Wednesday, August 21, 2013

MANFRED SCHOOF QUINTET – Voice (LP-1966, Re-2008)



Label: L+R Records – CDLR 710528, Bellaphon – CDLR 710528
Format: CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered; Country: Europe - Released: 2008
Style: Free Jazz
Recorded May 2nd, 1966 at Studio Walldorf / Frankfurt am Main.
Original release in 1966 as Columbia 62621
Design [Album] – Günther Kieser
Engineer [Sound] – Dieter Von Goetze
Producer – Horst Lippmann


Trumpeter/cornetist and composer Manfred Schoof isn ’ t quite as well known today as some of his peers in the free-jazz movement in Germany. Though now primarily working in radio and television music, Schoof recorded a series of extraordinary records as a bandleader in the ‘ 60s and ‘ 70s. His quintet of the mid- ‘ 60s featured saxophonist Gerd Dudek, bassist Buschi Niebergall, drummer Jaki Liebezeit (later of prog-rock band Can), and pianist/composer Alexander von Schlippenbach. The compositions are all originals by members of the group and the music here is crisp, alternately poised and volcanic. Stylistically there are clear forebears — Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, Gato Barbieri, George Russell and Albert Ayler, as well as composer Bernd Alois Zimmerman (with whom Schlippenbach studied) and the inventions of Karlheinz Stockhausen, Mauricio Kagel, Arnold Schöenberg and Anton Webern. For all that, the music is a robust classic of European jazz, and one that shows its constituents to be aware of tradition whilst fighting to find new expressive avenues.



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9 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. A highly intriguing recording.
    Thanks for the share Vitko.

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  3. Love this, love the sound of music on the cusp, one thing becoming another and not quite being either. Terrific, thanks Vitko.

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  4. Yes, it sounds fantastic, incredibly creative and fresh, and done in 1966.
    Unthinkable!

    I welcome you both.

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  5. I had only been familiar with Schoof in the context of Manfred Eicher productions. The sound is quite similar and the music challenging as always from Manfred Schoof.

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  6. Manfred Schoof was also a student of Bend Alois Zimmermann - see for example here or there.

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  7. Thanks for this rare album! Efforts much appreciated.

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  8. Excellent session. The drum Jaki (jacky) went on to be a member of the might "Can"

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