett - Jankowskinetik - 06024 9808189
Hans Koller - Exclusiv – 06024 9813440
Hans Koller - Relax With My Horns – 06024 9813445
Hans Koller Big Band - New York City – 06024 9813437
Hans Koller Free Sound - Phoenix – 06024 9813438
Volker Kriegel - Spectrum - 06024 9808699
Joachim Kühn - Hip Elegy - 06024 9808186
Albert Mangelsdorff - And His Friends - 00440 0673752
Don Menza - Morning Song - 06024 9811446
Fritz Pauer Trio - Blues Inside Out - 06024 9811264
Fritz Pauer - Live At The Berlin Jazz Galerie - 06024 9811263
Annie Ross & Pony Poindexter - With The Berlin All Stars - 06024 9811257
Attila Zoller / Hans Koller / Martial Solal - Zoller Koller Solal – 00422 8431072

Available in the MPS – Super Audio CD Edition:

Oscar Peterson - Exclusively For My Friends Vol. I - Action - 06024 9811293
Oscar Peterson - Exclusively For My Friends Vol. II - Girl Talk – 06024 9811294
Oscar Peterson - Exclusively For My Friends Vol. III - The Way I Really Play – 06024 9811295
Oscar Peterson - Exclusively For My Friends Vol. IV - My Favorite Instrument – 06024 9811296
Oscar Peterson - Exclusively For My Friends Vol. V - Mellow Mood – 06024 9811303
Oscar Peterson - Exclusively For My Friends Vol. VI - Travelin' On – 06024 9811305

Further volumes in preparation.

Christian

[tjobbe]

Hi Claude,

they (EDIT: the Oscar's) are available at www.jpc.de for roughly 17€ and at www.play.com at 11GBP incl shipping per SACD

Cheers, Tjobbe

[peter rh]

not sure why I can't seem to find these at www.play.com - I can
find no trace of OP SACDs :confused:

[tjobbe]

sorry, but simple reason (as with many other stores) ...

They only sort those single layers into SACD category.. you will find the hybrids when you go to the CD Title and search for SACD there.. you will find them all for 11GBP and in stock...

Cheers, Tjobbe

[peter rh]

Tjobbe - many thanks - I've got to them!:)

[Claude]

The six Hans Koller titles are available as from today from Amazon Germany (10 Euro each, 5-6 days shipping time). I've translated the short descriptions from their website. Click on the cover picture for the Amazon.de link.

I've heard a Hans Koller CD sampler that came out some years ago and I'm tempted to get them all. The earliest records are the best in my view.

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0000E5SJS.03.MZZZZZZZ.jpg (http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000E5SJS/302-8286164-4088050)

Exclusiv (1964)

Hans Koller's first MPS LP is one of today's most sought after records from the label. Koller plays in a quartet and nonett with outstanding musicians such as Attila Zoller (guitar), Jimmy Pratt (drums) and Ex-Ellington-bassist Oscar Pettiford. An absolute classic in german jazz - for the first time on CD.


http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0000E5SJT.03.MZZZZZZZ.jpg (http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000E5SJT/302-8286164-4088050)

Relax With My Horns (1966)

A legendary trio recording with J.A. Rettenbacher (bass) and Rafi Luederitz (drums). Remarkably, Koller plays up to four tenor and soprano saxophone voices in overdub and so creates a "one man sax section".


http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0000E5SJO.03.MZZZZZZZ.jpg (http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000E5SJO/302-8286164-4088050)

New York City (1968)

This album was only released in 1979, but the grandiose music for orchestra and solists was recorded 11 years before. The musicians are regulars of the czech Gustav Brom Big Band and top solo artists such as trumpeter Benny Bailey, trombonist Peter Herbolzheimer, saxophonists/flutists Joki Freund and Emil Mangelsdorff, bassist Jiri Mraz and of course Koller.


http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0000E5SJP.03.MZZZZZZZ.jpg (http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000E5SJP/302-8286164-4088050)

Phoenix (1972)

In the 70's, Hans Koller played a free but not chaotic music full of tension and intensity, with pianist Albert Mair, bassist Adelhard Roidinger and drummer Alex Bally. The album title expressed the fact that Koller, who had spend some years with painting, entered the jazz scene again, like Phoenix rising from the ashes.

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0000E5SJR.03.MZZZZZZZ.jpg (http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000E5SJR/302-8286164-4088050)

Kunstkopfindianer (1974)

Together with constituents from the New Jazz scene, Zbigniew Seifert (violin & saxophone), Janusz Stefanski (drums) and Wolfgang Dauner (keyboards), Hans Koller created a sound world of melodic sketches and rhythmic structures. Despite the greatest possible freedom, the group never gets lost in noise orgies or sound babbling (literate translation :))

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B0000E5SGI.03.MZZZZZZZ.jpg (http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000E5SGI/302-8286164-4088050)

Zoller Koller Solal (1965)

For this MPS highlight, producer Joachim-Ernst Berendt had the idea to unite a group without a rhythm section, only saxophone, guitar and piano. This timeless and tension-loaded album received a five star review in Down Beat, which is very rare for european productions.

[peter rh]

I have to admit to being very impressed with Oscar Peterson's
Vol.1 &2 of Exculusively For My Friends Hybrid SACDs. I guess it
must have been helped by the high quality of the original recordings but full credit to all at MPS - I have no excuse for not
getting the additional 4 Volumes. Astonishing music and sound :)
For those in the UK it may be necessary to order these from
http://www.play.com/ or a European supplier - I'm told that there
are no plans to import to UK at present(amazing?)

[Reinier]

Hello Christian,

any news about more SACD titles from this fantastic MPS series? I have all of them (SACD & CD's) and like them very much.

Cheers,

Reinier

[Claude]

Austrian Jazz Musician Hans Koller Dies (http://launch.yahoo.com/read/news.asp?contentID=216145) (Yahoo News, December 23, 2003)

[Jug21]

Thank you for posting, Claude!

Very sad news

Christian

[Jug21]

scheduled for March 29

981 479 0 Clarke Boland Big Band - All Smiles
981 478 9 Clarke Boland Big Band - More Smiles
981 480 5 Clarke Boland Big Band - Fellini 712
981 479 4 Nelson Riddle - Changing Colors
981 479 5 Nelson Riddle - Communication
981 480 6 Horst Jankowski - Jankowskeynotes


Christian

[peter rh]

nice smiles :)

[Paul Christie]

Thanks for the news about the March reissues Christian

[mmmmm]

hello,

do you know if the album Everything by smoke will be reissued ?
in cd ? in vynil ?

thanks,

mattieu

[STAN TRACEY]

I got the Friedrich Gulda & Fritz Pauer/Fata Morgana CD in Spain from "Jazz Messengers" in barcelona about 5 months ago cant remember the record label.

[peter rh]

up........
The Clarke/Boland reissues had at least 2 release dates in 2004 for some
reason. I received my copies in March 04

[Reinier]

Hello all,

just wondering if there are going to be more reissues in the German MPS series this year.

Cheers,

Reinier

[kh1958]

Isn't there a Freddie Hubbard album on MPS? If so, any chance of a reissue?

[Reinier]

Yes there is one F.Hub on MPS called the Hub of Hubbard. It was reissued on CD by Polydor in the late 80's and long OOP of course.

Cheers,

Reinier

[Claude]

There is also this one, never reissued on CD:

Freddie Hubbard: Rollin'

Freddie Hubbard (tp,fgl) David Schnitter (ts,sop) William Childs (p,el-p) Larry Klein (b,el-b) Carl Burnett (d)

"Villingen Jazz Festival", Villingen, Germany, May 2, 1981

One of another kind MPS (G)0068284

Here's that rainy day - , MPS (G)22

Cascais -

Up jumped spring -

Byrdlike -

Brigitte -

Breaking point -

[henning55]

just wondering if there are going to be more reissues in the German MPS series this year.


Try http://www.jazzecho.de/page_26635.jsp for an outlook (in German). Not what I had hoped for.

Best, Henning

[Reinier]

Wow, that's great news imo. I'll be buying most of these box sets (if I don't own most of it already on Japanese import cd's).

Cheers,

Reinier

[Claude]

A quick summary for those who don't understand german.

The following box sets with MPS material will be released in 2005:

- Art Van Damme - 10 albums on 5CDs
- Friedrich Gulda "Musician Of Our Time: Midlife Harvest" 1965-72 (9LPs on 5CDs)
- Eugen Cicero "Swinging The Classics On MPS" (5 albums with bonus tracks on 3CDs)
- Singers Unlimited (3 albums on 2CDs)
- Baden Powell "On Guitar - The Legendary MPS Albums" (4 albums on 2CDs)

There will also be individual CD reissues of the rest of the Oscar Peterson MPS albums.

First batch:
- "Reunion Blues"
- "Walking The Line"
- "Another Day"
- "Tracks"
Second batch:
- "Great Connection"
- "In Tune" (with the Singers Unlimited)
- "Tristeza On Piano"
- "Motions & Emotions"
- "Hello Herbie"

I'm also disappointed in the selection. It seems that they are focussing entirely on the mainstream and easy listening stuff now. But we've been very lucky with the Mangelsdorff, Hans Koller, Clarke/Boland and some other reissues so far.

[Claude]

I've been searching for a couple of 2003 MPS reissues in german online stores, and it seems like many of them are already OOP. The Hans Koller albums especially are essential, so grab them while they are still available.

[jkelman]

The first review of the second batch of MPS reissues from Promising Music is up, and it's a good'un: keyboardist Jasper van't Hof's Transitory, with Charlie Mariano, Philip Catherine, J.F. Jenny-Clarke and Aldo Romano. Review here (http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=30030).

[justHerb]

I don't think it was mentioned in the review, but the packaging for these is very cool. Cardboard mini LP sleeves with black CD's made to look like LP's with a label and even grooves.

[jkelman]

I don't think it was mentioned in the review, but the packaging for these is very cool. Cardboard mini LP sleeves with black CD's made to look like LP's with a label and even grooves.
Since this is a standard of all these MPS reissues, I only mentioned it in the first batch of reviews, back a few months ago here (http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=28685).

While I'm here, the review of the second of the latest batch of three, John Tchicai's Afrodisiaca, is reviewed today (http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=30051).
Best!
John

[jkelman]

The last of the recent three MPS reissues on Promising Music is reviewed today, a strange curiosity, definitely of its time, but with a young Joachim Kun and Aldo Romano. Review here (http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=30036).