This 1969 release has more in common with the Beatles and 1960s psychedelic pop-rock than the jazz music of that era. "The Oimels" from the eclectic Wolfgang Dauner Quintet highlights three internationally acclaimed European musicians: keyboardist Dauner, a German jazz institution, his fellow Stuttgarter Eberhard Weber on bass and guitarist Sigi Schwab. With Schwab’s sitar and the band vocals, Take Off Your Clothes to Feel the Setting Sun shows its Beatles influence. Gershwin’s My Man’s Gone Now is reinterpreted in a Latin rock feel with lots of effects, while Come On In On In starts off with Weber’s electrified cello melding into an Indi-country rock rhythm guitar riff and a raga-like vocal line before ascending into chaos. The final track, appropriately a Beatles cover of A Day in the Life, is reworked into a minimalistic masterpiece.

Eberhard Weber played hundreds of concerts in his time as a member of the Jan Garbarek Group, and each of them included an extended feature for the bassist alone, often effectively a spontaneous composition rather than a ‘bass solo’ in strict jazz sense. For “Résumé” Weber has returned to recordings of these solo sequences and reworked them into an album with its own sense of flow. The unique sound of Eberhard’s customised electric bass is heard here mostly in the context of his own keyboard settings and treatments, but also augmented by the saxophones and overtone flute of Jan Garbarek (on three tracks) and by the percussion of Michael DiPasqua.

"Encore" is a companion volume to "Résumé", the widely-praised 2012 solo album from bassist Eberhard Weber. Unable to play bass anymore due to a stroke he suffered in 2007, Weber pored over the many live recordings made between 1990 and 2007 during his tenure with the Jan Garbarek Group. He isolated his unique electric bass solos from shows in 13 European cities and meticulously edited, rearranged and modified them with additional keyboard parts he played himself. He put the finishing touches on the material joined by an old friend, Dutch trumpeter and flugelhorn player Ack van Rooyen, who played on Weber’s album "The Colours of Chloë" more than 40 years ago.

"Joe Pass looks like somebody’s uncle and plays guitar like nobody’s business." So said New York Magazine about the man considered to be one of the greatest jazz guitarists of the 20th century. Pass’s masterful melodic counterpoint and quicksilver improvisational style flow throughout “Intercontinental”. Deftly accompanied by German bass virtuoso Eberhard Weber and English drummer Kenny Clare, the music runs the gamut of genres – a meditative Jobim bossa nova, a lusciously relaxed version of the jazz standard, “Stompin’ at the Savoy”, a blues-drenched rendition of the Bobby Gentry pop classic, “Ode to Belly Joe”, and a display of dynamically controlled guitar pyrotechnics on the exhilarating “I Love You”.

Pianist Michael Naura’s 1970 album Call assimilates contemporary sounds of free jazz and rock as well as the collective playing styles of a younger generation of musicians. His first album in eight years, this definitely showcased Naura in a new light. Two members of his old quintet, vibraphonist Wolfgang Schlüter and drummer Joe Nay, appear on Call and both had effortlessly mastered, as had Naura, the newly emerging rock and blues-oriented styles of the era. With the addition of electric bassist Eberhard Weber, a jazz-rock trendsetter stepped into the band and had a substantial impact on the new quartet’s sound.

Jamaican-born pianist Monty Alexander is a sophisticated, prolific performer with an urbane, swinging style informed by the bop tradition, as well as the reggae and Caribbean folk he grew up with. He is in top form in this 1974 studio session made for MPS, joined by guitarist Ernest Ranglin, bassist Eberhard Weber, and drummer Kenny Clare.

Not every musician can pull off a program in front of an audience that ranges through a wide variety of jazz styles, but Monty Alexander does so, even within the opener, "On Green Dolphin Street." Starting this familiar standard in a bop mode, he detours into boogie-woogie until guitarist Ernest Ranglin takes over. His lovely improvised introduction to "Emily" gives way to a much slower than typical arrangement, which emphasizes the beauty of Henry Mancini's original conception, though with a few changes incorporated by the leader…

An important transitional figure, Afro-American tenor/soprano saxophonist Lucky Thompson connected the swing era to the more cerebral and complex bebop style. His sophisticated approach to the tenor saxophone built off that of Don Byas and Coleman Hawkins. Thompson recorded with the likes of Bird, Miles, and Monk, and had a slew of albums under his own name. The accompanying hand-picked musicians includes organist Ingfried Hoffmann, known for his work with German star Klaus Doldinger, and percussionist/vibraphonist Sadi, who worked with Django Reinhardt, Don Byas, and Martial Solal. They fit hand-in-glove with Lucky’s musical conception.

"Joe Pass looks like somebody’s uncle and plays guitar like nobody’s business." So said New York Magazine about the man considered to be one of the greatest jazz guitarists of the 20th century. Pass’s masterful melodic counterpoint and quicksilver improvisational style flow throughout “Intercontinental”. Deftly accompanied by German bass virtuoso Eberhard Weber and English drummer Kenny Clare, the music runs the gamut of genres – a meditative Jobim bossa nova, a lusciously relaxed version of the jazz standard, “Stompin’ at the Savoy”, a blues-drenched rendition of the Bobby Gentry pop classic, “Ode to Belly Joe”, and a display of dynamically controlled guitar pyrotechnics on the exhilarating “I Love You”.

Renowned Swizz pianist/composer George Gruntz became entranced by the music of the North African Maghreb on his 1964 visit to Tunisia. Over the next few years he revisited the area, taking in the melodies, rhythms, and improvisational styles of a Bedouin music rooted in 1000 years of nomadic culture. With the intent of integrating this music with jazz, Gruntz assembled the crème of the Bedouin players and a top-flight group of like-minded jazz musicians.

Jamaican guitarist Ernest Ranglin’s work with reggae legends Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff and long association with internationally acclaimed Jamaican jazz pianist Monty Alexander, ranks Ranglin among the major figures in West Indian music.

Singer Knut Kiesewetter has garnered his fair share of fame and fortune; over more than three decades Knut successfully sang his way through everything from pop to German Lieder, blues, and trad jazz on through to bebop, continually topping European polls as best jazz singer. Great Jazz-Groove album, "Stop! Watch! And Listen!" was released in 1970 by MPS Records and featuring Knut Kiesewetter on vocals and Dieter Reith at the Hammond Organ.

The church organ’s role in classical music runs from Buxtahude and Bach on through to such contemporary composers as Hindemith and Messian, but jazz musicians have tended to stay clear of this mighty instrument and its orchestral power. Not so Swiss jazz maestro George Grunz; on this 1968 MPS album, accompanied by two European jazz masters, bassist Eberhard Weber and drummer Daniel Humair, Gruntz utilizes the organ as “a vehicle to elevate some of the most beautiful ballad-like melodies to a world of sound completely new to jazz”.

Volker Kriegel was a German jazz guitarist and composer born in Darmstadt, Germany, perhaps most noteworthy for his contributions to the European jazz rock genre…

Jazz accordion-master, Art Van Damme plays much more than cool/accordion mush. Born in Norway, Michigan, raised in Chicago, he is considered one of the greatest Jazz accordionists of all time. In the '60-'70 he is recorded many albums for German label MPS, considered among the best of his prolific career. Some of them are included into this combined Hi-Res collection.