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Rating: Unknown to most, George Gruntz is a Swiss composer, arranger, and musician, born in 1932. He works with figures of the caliber of Chet Baker, Don Cherry, Dexter Gordon, and Phil Woods and handles the artistic direction of numerous jazz and orchestral music festivals. In the first half of the '70s, he founded the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, and this Piano Conclave is a subsequent manifestation of his ensemble idea.
Of the two albums under this name, the second one is certainly more intriguing and exciting, and its story is primarily connected to the choice of the astounding yet unusual octet, made up of six keyboardists plus the rhythm section. The names, just to give context, are Gordon Beck, Wolfgang Dauner, George Gruntz, Jasper Van’t Hof, Joachim Kuhn, Martial Solal, John Lee on bass, and Alphonse Mouzon on drums.
By analyzing the names, one might expect to tackle exclusively jazz themes, but there are frequent very peculiar forays into funky, space rock jam sessions, some avant-garde hard touches, and a few Canterbury fusion gems. Enlightening the intentions is the opening track “Rumba orgiastica,” complex and captivating, transversal and heterogeneous, yet it flows as fresh as a mountain stream. More intricate and experimental, however, is “Hal-Lucy-N-O-One-Step,” while I find the sequences “Zookie Cookie” / “Lookie Pookie” particularly unusual, with inserts of rock’n’roll, ragtime, interspersed with furious and engaging jazz rock. Here and there appear brief sequences with Zappa-esque references, especially from George Duke’s funky period, like in that very seductive moment that is “Tango Teclado,” where a truly rare mastery on the Grand Piano is displayed along with a splendid synth solo, I believe by Van’t Hof, which opens and relaunches everything in a Soft Machine style. While "Shoo-Fly-Shuffle" is even anticipating certain Weather Report themes, splendid and dynamic.
The album is not just a muscle showcase, obviously, there's quite a bit of it, but for those who love jazz rock and fusion from those years, I believe they can truly find this material right up their alley. I really recommend looking for it, even if the album exists only on vinyl and is quite expensive on the markets, but by rummaging around …
p.a.p. Sioulette
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