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Tremendous early work from German saxophonist Joki Freund – a player who would go onto much greater fame in the progressive years at the end of the 60s, but who already sounds plenty darn great on this early combo side from 1963! The style of the work is incredibly hip – with a definite John Coltrane modal groove in place, but also a sense of globally conscious jazz that's very much in the spirit of classic Saba/MPS work, but which predates most of that by a number of years! Freund plays tenor and soprano sax here – in a sextet with Wolfgang Dauner on piano, Emil Mangelsdorff on flute and alto, Eberhard Weber on bass, Karl Theodor Geier on bass, and Peter Baumeister on drums – and the record is overflowing with great tunes that more than live up to the compelling title and cover image! Lots of "Eastern" styled numbers – and titles include "Aisha", "Carribean Ringo", "Yogiana", "HL 20", and "Killer Joe".

Incredible postwar bop recordings by one of the hippest groups in Germany! During the 50s, pianist Jutta Hipp cut a number of straighter sides for Blue Note that were recorded in the US – but this CD features earlier German recordings, some later issued by Blue Note – all done with a killer quintet that features a young Joki Freund on tenor sax and Emil Mangelsdorff on alto! Jutta's core trio features Hans Kresse on bass and Karl Sanner on drums – but the real charm of the records is the horn players – working with amazing interplay that really makes the record shine – working in unison on many of the intros to the songs, cutting back and forth like a double-edged sword, then breaking out into wonderfully compact solos that easily rival the best of the west coast at the time! Titles include "Cleopatra", "Mon Petit", "Yogi", "Variations", "Laura", "Simone", "Two Oranges", and "Cool Dogs".

A tremendous collection of work from Inge Brandenburg – a German jazz singer who never made it big on our side of the Atlantic, but who cut some excellent English language recordings in the 50s and 60s! The package features a great range of tunes from Inge – pulled together to accompany a recent documentary that's helped folks rediscover her music – with work from a variety of different labels, and an especially strong focus on tracks from the late 50s and early 60s! The style is tight jazz throughout – spurred on by players who include Albert Mangelsdorff on trombone, Dusko Goykovich on trumpet, Joki Freund on tenor, and Herb Geller on alto sax – plus many others who make the small group recordings on the record really shine. Titles include "The Lonesome Road", "Body & Soul", "All Of Me", "Love For Sale", "Temptation", "Secret Love", "The Man I Love", "The Face Of Love", "Skylark", "I Can't Give You Anything But Love", and "Non Je Ne Regrette Rien".,

Rare work from female pianist Jutta Hipp – an artist who's probably known to most for her Blue Note sessions of the 50s, but who's heard here on some German recordings from younger years! Most of the material is live, but well-recorded – and even at this point, Hipp's touch on the piano is sublime – very fluid, yet focused and hard-swinging too – at a level that made her one of the best hardbop pianists on the European scene of the postwar years. Other players on these tracks include Hans Koller on tenor on four tracks, Joki Freund on tenor on two more – plus a bit of guitar from Atilla Zoller and some trombone from Albert Mangelsdorff. Titles include "Serpentinen", "You Go To My Head", "Sound Koller", "Daily Double", "Gone With The Wind", "Erroll's Bounce", "Blues After Hours", and "What Is This Thing Called Love".

The cream of modern jazz in Germany during the postwar years – the kind of amazing music that never made it over to our side of the Atlantic, but which was really marking some great jazz development on the European scene of the time! As Germany picked itself up from the ashes of the war, it also experienced an amazing cultural rebirth – in film, literature, and especially music – music like this, which bursts forth with a freshness and urgency that still sounds as creatively compelling here in the 21st Century as it did back at the end of the 50s! The vibe is very much a precursor to better-known sounds from the Saba/MPS scene, and many of these artists later recorded for that label too – but here, the work is nicely early, and pretty darn great – a selection of titles that includes "Domicile" by Joki Freund & Albert Mangelsdorff, "Minority" by Michael Naura, "Lover Man" by Inge Brandenberg, "Night Bounce" by Attila Zoller, "Ease It" by Albert Mangelsdorff, "Madam B" by Die Deutschen All Stars, "Mike's Blues" by Michael Naura, and "Meeting At The Barberina" by Horst Jankowski & Rolf Kuhn.

Rare work from female pianist Jutta Hipp – an artist who's probably known to most for her Blue Note sessions of the 50s, but who's heard here on some German recordings from younger years! Most of the material is live, but well-recorded – and even at this point, Hipp's touch on the piano is sublime – very fluid, yet focused and hard-swinging too – at a level that made her one of the best hardbop pianists on the European scene of the postwar years. Other players on these tracks include Hans Koller on tenor on four tracks, Joki Freund on tenor on two more – plus a bit of guitar from Atilla Zoller and some trombone from Albert Mangelsdorff. Titles include "Serpentinen", "You Go To My Head", "Sound Koller", "Daily Double", "Gone With The Wind", "Erroll's Bounce", "Blues After Hours", and "What Is This Thing Called Love".