Hans Koller - Legends Live: Hans Koller & Friends '2013

Tracks list

In 1959 Sound Koller teamed up in the Palatinate town of Pirmasens with an
equally passionate Martial Solal, recently arrived from Paris with Roger Guerin
and Michel de Villers. What unfolded was a memorable SWF Jazz Session, full of
the tension and excitement only a live performance can generate. These young men
put their individual skills on display with a confident nod to colleagues
overseas, where that same year Miles with Trane, Brubeck with Desmond and
Coleman with his quartet had already demonstrated the Shape of Jazz to Come. The
1960s had arrived by the time these discs were spinning in Germany, and Koller
had long since branched out with a very different group of musicians,
establishing his credentials as both composer and arranger with his brass
ensemble in Treffpunkt Jazz Stuttgart.

„This is a worthwhile release and its worth getting this material into
circulation.“ (Robert Iannapollo, Cadence)

„Hans Koller, Hans Koller & Friends (JazzHaus). Play this music from 1959
and 1960 without telling anyone who it is, and youll get all sorts of guesses
naming truly great American jazz stars of the era. The truth is that German
tenor saxophonist Hans Koller didnt really sound like any American player at all
(think of a combination Zoot Sims and Wardell Gray) and yet he was very much the
equal of most of them. (Thats why Dizzy Gillespie, for instance, was delighted
to have Koller do a long stint with his band) So even more famously was the
great and universally revered French pianist Martial Solal. Add the presence on
two cuts here of bassist Percy Heath and drummer Connie Kay and you have some
vintage European jazz as loose and immensely pleasurable as any previously
little-known jazz youre likely to hear from their American contemporaries. As a
disc for even the most knowledgeable jazz fans to hear in a blindfold test you
couldnt beat this. One in every 500 jazz fans, at best, will be able to figure
out whos playing, even though theyre enjoying the swinging high charge and
melodic grace of so much of it. And, on piano, whether solo or in accompaniment,
Solal was absolutely unique.“ (The Buffalo News)

Hans Koller, saxophone
Martial Solal, piano
Michel Villers, saxophone
Roger Guérin, trumpet
Fred Dutton, double bass
Hartwig, bass
Hans Koller Brass Ensemble

Live aufgenommen bei der SWF Jazz Session im November 1959 und des SWR
Treffpunkt Jazz Stuttgart im September 1960

Digitally remastered

Tracklist:
01. Hans Koller - Bennys Blues (11:05)
02. Hans Koller - Oscar (5:16)
03. Hans Koller - Dawborns Mood (5:05)
04. Hans Koller - Mister B Blues (4:59)
05. Hans Koller - Margaret Rose (5:19)
06. Hans Koller - Very Warm for May: All the Things You Are (7:12)
07. Hans Koller - Tune for Antibes (4:04)
08. Hans Koller - Ellas Dream (5:19)
09. Hans Koller - O.P. (6:59)
10. Hans Koller - Ill Close My Eyes (4:13)

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