This album was recorded in 1966 in Baarn, Holland as Gunter Hampel (vibes, bass clarinet, flute) is joined by Willem Breuker (saxophones, clarinet and bass clarinet), Piet Veenng (bass) and Pierre Courbois (drums and percussion).

Gunter and his band’s musical “evolution” starts with a suite in seven parts dedicated to Wolfgang Kopetsch; I’ve no idea who he was/is either. At 20 minutes plus, it’s what any anti-impro set would throw in your face; especially with sub-titles such as ‘Dissociation’ and ‘Epiphany’. More fool them I say but I must admit, the 2-track ‘B-side’ is tighter in timescale and musically (i.e. an easier listen).

‘Heroicredolphysiognomystery’, dedicated To Eric Dolphy, finds Gunter on flute and Willem on clarent and then they switching to vibes and sax respectively in a duel (to the death). Perhaps a little odd that a Dolphy dedication should feature the clarinet and bass clarinet so strongly but it’s this mostly dual attack that gives this piece its poignancy and over shadows the ‘Assemblage’. If you’re not a fan of Eric Dolphy, get Out To Lunch or Outward Bound as it will quite possibly change your life.

By way of background, Gunter grew up “wild” on the post-war streets of Göttingen, Germany where he influenced by the musical tastes of Amercian GI’s. He started playing jazz on the model of the Modern Jazz Quartet, vibe lead - populist with classical leanings. After leaning his trade playing in Europe he went to New York in the late sixities to take up a residency and formed his own label, Birth Records. As a vibist-reedsman, he was very influencial and went onto play with all the names on the scene and form big bands; along with Peter Brötzmann (see links below) is one of the founders of the Emanzipation of music and musicians (in a jazz sense).

As Music From Europe was recorded at a time of war (any difference to today?), the ‘make love not war’ cliché/slogan was at it’s original best (I suppose ‘Drop beats not bombs’ is the modern day successor) and the last piece is called ‘Make Love Not War To Everyone (Piece In 4 Parts)’; part 1 is like the scary movie film score, part 2 is the battle (chaos ensures with all four musicians in pain, part 3 is the aftermath with the four of them in a vocal ‘writhing’ and part 4 completes with a funeral ‘march’ of bowed cymbals and mournful sax, clarinet and bowed bass. This is the stand out track as an alt.Apocalypse Now theme.

Thinking about the impro at Unsafe over the last few years (Unsafe4 on 31st Oct/Nov and see Unsafe3 review HERE and Unsafe2 HERE), not that much has changes since Music From Europe was recorded. OK, the hip daddy-o language has gone but the passion and musical energy still persist. Perhaps not as ruckus as Peter Brötzmann is now but fans of the vibes will love this as will ‘free’ jazz enthusiasts.

What with Soul Jazz Records releasing Les Stances A Sophie by the Art Ensemble Of Chicago on DVD soon (unavailable for 35 years), the free or free-ish jazz is making noises again. The louder the better; peace man as we now say.

Gunter Hampel Group - Music From Europe (ESP-Disk) Cat. No. 1042 Release date: Autumn 2008
Tracklisting
1. Assemblage (Suite, Dedicated To Wolfgang Kopetsch) (21:58)
i. Dissociation
ii. Consolation
iii. Renunciation
iv. Modul
v. Esotheric
vi. Epiphany
vii. Turbulence
2. Heroicredolphysiognomystery (Dedicated To Eric Dolphy) (11:39)
3. Make Love Not War To Everyone (Piece In 4 Parts) (8:48)

Links
www.espdisk.com
www.gunterhampelmusic.de
Gunter Hampel at All About Jazz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunter_Hampel
www.myspace.com/theericdolphysolowebsite
www.myspace.com/peterbrotzmann
European Free Improvisation Pages www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk
Göttingen on Wikipedia