Gilles Peterson Presents another killer compilation, strickly MPS. Gilles Peterson has a special love affair with MPS. Naturally, there was a long list of amazing interpretations of jazz classics from acknowledged jazz masters, but early on Gilles had developed the talent to dig deeper into the depths of the archives in order to ferret out the special features of the catalogue - occasionally discovering a obscurity - and bring them to the light of day.

Formed in 1972 by Swiss jazz giants pianist George Gruntz, alto saxophonist Flavio Ambrosetti, his son, trumpeter Franco Ambrosetti, and drummer Daniel Humair, The Band would later metamorphose into the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band. The predilection towards a combination of international jazz all-stars and home-grown compositions is already in evidence on this, their first album, and a bevy of jazz greats are along for the ride.

In 1974, some seven years after the first Basel ‘Sticksland’ meeting, a 36-man percussion extravaganza took place that once again featured a top-flight jazz ensemble together with the Basel drum and fife corps of Alfred Sacher and Georges Mathys. Now add a Scottish drum and fife corps with the former and reigning Scottish drumming champions Jimmy Catherwood and Joe Noble, kilts and all, as well as some 300 fifers hidden in the audience of a theater packed to overflowing. The results: a Carnival Happening!

"Fairytale" from Dutch jazz keyboardist Jasper van’t Hof takes listeners on a journey through a fantastical musical landscape, enlivened by a 21-piece brass band and leading European-based musicians. Co-led and produced by influential Swiss keyboardist and composer, the late George Gruntz, a highlight of this whimsical escapade is Gruntz’s Cinderella Friday Night with its funky bass line, hip counterpoint and intermingling of jazz and rock. Challenging, beautiful arrangements, unusual instrumentation and great solos make for a richer Fairytale than even Disney could imagine.

One of Europe’s most venerated band leaders, Swiss pianist-composer George Gruntz fronted small and large groups stacked with international jazz greats. This double album represents the 1980 version of Swiss pianist/composer Gruntz’s celebrated all-star international ‘Concert Jazz Band’. Over the years, each one of Gruntz’s bands was stacked with a new set of jazz greats, but his aim was always to mold the band in the Ellingtonian fashion: each member was picked, not only because he fitted into the group concept; it was especially important that he contributed a unique creative color to the band’s palette.

Piano Conclave the "Keyboard Philharsonic" Coop of leading European jazz pianists: Dubbed “the Keyboard Philharmonic”, and directed by the Swiss master pianist/composer George Gruntz, this 1975 album features six of the greatest European jazz keyboardists of the period. French master Martial Solal, Englishman Gordon Beck, Germans Wolfgang Dauner and Joachim Kuhn, and Netherlander Jasper van’t Hof join Gruntz in a pianistic extravaganza of a particular sort, accompanied by the crack American bass and drum team of John Lee and Alphonse Mouzon.

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.

There was something special about this Swiss festival: it highlighted amateurs, in this case those who honor jazz in the word’s Latin sense (amator) - they played for the love of the music. On the original LP, the title of the album is printed as "20. Internationales Jubiläums Jazz Festival Zurich" on front cover, "Jazz Festival In Zurich" on spine and "Zurich Jazz Festival 1970" on center labels.

This 1972 production is a potpourri of “live” festival big bands, starring some of the greatest jazz musicians of the time: the Nordic All-Stars with Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek of ECM fame, Poland’s Novi Singers and the Zurich International Festival All-Stars including Dexter Gordon and Art Farmer. These timeless performances sound as fresh today as when they were first recorded.

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”.

A major trombonist who is quite versatile, Jiggs Whigham has thus far not received the recognition that he deserves, possibly because he has spent a lot of time performing in Germany…