Record Reviews

KENNY WHEELER / CHRISTIAN MAURER ~ LIVE AT THE PORGY & BESS PAO 10720 (Barcode: 9006834107206) ~ UK ~ Jazz Recorded: 1997 Released: 2000 This is a wonderful live album by British Jazz trumpeter / composer Kenny WheelerFind albums by this artist, recorded at the legendary Viennese Jazz club Porgy & Bess with an Austrian quartet led by saxophonist Christian MaurerFind albums by this artist, which also included pianist Helmar HillFind albums by this artist, bassist Christian SteinerFind albums by this artist and drummer Alfred VollbauerFind albums by this artist. Together the quintet performs six compositions: three originals by Wheeler, one original each by Maurer and Vollbauer and one standard. The excellently recorded music allows an intimate experience of listening to Wheeler and his younger cohorts playing their hearts out. Obviously invigorated by the presence of these young, but by all means very able players, Wheeler is able to stretch out and play a series of wonderfully relaxed expanded soli, which are all as brilliant as expected. The most interesting piece on the album is the original piece by Vollbauer, which is the most open-form composition on the album and allows Wheeler to show his Free Jazz chops, which he used relatively rarely in the last years of his career. But of course his splendid balladry and mainstream playing is every bit as marvelous and worth being heard. The immediacy and obviously less formal atmosphere of this live session is a superb opportunity to get a glimpse of a somewhat less polished Wheeler performance in its full splendor, which is obviously worth its weight in gold. Overall the is a little known gem which is an absolute must for Wheeler´s many connoisseurs, a must in every serious collection of his extended discography and a piece of Jazz history, which deserves to be preserved for posterity.

Updated: 23/03/2019Posted: 23/03/2019

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