Gunter Hampel named this record "Legendary" after his composition of the same name, not after what he thought of himself as a musician. Recorded in May of 1997 at a German jazz fest, Hampel's band for the evening indeed lived up to the title of the composition: Alexander von Schlippenbach on piano, Manfred Schoof on trumpet, Arjen Gorter on bass, and Pierre Courbois on drums, Hampel was able to use his own array of instruments -- flute, bass clarinet, and vibraphone -- to maximum effect with this unit. The disc starts off with a flute solo, rich in legato phrasing and sparkling color. After three minutes of putting it through the mill, Hampel stops and introduces the band. They move into the complex, labyrinthine All the Things You Could Be if Charles Mingus Was Your Daddy. The composition defies categorization because it is at once a harmonic study of Mingus in his late Atlantic period, a tonal exploration of the vibraphone in contrapuntal and serial technique, and a free jazz piece. Whew! The band is more than up to the task. Von Schlippenbach hurls large chords, flatted ninths, diminished sevenths, an augmented tenth even at the ensemble as Gorter pulls them into his rhythmic attack and Courbois plays dancing accents throughout. Most remarkable is Schoof, who adds more color on his horn than one would have thought possible given the density and ever-changing harmonic structures of the improvisation. It's not so much that his solos are dazzling -- they are -- but that his ensemble playing is what keeps Hampel's own wildly addled melodic ideas on track whether they are played on flute, bass clarinet, or vibes. There is an ostinato section that occurs every six minutes or so to signal the soloists, and here, one can feel the rush and pulse of the rhythm section as it pushes Hampel's compositions to their limits, shattering them in the process. It's a thrilling ride to the finish line and Hampel's own contrary system of jazz/improv/classical integration proves just how much there is left to discover on the musical frontier. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi

1		Legendary
2		Ansage/Annoucement
3		Spielplatz
4		All the Things You Could Be If Charles Mingus Was Your Daddy
5		Ansage/Annoucement

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