Serious fun
| Serious fun | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Live album by George Gruntz Trio | ||||
|
Publication |
||||
| Label (s) | Enja | |||
|
Format (s) |
CD |
|||
| occupation | ||||
|
Studio (s) |
Jazz club "Atlantis", Basel |
|||
|
||||
Serious Fun is a jazz album by the George Gruntz trio. It was recorded at a concert in the "Atlantis" jazz club in Basel on September 21, 22 and 23, 1989, and published in 1990 by the Enja jazz label .
The album
The Swiss band leader and pianist George Gruntz, best known for his Concert Jazz Band (CJB) and his many years of activity as artistic director of the Berlin Jazz Days , only rarely appeared in smaller formations, for example with Jiggs Whigham in 1971 and later with Franco Ambrosetti and Tom Varner . After Gruntz organized the Berlin Jazz Festival for the 17th time in 1989, he considered retiring from this post at the time, which he did not really do until 1992.
During this time he began to appear again as a soloist. enja producer Matthias Winckelmann , who was responsible for his CJB productions at the time, asked him if he wanted to record a trio album. With bassist Mike Richmond and drummer Adam Nussbaum he formed finally in 1989 between two CJB projects a piano trio that during his stint at the Basel Jazz Club "Atlantis" by Gruntz 'longtime friend, the flugelhorn player Franco Ambrosetti at a title ( "Autumn again! “) Was expanded to a quartet. The pianist had already worked with Mike Richmond on Ambrosetti's album Close Encounter in 1978 ; At the age of 14 he played with Ambrosetti in the band of his father Flavio Ambrosetti .
George Gruntz himself later wrote in his memoirs: "It was really a serious pleasure and triggered a whole series of concerts." The album begins with the explosive title "Capricci Cavallereschi", which Gruntz had in 1968 for Phil Woods and his European Rhythm Machine , to which he belonged at the time. In the following “Autumn again!”, The slightly changed jazz standard “ Autumn Leaves ”, Franco Ambrosetti joins as a guest soloist; The spirit of the classic Miles Davis quintet of the 1950s is evoked here in classic hard bop fashion . Gruntz also refers to Miles Davis in the pieces “ALLergic BLUES” and “SO: WHAT fun ???”, while “Cat-a-dam”, “Mike-a-mouse” and “Franco's Delight” are specifically for the trio / Quartet and its musicians were written. The "Death March" is an excerpt from the finale of Gruntz 'jazz opera "Cosmopolitain Greetings" from 1988.
In 1995 a second CD with Mike Richmond and Adam Nussbaum was to follow ( Mock-lo-Motion , TCB 95552), on which Franco Ambrosetti appeared as a guest star. In the following years, George Gruntz worked with two young Swiss musicians, the bassist Herbie Kopf and the drummer Rafi Woll, and continued playing with a trio. ( George Gruntz Swiss Trio ).
The titles
- George Gruntz Trio - Serious Fun (Enja 6038-2)
- "Captricci Cavallereschi" (Gruntz) 8:19
- “Autumn Again!” (Kosma / Gruntz / Ambrosetti) 8:36
- "Death March" (Gruntz) 3:53
- "Cat-a-dam" (Gruntz) 10:49
- "ALL-ergic Blues" (Davis / Gruntz) 9:29
- "Mike-a-Mouse" (Gruntz) 6:29
- "Franco's Delight" (Gruntz) 6:53
- "SO: WHAT fun ???" (Davis / Gruntz) 8:37
Rating of the album
The music journalist Scott Yanow , who also wrote the liner notes for the album, rated the concert recording in the All Music Guide with the second highest grade. Gruntz 'piano playing, even if it is in the piano tradition of modern jazz , is shaped by his individual voice. Gruntz's concert recording is very enjoyable music; the pianist was in excellent shape. The journalist Sven Thielmann compared Gruntz's powerful piano playing in his review of the album in Stereoplay magazine with Joachim Kühn's trio.
literature
- Scott Yanow, liner notes 1990.
- George Gruntz: Born a white negro. A life for jazz. Corvus Verlag, Berneck 2002. ISBN 3-9522460-1-8 ( autobiography )
Web links
- Serious Fun at Allmusic (English)
- Meeting in Streroplay
- George Gruntz Swiss Trio