Live in Japan '96 captures an excellent performance by the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra at the Shin-Kobe Oriental Theater (except for The Morlocks, which was recorded in Tokyo). This assembly of renowned international musicians -- including saxophonist Evan Parker and ICP Orchestra members trombonist Wolter Wierbos and trumpeter Thomas Heberer -- is led by pianist-arrangers Alexander von Schlippenbach and Aki Takase. The recording opens with a 17-minute long Eric Dolphy Medley arranged by Aki Takase that features the two pianists in a playful and rhythmic unaccompanied duo section. This number is followed by The Morlocks, a piece recorded a month prior and tellingly not part of the same program, with a pounding abrasiveness lightened only briefly by a circular-breathing hyper-speed flurry of a solo from Evan Parker. Next comes an original from Takase called Shijo No Ai that begins with a momentarily Rova-reminiscent groove laid down by baritone saxophonist Hiroaki Katayama. A light orchestral uprising grows out of this opening, and this, in turn, gives way to simultaneous solos that sound like bounced echoes of earlier sections. Out of the semi-chaos returns the baritone groove, bringing the piece to a close. Another highlight of this album is von Schlippenbach's arrangement of W.C. Handy's Way Down South Where the Blues Began, which opens with a swaying piano blues solo. The orchestra starts out with a convincing bluesy spirit that quickly gives way to a theatrical, near striptease interpretation and a rather silly brand of soloing that calls to mind the Willem Breuker Kollektief. And, appropriately, the closing track, Good Bye, is a Breuker arrangement. Altogether, Live In Japan '96 is an excellent show from a premiere cast of musicians, including those previously mentioned; altoist Eiichi Hayashi; bass clarinetist Rudy Mahall; multi-reedist and flutist Gerd Dudek; tenor saxophonist Walter Gauchel; trombonists Marc Boukouya, Paul Rutherford, and Haruki Sato; trumpeters Henry Lowther, Axel Dorner, and Issei Igarashi; bassist Nobuyoshi Ino; and drummer Paul Lovens. ~ Joslyn Layne, Rovi

1		Eric Dolphy Medley: The Prophet/Serene/Hat and Beard
2		The Morlocks
3		Shijo No Ai
4		Way Down South Where the Blues Began
5		Jackhammer
6		Good Bye