Live at the Philharmonie was the Dave Pike Set's third record for MPS in the year 1969 alone; Noisy Silence-Gentle Noise (MPS 15215) and the stellar Four Reasons (MPS 15253) preceded it. One of the most interesting ideas about this amazing set of music concerns the notorious circumstances under which it was recorded, at the 1969 Berlin Jazz Days festival. The reason for this is the year itself: Miles Davis and his group had brought their fiery brand of electricity to jazz and its reverberations were being heard the world over. At the same time, prog rock and Krautrock were making their heads (considered ugly by jazz purists) known in the guises of Can, Neu!, Amon Düül, and Faust. Add to this Charlie Mariano's great band, the new hip embracing of rock culture by the Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Big Band, Peter Herbolzheimer's Rhythm Combination Brass, and any number of other groups, and Berlin was in a state of tension. The wild thing is, everybody agreed on Pike's group -- it was the bridge between the jazz tradition, what was transpiring, and what was to come. The band featured the leader on amplified vibes (he claims he was the first vibraphonist to have electric vibes), master guitarist and composer Volker Kriegel, bassist and cellist Johannes Anton Rettenbacher, and legendary drummer Peter Baumeister. The bottom line is this: Pike's band was smoking hot. Everybody could write, arrange, and play. The Dave Pike Set, as evidenced by this live date, walked inside every camp at one time, from bop and hard bop to rock, Eastern modal music, Latin, classical, pop, and virtually everything in between, but the meld was seamless.

1		Hey Duke
2		Mambo Jack the Scoffer
3		Riff for Rent
4		Nobody's Afraid of Howard Monster
5		The Secret Mystery of Hensh