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Jazz Stories: A Photo History<br />
including, blessedly, english, but his preferred language was always music. While<br />
he is likely to be most remembered as an arranger and bandleader, he usually<br />
played more than just ‘arranger’s piano’ with his cjB, and his smaller-ensemble<br />
recordings contain many delights. To cite influences, one could say his playing<br />
style encompassed the compelling drive of Bud powell and the sheer joy of vince<br />
Guaraldi, while his compositions embodied the modernism of Kurt Weill and<br />
the dramatic swing of George Gershwin. Though this doesn’t locate him fully or<br />
precisely, it gives some idea of his breadth and depth. Whether for his own tunes or<br />
those of cjB members, he composed and arranged with charts and parts designed,<br />
a la duke ellington, another of his inspirations, for specific players.<br />
and what specific players they were. it would probably be shorter to list those from<br />
the top drawers of europe and the usa who didn’t play in the cjB than those who<br />
did. To name a few: saxophonists dexter Gordon, lee Konitz, charlie mariano, joe<br />
henderson and Bennie Wallace; trumpeters Benny Bailey, Kenny Wheeler, enrico<br />
rava, franco ambrosetti and jack Walrath; on drums, elvin jones, daniel humair,<br />
paul motian, peter erskine and adam nussbaum. a complete listing can be found<br />
at: www.georgegruntz.com/index.php/de/geor-gruntz-concert-jazzband/musiker.<br />
elsewhere on that same site can be found a complete discography. The listing that<br />
follows is my own favorite dozen George Gruntz recordings:<br />
anniversarY, by flavio ambrosetti (enja 9027, 2-cd, 1996). Gruntz is<br />
heard with his cjB co-founder on radio lugano recordings dating from 1959 to<br />
1976, and his growth from journeyman to stylist is prodigious. The chops just don’t<br />
stop, and while you could find plenty of more radical examples of the liberation of<br />
european jazz from american domination, that gradual process of self-realization<br />
can be heard evolving here, gloriously.<br />
menTal cruelTY: The 1960 jaZZ soundTracK, by George Gruntz (atavistic<br />
ums/alp238, 2012). This latter-day film-noir score was Gruntz’s first recording<br />
session as a bandleader, with his sextet’s roster presaging the high-profile<br />
selectivity of cjB. While he’d already worked with Barney Wilen, he hadn’t with<br />
Kenny clarke, at first, George’s charts stumped the drummer, but Klook quickly<br />
picked up on 3/4 time, which was evidently new to him.<br />
sT. peTer poWer, by George Gruntz (mps 15186, 1968). of the many obscure<br />
gems in the mps catalogue, this trio recording with bassist eberhard Weber and<br />
drummer daniel humair is among the most grievously overdue for reissue on cd.<br />
recorded in a church in the Black forest,<br />
Gruntz is playing its organ, with repertoire ranging from jazz standards to Gershwin,<br />
ornette coleman – and carla Bley. sweetly out there, with just enough edge. it’s<br />
probably available unofficially somewhere on the web (isn’t everything?)<br />
aT The monTreuX jaZZ fesTival, by phil Woods (verve 440 065 512,<br />
2003). recorded at the 1969 festival (two days before les mccann and eddie<br />
harris’ sWiss movemenT, another perpetual cooker), Gruntz teams again with<br />
77 | CadenCe Magazine | april May June 2013
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