RARITY #50

NEW SOUND FROM … GERMANY  -  VOL. 5

HANS KOLLER  AND HIS NEW JAZZ STARS

25 CM VOGUE – LD 144     (FRANCE, 1953)

This is the 50th installment in the Rarity Series already.  As the name of the series implies, it is dedicated to rare and often obscure 45 rpm and 25cm, mostly European Jazz  although there have been a few exceptions (e.g. the French EPs of Mickey Baker and Tony Milton, rare but more rock/soul than jazz).  The series would never have reached #50 without the contributions of Paul D. and onxidlib and a few other occasional collaborators.  Viele dank, Merci Beaucoup, Thanks a Lot & Dank U Wel to all of them.  

This 50th installment comes from the vault of Paul D.  It is ripped from the original French Vogue 10 inch. 33 1/3 RPM. Paul was adamant that it had never been re-issued but in fact there has been a Japanese facsimile in 1998.  The re-issue was fairly confidential and has been long OOP so I have no second-thought about posting a rip.  It's 60 years old..

The music sounds very West Coast.  Should we call it German Cool?  And if you think it's an oxymoron, just give it a listen!

Credits

Tenor Saxophone – Hans Koller

Trombone – Albert Mangelsdorf*

Piano – Jutta Hipp

Bass – "Shorty" Roeder*

Drums – Karl Sanner

Tracklist

A1       The Way You Look Tonight

A2       You Go To My Head

A3       Flamingo

A4       Four Roses In An Iceblock

B1       UnTer Den Linden

B2       All The Things You Are

B3       What's New

B4       Indian Summer

Recorded May, 1953

In cooperation with Horst Lippmann of Deutsche Jazz Federation

NEW LINK (August 2017)

EPATE-MOI!

 NO VIBRATO - CINQ DE COEUR (Belgium, 1997).

As a pianist Etienne Richard is no virtuoso, nor is he a great improviser.  He knows his limitations (he was 32 when he decided to become a musician) and leaves ample rooms for his fellow band members to stretch and shine. Mind you, Etienne  ain’t no slouch either but his real talent is somewhere else.  Etienne Richard is a composer.  He has a rare talent for writing beautiful melodies, simple and luscious at the same time.  He serves  the melody line to his companions and let them take it and develop it.  It works pretty well.  Listen to the melody of “Epate-Moi” (litteraly “Amaze me!” but also a wordplay as the theme is reminiscent of a Pat Metheny’s musical phrase).  Saxophonist Fabrice Aleman shines through these eight compositions which flow naturally from one to the other.  Beautiful album, well balanced, very musical. 

Highly recommended.

  Track list: 
1. Call Me 
2. Cinq De Coeur 
3. Fais-Moi Mal 
4. I Hate Flies 
5. Un Jour Bleu 
6. The Revenge 
7. Epate-Moi 
8. Prétexte Pour Un Mineur Blues 


All songs composed by Etienne Richard.






Credits:
Etienne Richard (p), Fabrice Alleman (ts, ss), Bart Zegers (acoustic bass), Bilou Doneux (d, perc)


CD currently OOP.

RARITY # 3 : LOSSLESS LOST GEM!

ZOOT MEETS HANS (EP:Brunswick - 10814 EPB, GERMANY, 1958)

Rejoice!  Thanks to my good friend Paul D., collectionneur extraordinaire, here is a very rare EP recorded in Germany by Zoot Sims and Austrian saxman Hans Koller in 1958.


While Koller's seventies work (on MPS mostly) is well documented in the blogworld, thanks to the contributors to the Magic Purple Sunshine blog, his earlier work is much more difficult to come by. An added bonus is the presence of the late Peter Trunk on bass. 


Side 1

1.Blues Arund Joe

2.Minor Meeting

Side 2

1.Cohn's Limit

Credits 

Zoot Sims (ts), Hans Koller (ts), Hans Hammerschmid (p), Peter Trunk (b), Rudi Sehring (ds)

Recorded on 1958.8.10 in Germany.

While Zoot Sims does not need any introduction, I assume that jazzfans outside of Europe (esp. outside of Germany / Austria) may not be familiar with Hans Koller.

Here is a small biography, taken from an obituary in 

The Independant (2003).

Hans Koller, saxophonist, bandleader, composer and painter: born Vienna 12 February 1921; died Vienna 22 December 2003.

Normally jazz musicians bemoan the inability of their audiences to appreciate the music. This was not a problem, during the Second World War, for the Austrian tenor saxophonist Hans Koller.

Drafted into the German Wehrmacht in 1941, he was taken prisoner by the US Army. He formed a band in the prison camp. Mistake. It became so popular with his captors that when the war ended they were loath to let him go. Consequently he was one of the last prisoners to be released. It was only fair that after the war his playing should become popular in the United States but, despite many offers, he preferred to stay in Europe. He moved to live in Germany in 1950.

So the Americans came to him, and he toured Europe with, amongst others, Dizzy Gillespie, Lee Konitz, Bill Russo, Stan Kenton and Eddie Sauter. In 1958 he played in Benny Goodman's band at the World Festival in Brussels. He was lauded by the American critics and top musicians, although his work made little impact in Britain. In the middle of 1965 he and his regular guitarist partner the Hungarian Attila Zoller made a trio album with the French-Algerian piano virtuoso Martial Solal that was regarded as one of the most trenchant of its time.

Hans Koller

Although he played all the saxophones and clarinet, it was as a cool tenor saxophonist of the Lennie Tristano school that Koller made his name. He admired, recorded and worked with Tristano's most prominent disciples, Konitz and Warne Marsh, and Koller's free thinking drew in to his orbit many of the best modern Europeans.

Capable of swinging, blues- inspired tenor solos, he gravitated in later life to esoteric unaccompanied music on the soprano saxophone. His music by then reflected his interest in other arts. He composed several longer works and wrote the ballet New York City (1968), all influenced by contemporary art music. He was a respected abstract painter whose work was included in exhibitions in France, Germany and Austria. Koller made his last recording in 1991 and retired from music shortly afterwards.

Links in comments. Say a big thanks to Paul D. for making this rare EP available in lossless.  Full scan included!